Complimentary Blueberry Juice

Once upon a time I had a grand idea to grow Parnsips in a no-dig system.

The first attempt I used some old seeds lying around, and none came up. I would learn later that to get good Parsnip germination you need fresh seeds.

The second attempt I succeeded at germination, however our hard, thick clay was not broadforked, and giant parsnips grew in what was effectively concrete. A broadfork handle broke while trying to get them out, so we gave up, and decided to just leave them. Since Parnsips are biennial, they continued growing the following year and we had to deal with them anyway.

The third attempt we lost a battle with weeds, the bed was not properly prepped, and tiny Parsnips were laboriously dug up to prevent the biennial mistake from happening again. I also learned that other farmers similar to us are not bothering to grow Parsnips, so despite the failures I was determined to make it happen.

And now here in 2023, on the fourth attempt, we’ve harvested about 100 kilos of Parnsnips. We used fresh seed, we had a good bed, we kept the weeds down and although we lost a second broadfork handle to the Parsnip, we have emerged victorious with Parsnips.

As I said recently in Trials and Errors, “More often than not we are our own problem. The trick to a green thumb is to try again, with open eyes.”

And now…to enjoy some delicious Parsnips!

Maybe next year our Parsnip game will be even better. Working repeatedly and closely with any living thing grants you an intimate understanding of the nuances of what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Just keep growin’

Graham