my larder

(I'm taking some pictures now....)

Finally - the photos....



My larder this fall includes: Winter squashes: Butternut, Long Island cheese, Acorn and Delicata. A couple small orange pumpkins. Potatoes, and lots of sweet potatoes. Onions, garlic. My chile ristra has grown and is drying well. My root cellar (a small basement refrigerator has about 5 lbs of carrots, 10 lbs of beets, some celery, and a head of purple cabbage.

In past years, I kept my potatoes and squashes in baskets in the basement. This year I was disappointed I couldn't see the ones at the bottom of the basket. My husband made the perfect solution - shelves. Now I can admire all my stored vegetables!

Most of my vegetables are from my garden. Some are from Piccadilly Farm, whose CSA distribution I hosted this year. A nice acorn squash I got in trade for a big bunch of dill. (I love the idea of trading! I will try for more trades next year using our new bulletin board that is being installed this winter.)




My onions and carrots will not last the winter. These I should try to grow more of next year. Looks like I have plenty of potatoes sweet potatoes, squashes and beets.

cheers to the March larder

After checking on the produce left from last years garden, I enjoyed a martini with a thin slice of crisp white celeriac and winter radish. Ahhh....

what's left in my larder?

The other day I went down to check....

Let's see. I have a small refrigerator in the basement that I filled last fall with fresh garden beets, celeriac, winter radish and cabbage. I've been grabbing a few from the top as I need them, but it was time for checking the bottom of the bags. The cabbage was in need of composting. But the rest has stored great. I took everything out of the baggies, washed, removed spots that didn't so look good, and repacked in fresh baggies. I amazed at how well beets, celeriac and winter radish store.

Also, I have a basket full of potatoes and butternut squash. The potatoes are sprouting like crazy in the basket. The reds and fingerlings are way shriveled. But the Green Mountain and Russets are OK. Actually, grilled, they are much better than OK. They're delicious. I love "good keeper" potatoes come March.

And I found about 6 heads of garden garlic I didn't realize I had. Most were thrown right into the compost bucket, but a few cloves were still crisp and yummy.

And the last thing is the bag of baby carrots in the fridge. The only reason they're still there is I didn't want to put the time into scrubbing such tiny ones. Tonight I did that - on our first grill event of the year. Very yummy to eat the first and last carrots of the year.

And I still have one BEAUTIFUL ORANGE Jarrahdale pumpkin. Its like the saying about "have cake and eat it too" - I love having it on the counter, but would love to eat it before it too late. I think I'll wait a bit more. Once I see a little sign of it starting to go bad, I'll make pumpkin bread.

I think all-in-all, the garden has feed us well this winter.

Next year, lets see:

Less: non-keeper potatoes, little fat carrots
Same: Beets, celeriac, pumpkins, butternut squash
More: Keeper potatoes, big carrots, garlic
And much more: Popcorn

Photos: