79 ~ Fresh food from the snow

Happy Solstice, all!

With a blizzard bearing down, late this afternoon I thought it best to take advantage of the last patch of sunlight and comparative warmth we’ll have for a while, and collect some food.

I first walked down to the spring, and gathered some handfuls of brilliant green watercress into a plastic bag. On the return walk, I had to tuck the bag inside my coat to keep the cress from freezing, hugging it all the way home.

Back home, watercress secured, I retrieved my stout pitchfork from the shed, and headed to the garden. In a spot I knew, I cleared away snow and some insulating hay to reveal the still fresh green tops of parsnips. The ground was still soft under the insulation, and within a few minutes I had dug enough beautifully white roots to accompany Christmas Eve dinner (the centerpiece of which will be a roast goose Alsatian style - stuffed with homemade sauerkraut and apples; full disclosure - a bird I purchased from Woodman’s Market).

I even found parnsnips in love - a nice motif for the holidays:

After the ‘snips, I turned to the last remaining row of leeks, and dug some of them out of the winter ground. They’re mostly frozen, but nothing a thaw and a sauté in my nephew’s olive oil won’t cure.

It was a good afternoon’s work. I find it deeply satisfying to find green foods amongst the cold white world of December. They’re a reminder, and an insipiration, for my own resilience, even in the face of long nights.