I wasn’t sure how the garden would do this first year.  We had obstacles to overcome – rocks, stones and gravel – to begin with, questionable soil, and then pesky rabbits.

But those little seed packets seem to have overcome the odds and continue to amaze me.  I planted two kinds of carrots – typical orange Nantes carrots and a specialty pack I picked up somewhere of “rainbow” carrots in a variety of colors – purple, yellow and white.  Despite all the impediments in the soil, the carrots have grown fairly large, and mostly straight.

Digging the carrots out has been a bit of a challenge; the soil just doesn’t seem to want to release them.  I thought a good tug would be sufficient, but it has taken a variety of digging tools to pry them loose.

Then they need scrubbing and peeling; but if you peel a purple carrot – you get an orange carrot.  That’s just not fair.  I wanted purple all the way through to add color to my soups and stews.  So I scrubbed them extra hard and left the peels on.  Then there is the chopping and blanching and chilling in a cold water bath and drying and then freezing on a cookie sheet.

The “girls” ate well — they loved the peels, and eventually – I ended up with two big bags of frozen carrots – a gallon of orange and a gallon of colorful ones.  Now I need a cold fall day to make a big pot of vegetable soup.