This is what gardening looks like in December

A snowy harvest of parsnips. These are 'Gladiator'.

The snow fell early this year. It started falling before all of the parsnips were pulled from the ground. But, hey, what's a little snow in a Minnesota garden?

So, on a day when temperatures hovered in the mid-teens, it was time to shovel back the snow and harvest parsnips before the ground froze solid. I came home from class to find the resident head gardener, with his faithful companion close by, digging and pulling the pale roots from the ground.

Two trays full of parsnips were brought inside for cleaning and storing in the refrigerator; a bunch also went to Scott, who was hard at work installing an air exchanger in the house. A short row was left in the ground, topped with some straw mulch, to overwinter until spring.

We love parsnips -- sauted, gratined or souped, parsnips are a good bet to fill the void come winter. For dinner Wednesday night, several nice-sized roots were topped, tailed, peeled and sliced into a pan with some melted butter. Seasoned with salt and pepper, they cooked gently until tender and were a tasty side to the breaded pork chops. 

Talk about timing. Even in December, it can be a matter of a few hours from harvest to supper. Brilliant! 

Brrrrrr!

Well-thymed meals

Snowbanks receded enough to reveal a couple of thyme plants with some fresh green leaves among the old stuff. A good handful found its way into dinner.

Talk about a lucky intersection of seasons -- the last of the 2009 parsnips found their way into a meal fragrant with 2010's first harvest of thyme. Here's how the resident chef made Sunday's Thyme-stuffed Chicken Thighs with Parsnips. (And the leftovers were just as delicious a couple of days later.)

Make a stuffing of bread cubes, wild rice, onion, celery, chicken stock, salt, pepper and lots of fresh, chopped thyme. Stuff six to eight boneless chicken thighs. Slice peeled parsnips lengthwise into planks and then layer the planks in a baking pan. Drizzle with some oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the stuffed thighs on top and sprinkle with some more fresh thyme. Bake at 350 degrees in a convection oven for 30 to 45 minutes until the skin is nice and golden and crispy.

The skin was golden and crispy and flavored with thyme. The asparagus, alas, wasn't ours; it came from the grocery.

Winter rises

Winter is asserting itself at sillydoggarden. It turned cold this week -- not unreasonably so but after a mild November these days with highs in the teens are a little hard to get used to. And there is the snow. It's not much but even a thin layer of white is a dramatic change from the quiet buffs and browns and greens of the past few weeks.

Fortunately, we were mostly ready.

The last of the parsnips (a variety called 'Gladiator') were harvested from the vegetable garden earlier this week and taken to the stream for a quick wash to remove the big chunks of soil. Our vegetable gardening season opened with a parsnip harvest and ended with a parsnip harvest. The circle is complete.

Brian finished caging the trees and shrubs that are especially susceptible to winter browsing. The yard is dotted with these contraptions of wire fencing and bamboo.

The 'Skyrocket' junipers at the herb garden entrance are wrapped in burlap to guard against sunscald.

This bird feeder will need to be filled almost daily. (We go through lots of sunflower seeds.)

Fresh snow means it's easy to see who's been out and about overnight.

And the sillydog seizes the day, savoring the flavor of winter.

The season's first meal

The tomatoes under the lights downstairs are merely tiny seedlings and the spinach outdoors is just starting to germinate, but we've already enjoyed the first bounty of the season.

Last fall, for whatever reason, not all of the parsnips got harvested. The creamy white root vegetables spent the winter underground, under a layer of straw, topped by the snow. When the ground thawed this spring, the straw was pulled back and the parsnips were ready for harvest. And, oh, what a beautiful harvest!


This was a week or so ago and we hadn't yet turned on the hoses. So we piled the parsnips into a plastic bag and carried them back to the stream at the back of our property for cleaning. Of course, the silly dog kept an eye on all the activity.


Now, full disclosure: I am not the cook in the family. Brian took a bunch of those parsnips, harvested an hour earlier, and sliced them lengthwise into a baking dish. He added some cream, Parmesan cheese and freshly snipped chives. (Chives are one of the earliest edibles in our garden.) Into the oven at about 350 degrees for an hour or so, or until the cream reduces. Yum! There were second helpings all around.


This outdoor storage, while unintended, worked well. Maybe we'll try it with carrots this fall.