After three days of thinking “tomorrow I’ll get to can carrots,” it’s finally happening. Yesterday I started out shelling various varieties of corn and getting them packaged up. Then, I noticed several varieties of beans, especially new beans, needed packing too. By evening, I had everything happily done. Maybe I could still can carrots? Then the phone rang.

Will had taken his new tractor (I didn’t tell you all he bought a big Kubota at our neighbor’s farm auction, did I?) over to the 20 acres he’d bought a couple of miles from our place, to clear out the willow brush that had begun to take over the whole area. It was dark when the phone rang. He needed me over there now. No explanation!

I tore around and headed out, wondering if he was hurt, had a heart attack or severe breakdown. I got there and there was the tractor, sitting part on and part off the road. No Will. Finally, he called me and said he was under the tractor and where the heck was I? I got out of the car, fearing the worst and there was a huge puddle of diesel and Will. The line had sprung a major leak and he was trying to hold his finger over the tank exit spout. He yelled at me to find a stick to plug it. Of course, there were no sticks anywhere around. Finally, he figured the line had come off the fitting and shoved it back on. He was soaked with fuel but much happier.

I’ve got two crates of very ugly carrots to can up, thanks to our drought and no watering available.
These are last year’s carrots. Notice any difference?

Today I’m canning carrots while he’s getting in more firewood. As we had a horrible growing year, our carrots sure show it. Many are twisted and forked, multiple “legs” and plenty of roots. Drought does that to them. But, using Mom’s old potato peeler, I’m able to get them washed, peeled, and cut up. They’re ugly but, in the jar, they look pretty nice. Just lots of extra work involved. I want to can up as many as I can today and do more tomorrow. God willing!

Ugly as they are, they do can up nicely. Just more work involved getting them that way.
Here’s our carrot harvest a couple of years ago when son, Bill, and his family helped out. Much nicer carrots for us all, too.

— Jackie

15 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks, Jackie for the information on how drought affects the growing carrots. I always wondered why some years, the carrots looked “normal” and other years they looked weird. Also the tip about planting and keeping the soil consistenly moist.

    At least the carrots still taste good if they look weird and am grateful to have that abundance. Nice to see all the canning you are doing. I would love to do more but my tiny, tiny apartment just doesn’t have the storage room or the cool space. Sigh, where is my house in the country?

  2. Don’t those kinds of phone calls make your heart drop right into your shoes? You race to wherever you need to be imagining the worst possibilities and then it turns out its something non life threatening. The relief is overwhelming! Men need a class in how not to terrify your spouse lol. Your carrots look great. I have almost no luck getting them to even germinate. I keep trying, but so far no go. Maybe next year. Sending prayers for a blessed week.

    • Yes, a little more information would have been nice. I almost had a heart attack driving over there!!
      Carrots are a little tricky. They need to be planted in warmish, damp soil, then kept moist until they show their leaves. A lot of time their tiny roots dry up before they pop up leaves when the soil gets dry. I wait to plant until warmer nights, regardless of what a lot of packages say. Forget that “plant as soon as the soil can be worked”!!

  3. Amazing how droughts affect the shape of the carrots but not the taste. Cans of carrots at Wal-Mart are almost $1! You can sure save money canning your own! Happy that Will was okay and.it wasn’t needing a big repair!

  4. Well less than perfect carrots are better than no carrots. I liken it to firewood – there are always those pieces that are “ugly”. split funky, and/or not standard/stackable for sale (better half is picky about what he sells). But we burn those pieces and they are just fine. We split a bunch last Saturday which we’ve been burning all week. Still some on the deck and in the garage. Waste not, want not.
    Hopefully will got out of his flammable clothes ASAP. I presume you washed them then hung out to dry? I’d be nervous to put them in the dryer.
    Nice to see our veterans being honored by our local TV stations and a couple of home repair businesses. There is a local Vietnam vet who, despite looking in bad health for a number of years, continues to keep his fellow vets at the forefront. He was honored by roofing, siding, other home repairs and landscaping. I cannot think of a more deserving vet in my area. The poor man looks haunted which I think will follow him to his grave. My local DAR chapter works with him on local memorials.

    • That’s so nice. Both my late husband, Bob, and Will are Vietnam Marine Corps vets. A lot of folks forget what they went through, not only overseas but when they got home. Bob got spit on and cursed at the airport, called baby-killer and shoved around.
      I got the last carrots all canned up and today, it’s on to beets.

  5. If you’re disappointed while being thankful for what you have this year, I will take your this years garden anytime. Looks good to me. Here’s to next year for you though. I eagerly await your catalog this fall.

    • The catalogs should come out in December. We are very grateful to have the harvest from our gardens this year, although we both agree it was the worst garden year for us in over 11 years!

  6. You are getting lots accomplished! Even if it is a little late.
    Last year we dug the carrots in December and canned them that same month. We just could not get to them any sooner!

  7. Poor Will! Worse for you to not knowing What happened. Thank The Lord it all worked out. Yes, ugly carrots are very tasty. Didn’t get enough to can, but what flavor and several meals from the few(huge) ones. Harvest maybe ending, but never the work. We wouldn’t want to live anywhere that we couldn’t raise our garden s! Stay warm

    • Thanks Mary. Right now, we’re having very nice, sunny, warm-for-November days. It’s so nice. I get to can more carrots today, then it’s on to the beets.

    • Gotta love it when our partners don’t give us the context to realise they’re not dying… Been there/done that ;)

      Selrna asking about washing the diesel soaked clothes reminded me of losing a favourite shirt because I could not get the dang smell out. Do you have any trick for washing out diesel or is it a case of just designating the clothes fotr outdoor work and live with it?

      • I washed Will’s clothes in my wringer washer and rinsed them. Then I washed them again and rinsed again. After that, I hung them out on the clothesline to air dry. Blowing in the wind, they dried for three days and are finally pretty diesel-smell-free.

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