Knowing that completing this endeavor was going to require us to be located in the same vicinity for some time, we decided to break out our new record player, and enjoy some vintage Rock & Roll while hobbitizing. Thus, we would be grooving to the beets while grooving to the beats, or in this case should it be beats. Maybe we have an English professor in the house who could straighten me out on this one!
As the day started, it was not looking real good, but in this neck of the woods there is an old slogan, ( if you don't like the weather, just wait for ten minutes.)
As you can see from the time stamp on these pictures, it took a little longer then ten minutes for this beautiful day to develop, and what a great day it turned out to be.
For the past several weeks we have been vigilant in keeping an eye on the weather, looking for any freezing temperatures that
Old Man Winter may bringing with him.
Well, that day had arrived. As I walked back to the garden, with the early morning fog not ready to unmask the day, I was wondering how cold did it get last night.
While setting my cup of coffee on the garden table, there was the proof that it was time to get busy.
It was time to harvest the beats, or should it be beets. No big deal, you get the picture.
With most root crops, you don't really know what you have until you dig them up. With beets it's a little different story, as the root of the beet will grow partially out of the ground. I had exposed several of the beets a few weeks before.
We knew that we would be harvesting a bumper crop, but we never expected such a bounty.
With all of the vegetation and the root system trimmed back, the first bed of beets were ready for the next step.
When trimming the beets, you should trim both the vegetation and the root of the beat, leaving at least a 1/2 in. remaining. Trimming this way will reduce the bleeding of the beet while cooking.
Having a double wash basin outside sure does save a big mess in the kitchen.
Before cooking the beets it's a good idea to separate the beets by size. Doing this will insure that the beets are cooked uniformly. We tend to like a more stout beet, and by separating them, all of the different sizes will be firm.
It was a very busy morning, and at this point it was time to sit back and groove to the beets, or is that beats. 🤷♂️ The weather was spectacular, no wind, sunny and 61*.
Sittin in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin when the evenin' come
watching the clouds roll in
And then I watch'em roll away again, yeah
I'm sittin' on the deck of the farm
Watching the fog roll away
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the deck of the farm
Wastin' time
My version of a great Otis Redding song
We try and use the outdoor stove as much as possible, especially on a day like this.
Again the kitchen was saved. 
These are some of the groovy beets, or beats we listened to while cooking the b--ts. There we go, no confusion now, just fill in the blanks.
The cook time can vary from 25 minutes for the smaller beets, and up to 45 minutes for the large ones. As they are cooking we'll check them for firmness with a fork.
When we remove the beets from the boiling water we immediately place them in an ice bath, and run cold water over them while we peel the beets.
The skin peels off very easily.
Despite leaving some vegetation at both ends of the beets, the water has turned a gorgeous red.
I can only imagine how much the juices would have bled into the water if everything was trimmed flush to the beet.
The next step was cutting them. After silencing them in half, the marbled flesh of the beets was worthy of a couple of pictures.
After cutting the beets into wedges, they were ready to be vacuum sealed.
Vacuum bags with absorbent material are very pricey, they go for a dollar a bag.
Instead of using these bags, we used sanitary gauze sponges.
This little trick does the job, soaking up the juices from the beets as the vacuum does its thing.
Anyone who has ever used a vacuum sealer knows what havoc juice can play when trying to get a good seal.
With the box of Early Wonder beets in the freezer,
tomorrow we would tackle the Detroit Dark Red beets.
The following day was just as prolific as the day before.
Since we had all of the gear setup, we decided to harvest the remaining carrots.
This year's crop of beats, or beets, or better yet b--ts, yielded us 20 pounds of marbled treats.
I would say that deserves a little celebratory glass of beat juice.😊
Throughout this entire process nothing is left to waste. All of the clippings and peelings are added to our mulch pile.
I hope you enjoyed!