Fresh Salad in December!

There are very few things more satisfying than harvesting fresh salad fixings from the backyard in December.  In fact, I am amazed that I can harvest anything at all since it has been so chilly here over the past few weeks.  Today was a little over freezing so I decided that it would be a good time to peek inside the low hoop tunnel where I have a bed of lettuce and spinach planted.  I was pleasantly surprised to find some very happy looking spinach plants under the plastic.  The lettuce didn't fare as well, but at least I still had something to show for my effort.

In a nearby bed I also had another secret harvest hidden.  When I planted my brussel sprouts this spring I planted a row of carrots on each side of them.  All summer the carrots grew under the canopy of brussel sprouts, but now the plants had wilted back, revealing the carrot tops beneath.  I took my shovel and carefully lifted a few from the ground.  They weren't very large, but they sure were sweet!

 I washed them up and then sliced them into a bed of torn spinach.  While I was preparing the salad, I set some fresh eggs on to boil and picked through what was left of the last tomato harvest.  The pickings were slim, but I managed to find a small handful of still edible tomatoes that I washed and sliced and added to the salad .  When it was all said and done I had a delicious winter lunch all picked straight out of my backyard.  You would be hard pressed to find food fresher than this anywhere else.

Now that was a satisfying lunch!