Perhaps spring, or maybe even summer, has arrived in the rest of the United States. But here in the Upper Peninsula, it is still chilly. And I’m realizing I’ve got to wait too long until there are fresh garden goodies to eat. We are patiently waiting for asparagus, which is coming slowly this year due to the late spring. I planted spinach and lettuce and am impatiently watching it grow, urging it on. Grow spinach grow.

In the meantime, we are eating what we’ve got, which is carrots and canned peaches – pounds and pounds and pounds of carrots that had been wintered-over in our garden.  The hubby covered them with about a foot of mulch and a tarp and tucked them in before we left for the winter.  We dug them up as soon as we arrived in the Eden of Garden at the beginning of May and they were more delicious and crisp than before they spent the winter underground. The hubby calls them “Cold Kissed Carrots” (sorry Rick I refuse to spell Cold with a “k”, alliteration is the bane of professional writers). 

The idea with the carrots is that once they’ve been frosted they become more sweet. And they really do. I’m not a big carrot fan. I still can’t figure out why we grow so many. But, they are a welcome treat in the slim pickins of spring time in the Eden of Garden. 

To hold me over until the strawberries arrive – and I’m expecting a banner strawberry year – I’ve been pilfering the hubby’s canned peaches. I think of them as little bites of August sunshine. The hubby doesn’t like to share, but we’ve got at least two cases of canned peaches in the root cellar and I’m the one who canned them all!  Essentially my springtime diet has consisted of peaches, carrots and freezer food that needs to get cleaned out to make room for this year’s produce. Judging from the cold weather, I’ve got a few months to eat all that stuff.

Even though all us farmer’s marketers are slow getting things growing during this chilly spring, we all showed up on Saturday for the first market of the season. Us with our Cold Kissed Carrots and everyone else with rhubarb. Very few customers showed up (it was a rainy, cold day) so we all hung out and ate carrots and drank coffee and discussed the freaking cold weather. I scored some wheat berries and tortillas to eat with my carrots and peaches. It was a wonderful start to the farmer’s market season.