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May 04, 2009

Local Wintering

I just cooked the last two local vegetables in my refrigerator: cabbage and celeriac. They both looked kind of poorly and I think have been sitting in the bottom of my fridge since November or December. However, the celeriac wasn't even moldy and the cabbage only needed a few of the exterior leaves removed.

Amazing.

I once commented to a coworker that I had no idea how our ancestors kept vegetables through the winter since I can't seem to keep them for more than a month. She responded that they propably checked their vegetables a lot more often and had lower standards.

It was with this perspective in mind that I bought cabbage and 20 lbs of squash at the beginning of last winter. I checked the squash often and cooked whichever one looked like it was about to turn. Using this method I didn't cook my last one until last month.

And this month I finally worked my way down to the celeriac and cabbage. The lentil soup hasn't cooled enough yet or I'd mention out it turned out.