Saturday, August 23, 2008

No more dirt on these veggies!

My two helpers in the back yard after we returned home from Uncle Lon's farm. Carrot heads?
We had a large bag of carrots that were very full of dirt, as well as beets, beans and a few cukes. Rather than bring them in the house and fill the kitchen sink with that much dirt, we decided to take things to the out of doors. And, the kiddie pool. Great fun, indeed.
I'm going to change the color on my nail polish bottle to read: Beet.
Cleaning carrots. Check out the sediment on the bottom of the pool.
If that isn't a beautiful summer sight, I don't know what is.
I love the contrast of the orange carrots with the bright blue pool.
As I sat trimming beans with my paring knife, I looked down at my hands and wondered exactly how many hours the women in my family before me have sat trimming beans and other vegetables. My hands have aged, reminding me much of my mother's hands and my grandma's too. Processing these vegetables all afternoon made me so happy, feel such a part of our food. The boys loved being a part of the food adventure too... even sneaking a dirty carrot or two, stealing away to a corner of the yard with a fist full of beans ready to taste the freshest beans they had ever eaten. They are excited about the idea of going to our freezer mid-winter and taking out a bag of beans they helped pick and clean. Summer in a bag.
All in all, I blanched, trimmed, cut up and otherwise prepared ten bags of purple and yellow
beans as well as fourteen quart size bags of corn. My freezer is looking full and happy.

1 comment:

noradawn said...

I look at my hands and think the same thing when I'm cutting up fruit to put up! (I've come to love the old-timey-ness of that phrase- put up.) The veggies look very happy to be in your yard, waiting for their turn to have the spotlight when you eat local this winter.