Dig it.

  So, here's what happens when you've planted some lovely parsnip seeds way back in who-knows-which-month, and you think to yourself, "I know, I'll leave them in the ground until we need them.  Because they do fine just left in the ground.  In fact, the consensus is that these things actually taste nicer (sweeter) if they've been subjected to the odd frost."

So, the odd frost comes and goes.  Then, all of a sudden, you're in the middle of a 'cold snap', which includes temperatures below -10C.  And it's almost Christmas, and you desperately want to get some parsnips on that table that haven't come from Tesco.  And so you have to dig.  

 But, looking on the bright side, I've learnt a few things from this.  First of all, there's the fact that it may be worth taking the parsnips out when the ground isn't frozen solid.  Secondly, there's the knowledge that it is actually perfectly possible (and, to be honest, slightly easier than I had first feared) to take parsnips out of the ground using a pick axe.  Thirdly, (and this was more of a reminder than a new gem of knowledge, having spend my youth doing cross country runs in the snow in the foothills of the Himalayas) there's the fact that it is quite easy to work up a sweat, even in sub-zero temperatures.

 And here's the end result.  We'll probably take another row up (this is less than half a row really) before Christmas, so that we can have really freshly harvested parsnips on our Christmas table.


In other related news, we were given an awesome present today.  Some friends of ours gave 'us' a gift of seeds and tools that, through Oxfam, they had sent to a family in need (probably in Haiti).  Given how much they know I love doing stuff in the garden, I thought it was a fantastic present.  I'm hoping that the Haitians don't have the same problems with their parsnips though!