Parsnip harvest time today, and a beautiful 60 degree day it was, with sunshine.

You can’t pull parsnips out like you do with carrots; they are so big that the top would break off before you could pull the whole thing out.  Instead you must loosen the soil around the parsnip with a fork, then pull it out.

I ended up pulling a whole row.

I’m disappointed.  They are significantly smaller this year than they were last year.  Last year we had at least 6 meals out of our two rows, and this year it will probably only be two.  I’m not sure what went wrong.  I planted them in a different location in the garden, and I’m wondering if this location gets a tiny bit less sunlight than where I had them last year.  It’s also possible that they suffered (like all garden plants) from our very strange cool and dry summer.  Not sure.  Here they are all cleaned up:

Three of them were nice, about the size I expected.  The rest were more like large radishes in size, with lots of strings and “legs.”  Anyone have any ideas how this might have happened?  I’m at a loss.

We cooked them up and made mashed parsnips.  Really delicious.