Little green wonders: Carrots

I remember sowing some carrots this summer, but then the dry, hot weather, my back and other issues, my laissez-faire attitude about growing what can grow and not spend too much paid water, simply made me forget because for a long time nothing much happened. And we all know how thistles and such will thrive under any weather conditions, so I’d given up on them.

The other day I was walking along for a completely different purpose and spotted, not a new weed amongst all the wilderness, but carrot tops. Voila, dinner!

carrots_chard

Perhaps this is simply to be my way of gardening, scatter a multitude of seeds and collect whatever has the inclination to show up in between the weeds. We’ll see how life and my back evolves over time. So it would be wonderful and gratifying and very eco friendly (see the halo?) to be self-sufficient, but if real life such as your body tells you to stuff it, sometimes you simply have to give in and try to accept that you are not Superwoman. That you’re not creating a simple life if you fight it every step of the way. Some day I may actually learn to practice that statement.

So perhaps I should let those do it who can and are good at it, and instead put my effort into finding the wayside little booths of homegrown produce. Certainly not convenient if you never really go anywhere much, but otoh buying tomatoes from Spain and apples from New Zealand feels not like giving in but giving up.

It’s a strange thing being the only one around who cares. But how can I pretend that I don’t?

5 thoughts on “Little green wonders: Carrots

  1. You got carrots, too! Hurrah! I just picked my first (and only) carrots (4!) today. Sowed them months ago and watched the rabbits eat them down to nubs. But these 4 brave carrots grew on. And tomorrow they will be in my belly. 😀

    I like what you said—you are not creating a simple life if you fight it every step of the way. Well said.

    No point in pretending. We care, and that’s all there is to it.

    1. I’m not pretending as such – but it can be too much of a fight to walk the talk if you have to do it all alone all the time – alternative being, you eat what someone else shopped for.

  2. Så fik du da flere gulerødder end mig 🙂 Og min eneste squash er lige begyndt at give frugter nu, hvor det bliver for koldt til at de gør andet end at mugne.
    Kunne du ikke forene det nyttige med det behagelige som man siger og finde en ridetur forbi nogle små vejboder og vende hjem med fulde saddeltasker?

  3. The carrots are lovely. As for all else… I love your philosophy of tossing seeds and seeing what comes, but I also understand how disheartening it is to feel like giving up. I can’t garden right now, or be anywhere near self sufficient, but I am happy to live in a place where local organic sustainable goodness is trendy and available and affordable. That helps. When I was living with my in-laws this summer… who did their grocery shopping at Walmart…. I know that feeling. I tried to work around it and buy fresh stuff from another store, but it took a lot of effort and money to do!! I hope this, what’s happening here in the city, in NC, in Maine, is not a trend, that it becomes a norm so we can all have the opportunity to consume in a way that feels really balanced and healthy in all ways.

  4. This….”scatter a multitude of seeds and collect whatever has the inclination to show up in between the weeds” is how I will do part of my garden! What a marvelous idea! Ha. I hope you find someone that cares about it all too. Until then, keep on scattering! Hugs, Koko

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