This year we could use a few garden dreams
by Judy Schultz
Garden seeds are everywhere, but never better than in greenhouse displays. Talk about selling dreams! And this year, above all others in memory, we could use a few dreams.
So off I went to my local garden shop, determined to ward off fast-approaching cabin fever while social distancing in the prescribed two-metre manner. It’s like an art gallery in there; a wall (two, in fact) of vegetables and flowers pictured in their full, glorious maturity. Did rainbow chard ever glow so brightly? Were carrots ever so perfectly formed, so gleamingly orange?
Actually, yes. Given enough good weather, with timely rainfall and some decent dirt, carrot seeds are a terrific return on investment, practically, psychologically and socially.
For the past several years we’ve farmed a 10×20 plot at Old Man Creek, a community garden where, among the beans, beets and tomatoes, our greatest success has been carrots. After a few hiccups and re-plantings, they’ve been amazing. Ask our neighbours, the ones who find carrots on their doorsteps at all hours in August.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to the seeds, all neatly lined up in their packages, looking gorgeous. Long, slender Nantes, short-and-stubby Thumbelinas, and then there’s a five-colour heritage pack. Sucker that I am, I bought two packs of Burpee’s Kaleidoscope, a variety that promises carrots in purple, red, white, yellow and of course orange, which apparently was not the carrot’s original hue.
For an initial investment of $2.95 plus tax I have this promise of spring, and eventually a planting day (plant carrots two weeks ahead of the last frost, germination in three weeks). Then comes the joy of seeing that first tiny ruffle of green, so small and insignificant I’ll need a magnifying glass.
About 55 days later I should have buckets of delicious carrots. Is there anything so crunchy-sweet as a carrot freshly pulled from sun-warmed earth, dusted off on your shirtsleeve, eaten right there among the mosquitoes? (Yes, I know, wash the carrot first, but I’ve been eating them this way forever.)
A carrot isn’t just a pretty face. The fluffy tops are edible, rough-chopped in a salad, and they make a pretty good garnish, deep-fried, as you would parsley.
Here’s another carrot idea. I wouldn’t call it a recipe. It’s a pan-fry-glaze method that produces a darkly sweet version of an old-hat vegetable. Goes well with ham, lamb, chicken, pork, beef. Fish? Not so much, for some reason.
I first read about this method under the title ‘Carrot Hater’s Carrots’, but if that’s how you feel about carrots, I say move on to another vegetable. The molasses likely won’t change your mind. Meanwhile, I’m calling this dish Carrots in the Time of Cholera, with apologies to Gabriel Garciá Márquez.
Scrub carrots. Cut into coins. Boil until barely tender but still resisting the fork. In a small frying pan, melt a small blob of butter; bacon butter is even better, if you have any. (Melted bacon fat, melted butter, one-to-one; store in fridge.) As soon as it sizzles, add carrots and drizzle with a bit less than a tablespoon of fancy molasses. Lid on, reduce heat to medium. When carrots are tender, turn heat to high, lid off, and finish the glaze. Speck of salt, grind of pepper. Yum.