Sweeter After a Frost

The best part of harvesting root crops is the little bit of the unknown, not being able to predict exactly what the crop will look like before it comes out of the ground.

This is definitely true for the Easter Egg radishes that we harvested this morning. The Easter egg radishes are different colors: purple, red, or pink so you are surprised by each color. I like hunting for the next fully grown radishes, gently pushing the greens aside to search for the largest bulb. The size of the radish is about the size of a small egg and sometimes the oval ones look particularly like dyed eggs.

Carrots also share this little moment of surprise. Some have little knobby ends, others snuggle and twist around one another. But these are the unusual ones; most of them are long rounded carrots.  One of the varieties we harvested was Mokum, an early variety. Carrots have a long germination and are often planted near radishes. Since radishes come up quickly, it is easier to spot where the carrots have been planted.   Carrots can also be a variety of colors just like the Easter Egg radishes. Sometimes we would pull up a wild carrot, a thin white root with a flower, commonly called Queen Anne’s Lace. It is possible to eat a wild carrot, but only when it is young because its xylem tissue becomes woody as it ages. Carrots are also grown in several parts of the world, the first carrot was harvested in Afghanistan. But one of the most fascinating facts about carrots is that they are sweeter after a frost. They are biennials so if you keep them in the ground, over winter they will bloom! Before Rushton Farm began all of the fields were full of wild carrots.

As we harvested, the bees were right next to carrots in the buckwheat. You could see all of the honey bees gathering pollen before the buckwheat shuts off the supply of pollen in the afternoon. It is fascinating to witness the different elements of the farm taking place side by side, nature’s reminder to observe the farm as a whole and to take notice that Rushton is one several farms all over the world cultivating carrots.