An herbal harvest

This is one of those blogs that is better late than never - since it is predicted to snow here on Tuesday!  That snow date is a little early for us which is what makes this almost an emergency posting!  You gotta get those herbs indoors!  One easy way that I do that is to plant the herbs in pots that can come inside after the summer is over.

The above is a 14" terra cotta pot that I have put sage, thyme, and apple mint into.  The other plant is lemon cat mint that reseeded itself in the pot that I left out last year.  It is wonderful stuff!  If you have herbs in the ground or in other places, just dig them up and pot them and bring them in!  Most of the time you wont even be able to tell that they have been recently transplanted!

This one has sage, thyme, and oregano.  It looks really full right now but at the beginning of the summer these were just little 2" pot plant starts.  You can crowd them a little from the beginning though or leave room for growth!

Here is another shot of the one with oregano in it.  They live outside the greenhouse door during the summer, and then in the fall they come into the greenhouse for a bit (to make sure they are bug free) and then they come in the house.  It makes the herbs available to use all winter as long as they are cared for well.  You have to watch the water for these pots as they seem to need less once they are brought in for the first few weeks and then more as the indoor heat dries them out.

The only plant that I have not been able to mix into this type of planting is basil.  Im not sure if it needs more room than this provides or if it needs a different watering schedule or what.  I just put basil by itself and everyone else gets along great!

Don't be afraid to give it a try!  Enjoy the tastes of summer all year long!

Muffin tops? NO! Carrot Tops!

The time of year has come to harvest the carrots once again and although we struggled to get a good carrot crop (again!), we have a few and all of them have tops on them!  Why is that important you ask?  Let me tell you what you can do with a carrot top!

Above shows one of our carrot bins here at Wicked Raven.  We had forgotten that the year that we put this bin in that we had put landscape fabric under it to keep weeds down (we had cabbage there that year).  So this bin had pretty good tops but the carrots underneath were small and misshapen from pushing against the fabric.  Our other bin of carrots was the one that the moose and the rabbits both got into and pulled up or stepped on a great majority of the carrots and the radishes in it!  Darn things!

When we are harvesting carrots we harvest both the tops and the carrots - we keep a bucket about 1/3 full of cold water so when we harvest the carrot we pop the top off and put it in a hod (see below photo) and we put the carrot in the bucket.  It does a little pre-clean for us so we have way less dirt in the house sink when we are doing the final clean.  Just pull the carrots out of the water giving them a little swish as you do, then put them in the hod with your tops to take in the house.  Pour the dirty water on one of your trees or shrubs nearby - food for the winter!

Above shows a few carrot tops in the hod before we put the carrots on top.  The upper right corner of the photo you can see some tomatoes from the greenhouse in a container.  We still have lots of tomatoes ripening there.

The above carrots didn't get the pre-clean treatment but gives you a good idea of the carrots to tops situation we had this summer.  Tiny carrots with lots of top!

So wash the tops and...... Oh the things you can do!  Below photo shows some carrot tops in the dehydrator.  Once they are dry you can use them just like parsley in any recipes.  The flavor is slightly sweeter than parsley, but very close.  It is a free food and really healthy as well. Carrot tops are high in protein, vitamins and minerals.  Your carrots become a zero waste product!  When I run out of carrots and dried tops in the winter I try to buy the organic carrots with the tops on (I cant always find them with the tops here) so I can use the whole thing.

You might prefer to use them fresh as well!  There are many uses for fresh carrot tops as well.  Trim them and use them just like you would use spinach.  Make a pesto with them (this is especially useful if you are short on basil as I often am) and I have made pesto with a mix of tops and basil to make the basil stretch.  We have used the tops in salads, fritatas, and a number of other dishes as well both fresh and dried.  Enjoy the free fronds of summer! 

**The only caveat is that the carrot pulls nitrates from the soil and may be high in nitrates.  I have eaten a lot of carrot tops with no side effects, but please be aware if you are sensitive to nitrates, and always make sure you are eating organic if you are buying them.  Be safe and test it first by trying a small amount before you commit to the food play!