From the Files--Rutabaga vs. Turnip

We are growing turnips for the first time this fall and they are growing well. I didn't use to like turnips until one year when I tasted some really sweet ones. I have been on the search ever since to find that perfect turnip again. In the meantime, I've acquired a taste for turnips in general and especially like them when they're roasted. 

So since it is turnip season, I've pulled a post from the past when Miss Lander's and I did a comparison between turnips and rutabagas. Maybe I'll try some rutabagas next year.

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011

Rutabagas

I've always been curious about rutabagas. Well, actually, I've never been curious about rutabagas and have never given them much thought until recently when Miss Landers brought some over from her garden for us to try. This was her first time growing them and she was curious about how they compared with turnips, so she also brought turnips that she had grown.

A bit of research revealed that rutabagas are a natural cross between turnips and wild cabbage. They are a relatively new plant in that the first time they are mentioned in literature is in the early 1600's. They go by many names including yellow turnips and swedes because Sweden is a top producer. (Can you guess they like to grow in colder weather?) The name “rutabaga” is derived from an old Swedish word meaning “root bag.”

Notice the multiple roots and yellow tint of the rutabaga.

How about our turnip vs. rutabaga comparison? This is what we observed. Miss Landers said that as she was pulling them (both root vegetables) that the rutabagas seemed to have more roots and root hairs. Both were pungent when raw and smelled like a cross between cabbage and radishes. The rutabaga had a yellow tint to it that intensified when cooked while the turnip remained white.

We were able to convince Ward and Theodore to participate in a taste test after the vegetables were cooked--which was pretty remarkable considering neither one of them like turnips.They weren't too sure that they wanted to sample anything called yellow turnips. However, they did sample them right along with Miss Landers and me.

We all agreed that the rutabaga had a definite potato taste. Theodore said that the rutabaga tasted as if it were a cross between potatoes and brussel sprouts. A fairly apt description. Theodore and I liked the turnips better with their more peppery taste while Ward and Miss Landers liked the rutabagas better with their milder taste and creamier texture.

In conclusion, will I start adding rutabagas to my grocery list on a regular basis? No. But will I now have something new to talk about when there is a lull in the conversation? Yes. :)

Notice they white color of the cooked turnips and the yellow color of the rutabaga.

 More sources:

• Rutabaga overview--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga
• Rutabaga recipes--http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/seasonal/winter/rutabaga/top.aspx
• Rutabaga nutrition--http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Vegetables/Rutabaga.html
• How to grow rutabagas  http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-26.html
• A serious and not so serious blog about rutabagas--http://rutablogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/breakthrough-photosnynthesis-stimulate.html
• I

Thankful Sunday, October 11, 2020

 I am thankful for homegrown vegetables.

We haven't been big vegetable gardeners. There are many reasons for this, but over the years our vegetable gardening has consisted mostly of a random tomato plant here or there. That is until this year. During the intense first couple of months of the pandemic lockdown, I decided that we needed raised beds for a garden. Ward built two plots and we began planting. As I have mentioned before, all of our spring/summer plants and seeds were given to us by friends. From them, we got a meager modest harvest of brussel sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers, crookneck squash, carrots, and bok choy. We enjoyed each serving of what we grew and savored it since we knew there weren't many more to follow. The deer, rabbits, and stink bugs needed their share, you know, and uncooperative weather didn't help the plants either.

In August, I planted a few things for a fall garden just because. The turnips and radishes have done quite well, and one lettuce plant and one pea pod have so far escaped the rabbits. But the most exciting part is that I picked three tomatoes from the revived plants. (Between the deer and the stink bugs, we got only one tomato from five plants during the summer.) I love fresh tomatoes! And if the weather cooperates, we may get more. So for our homegrown vegetables and the tastiness they bring to our table, I am thankful.

This morning I finally got around to thinning the carrots and some of them are big enough to eat. The tomatoes weren't quite ripe, but I wanted to pick them before we got rain from Delta and they possibly split. And when that happens, the bugs always get there before we do. Also, I pulled some radishes and turnips. The biggest ones are pictured. The radish is about the size of a baseball and the turnip is about the size of a softball.

A Fall Afternoon

It's a pleasant afternoon. The sun is shining while the wind is rustling through the trees. There is definitely the feeling of fall in the air. These are the days that I want to hang onto before they turn into the winter cold. I took advantage of the welcoming afternoon and explored my yard. Here are a few of things I saw. 

The volunteer zinnia bed still has a lot of color although some of the blooms are starting to fade.

The zinnias come in various shades of pink in this bed - from this light pink...

...to this dark pink.

Even the ones that are starting to fade are providing nectar for small skipper butterflies.
These are the only butterflies I see now.

This love-lies-bleeding plant seeded itself from last year. Last year they were
huge and unruly, so I tried to pull up all of the seedlings I saw this year.
This one snuck by and is behaving itself,
so maybe they'll get another chance next year.

The marigolds are in full bloom now after not blooming all summer. This follows the timing for many plants which has been different this year. The very hot and dry middle of the summer stunted many of them that have only come alive in the past few weeks with some rain and cooler weather. This is odd for marigolds which usually do well in hot weather.

However, the mums are blooming right on schedule.

This group of mums has almost doubled in area in the 3 1/2 years that we've lived here.
I would like to redo this bed, but the mums are so happy here, I don't want to disturb them.

The yellow mums are in the back and these pink ones are in the front.
I planted them a couple of years ago and they have come back strong each year. 

The vinca are still blooming, but their foliage is starting to yellow.

The earliest trees are just starting change colors. Yes, fall is here. 

Whatever

When I write a post, I like to have a purpose and a particular thing I want share. This often hinders me from writing because it seems too difficult to try to form coherent thoughts without a clear reason for sharing. That's a bit of perfectionism, I guess, and that along with the feeling that I don't really have anything very interesting to say leads me to irregular posting .

When I started this blog nine years ago after encouragement from a friend, I didn't even really know what a blog was. I had ideas of what I wanted to write about, but I soon figured out that I wanted to tell other people's stories and those were not mine to tell. I tried all kinds of things trying to find my blog's voice. I did Food Waste Friday with the Frugal Girl and I made up recipes and shared what we ate because I saw that was what others were doing. It didn't matter that I didn't like to cook. 

In addition, I wrote about musings from my kids in their younger days and did a round of posts on school memories from different friends and family. I did a series on differences between boys and girls that I had observed and participated in the yearly A-Z challenge. Also, I regularly posted encouraging sayings for myself where I would caption one of my photos and did Thankful Sunday posts to practice gratitude. 

I skipped along from here to there until I started doing my Second Looks. Then I was excited. I enjoyed exploring my yard each week trying to see the flowers and not the weeds or actually trying to see the weeds as flowers. I learned all kinds of things about the plants and critters that lived there and the discoveries were exhilarating. That was when I hit my stride. But I have a different house and a different job now that take up both my physical and mental energy most days. And the blog shows that.

But, I'd like to do more and thus, my dilemma. 

So what does all of this mean? Well, it means that without a clear idea in mind, I don't know what I'm writing. I sat down to write about the massive picture deletion project I've been doing and I ended up never getting to the topic, but let me see if I can wrap it up. While going through old pictures, I've also thought about old blog posts and I am going to start sharing some of those just like I am sharing some of my old pictures with family and friends.

Until next time...

A Night at the Movies

This past weekend, Ward and I went to a drive-in movie.  I had never been to one before and a few years ago when I decided that I wanted to try one, they were almost extinct.  But the pandemic has changed that. Some very enterprising people in a nearby town set up a drive-in at the local fairgrounds. 

On an impulse, we loaded the car with sandwiches and popcorn on Saturday night and headed out to fulfill one of the things on my bucket list. Having never been to a drive-in, I only knew what I had seen in the movies. However, Ward remembers going a few times as a kid. His family had a station wagon and after the first kid friendly movie of the double feature played, the kids were supposed to go to sleep in the back while their parents watched the next movie. One night he remembers his mother was upset with the content of the second movie and told the kids to turn around and not look at the screen. Well, that got Ward's curiosity up and he watched every chance he got. He wasn't sure what his mother was concerned about, but he knew it must be good.

 So my vision was cars lined up in rows watching a movie. Well, it didn't quite work like that. While the cars were in a row, they only used every other space so each car had clear space around all four sides. And they asked if you wanted to be front facing or tailgating.  We hadn't even considered that option. As it turns out many of the cars had their backs lifted and sat outside their car in lawn chairs while listening to the speaker in their car during the movie. Before hand, there were several picnics going on,  but everyone stayed close to their group. 

All of that was well and good until the movie started and the raised car backs were blocking my view. However, that was only a minor problem which Ward fixed by adjusting the car slightly. And I say minor compared to what happened when we tried to leave after the first movie. Our car wouldn't start.

Some how the immobilizer got activated and it did its job. Our car was immobilized. Our first thoughts were how were we going to get a tow truck into the middle of the lot where we were parked and how that would totally disrupt the movie for all who were watching. But it didn't come to that. After numerous phone calls, a visit from AAA, and help from several security guards, we got the car running. Not before the AAA person said that he couldn't fix it and had called a tow truck. Luckily we were able to cancel the truck before it arrived. So all's well that ends well.

So what did I think of my first drive-in movie experience? It was enjoyable and I would do it again. The best parts were the people involved. First was the group who made the venue happen. They used the otherwise vacant fairgrounds to bring safe family entertainment to the area not to mention work for local food trucks.  Next was the very helpful staff that got our car started. They searched the internet on their phones for hints, radioed one another for advice, and didn't give up even when the person from AAA essentially said it was hopeless. And with all of that, the big screen movie wasn't too bad, either.