Picking winter vegetables in November
3 h€ 15-40 Calm
A grey November Sunday on a vegetable plot. Kale, white cabbage, parsnip. A basket full for a week of soup and mashed potato dishes.
Picking strawberries in June is something everyone does. Picking winter vegetables in November is a different story. It often rains, it's grey, you're standing in boots in the clay, pulling up kale or parsnip. It's no postcard, it's work in a very different month from when people "enjoy being outside".
Yet that is precisely the month when many small vegetable plots (CSA models) ask their members to come and pick. An hour or two on a grey Sunday, a basket full of kale, white cabbage, parsnip, beetroot, and a few pumpkins left over from October. At the end you have vegetables for a whole week of soup and mashed potato dishes, you have wet feet, and you have done something in a month when most people just stay indoors.
Checklist
0 of 6
CSA-tuin of pergola-project gevonden
Voor jouw regio
Laarzen en regenjas klaar
Muts en handschoenen
Voor de kou
Mand of houten kistje
Plastic werkt niet
Mes mee
Voor boerenkool en kool
Soep-recept klaar thuis
Voor de avond
Handy & partners
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A week ahead: find a CSA plot or pergola project in your area. Ask whether a November Sunday visit is possible.
0On the morning: put your boots on instead of waiting until you're at the car. Put them on at home. That prevents the trainers-in-clay moment.
Arriving at the plot: take ten minutes to look around. What is still growing. Kale stands tall, white cabbage sits low to the ground, parsnip has to be pulled out of the soil.
CSA-tuin DoornFirst few minutes in an autumn plot: quiet. It smells of wet soil, of rain on greenery. A different smell from a summer plot.
Start with the kale: cut the leaves off, not the whole plant. A new leaf will come through within a week.
Parsnip and carrots: pull carefully. Sometimes you need a fork to loosen them first, don't just yank until something snaps.
An hour in a grey plot, with wet hands and a basket that slowly fills up, feels different from every other Sunday of the year. Not better, not worse, just different.
Weighing and paying at the end. Many CSAs work with a voluntary contribution, some have fixed prices.
20Kale from an Albert Heijn is the same crop as kale from a November plot, but the distance between not-knowing and knowing is bigger than you'd think. Picking it once changes something about the soup that week.
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For anyone copying this
Do as we did
Suggestions
- Boots, not trainers. November clay is different from June dust.
- A thick coat and hat. Not a fashion statement, just warm.
- Bring a knife for the kale, not all CSAs have enough to go around.
- A large basket or wooden crate for the vegetables. A plastic bag is too flimsy.
Variations
- - Met partner: een verbluffend stille zondag samen, geen entertainment nodig.
- - Maandelijks (oktober tot maart): een vaste zondag per maand op dezelfde CSA-tuin geeft een hele andere relatie tot wintergroente.
- - Solo: een grijze zondagochtend alleen op een groente-tuin is rustgevender dan het klinkt.
- - In de sneeuw (januari): nog harder werk, maar een hele andere ervaring.
by PlayTryBe team