Orange Things

In the garden, I’ve moved from the green crops to the orange crops, carrots and pumpkins. I planted the pumpkins too early, which means pumpkins in August instead of late-September, but am so pleased with the three beautifully-shaped pumpkins that grew. I’ve picked two and the other is still ripening on the vine. Again, given the number of seeds I planted and even the number of gourd plants that came up, I can’t say the crop was prolific, but it is beautiful. And it is a great feeling to discover a large pumpkin in the garden.

My carrot crop was probably the best of all. Yes, the tomatoes did very well, and even after eating them nonstop with our guests for the past two weeks, I had to break down and can 9 quarts to keep them from going to waste. But the carrots, to which I gave 1/2 of a raised bed, and which grew in thick and worried me that I hadn’t thinned them enough, came in abundantly. Many, many of them were also large and straight, perfect carrots. It feels wonderful to pull them out of the ground. Next year I must plant more root crops, if for nothing else than the pleasure of pulling them up. They are crisp and tender and full of flavor. And even after giving away several bags of them to my sister-in-laws, I have more than I know what to do with.

What I would like to do is make a dozen loaves of carrot cake and freeze them. But I do not have freezer space for that. I did blanche and freeze two quart bags of them. I will make them for dinner all week. And then, perhaps, I’ll have some time and energy for cakes.

Meanwhile, enjoy the photos of the orange things I’ve grown.