Yesterday afternoon Cubby and I were outside wandering around, as we do every day that it isn't actively raining. Snow? Sure. Nineteen degrees? Make sure the snow pants are on and the ears covered, but get that child outside.
Inside is no good for Cubby and, by extension, me. So outside we go, weather be damned.
As we were meandering about, I happened to think of the leeks still in the garden. And of how delicious leek and potato soup is. And how long it had been since we'd had it. So I re-directed Cubby to the frozen garden, where I grabbed the shovel and set about digging leeks.
Did I mention it was nineteen degrees? Because it was. Prime digging weather, right there.
Surprisingly, I got the shovel in at the end of the row with no trouble, but when I pried up on it, I ended up leveraging out basically the rest of the row. That is, a continuous two-foot chunk of frozen dirt with about seven leeks inside.
Useful.
Since I had already ripped all of those leeks up by the roots, I figured I'd better get them out of the garden. But the chunk of dirt was too big to carry, so I hacked at it with the shovel until I could at least lift the two pieces. Then I instructed Cubby to carry one (he couldn't really, but it occupied him while I got the other one to the house), figuring I would fill a bucket with water and put the leeks and dirt in the water to thaw the dirt and free the leeks.
But while I was hauling my enormous block of frozen dirt and leeks to the house, I slipped on some mud on an incline and fell flat on my ass.
Seriously. MUD? It was NINETEEN DEGREES. WHAT THE HELL?
I was mad. And covered in mud. So by the time I got to the house, I didn't have the patience to slop around with buckets of water. Instead I literally threw the chunk of dirt at the low concrete retaining wall near the shop door. This worked surprisingly well. I thought it would break the leeks up too, but they ended up just kind of breaking out of the frozen dirt whole, as if coming out of a mold.
Huh.
The soup was delicious, but I will not be digging leeks again until the temperature gets above freezing. I can learn.
Gardening can be such a b!tch. :)
ReplyDeleteThere once was a mom named Kristin,
who's hunger just had her a'itchin,
for some 'tater soup,
she fell in the poop,
before she could get to the kitchen.
Oh dear! I'm glad you're OK... but I have to admit I laughed at the mental image of someone tossing frozen leeks at a wall in revenge against slippery mud! :-)
ReplyDeleteFalls like that always end up hurting my back more than my bottom. Hope you aren't too sore today.
ReplyDeleteOut into the cold to get food,
for digging she was in a mood,
after a fall,
she threw leeks at a wall,
then went in and ate them, stewed
(I don't think my counts are right, but I tried, darn it! :) )
Can you share your leek and potato soup recipe please? I grew leeks this year and need some recipes for them! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous already said
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I had in my head.
You slipped and you fell
and got madder than hell
At the mud which was sheep shit instead.
I'm so jealous of your glamorous life.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I cleaned closets yesterday and blogged about it, so I'm not sure who's going to win the glam contest. I had no mud, but plenty of mundane chores.
Today I'm baking. And my cake already fell apart. But you know what? Icing is like glue so I'm determined to piece it together and eat it because, damn, the little pieces taste good.
sorry, i don;t have much to say except that i am very much enjoying reading your adventures and you are six different kinds of awesome.
ReplyDeletedon't make me trot out reasons why. there are plenty and i just don't have the energy.