"They don't smell like this in the grocery store," said Miss M.

"No. No they don't," said I. 

I pulled carrots today. I rinsed the dirt off in the outdoor sink and moved them inside.

Miss M took it from there.

She sorted the carrots into 'salad' and 'cooking' piles according to the 'peel' criteria-- if it's too small to peel... .  She then cut off the tops, rinsed them once more-- Miss M does not care for dirt-- and placed the tops into the gumbo pot along with some parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme & onion so I could simmer a few quarts of carrot top stock. We love carrot top stock. 

So for a few hours in mid-day, the kitchen smelled liked homegrown carrots. 

And then it smelled like pumpkin. 

I've begun this story in the middle of things-- for you literary  folk, that's in medias res. Earlier in the day, Mr Big Food & I had rectified his records with the true inventory of my freezer that I'd conducted a few days ago. We discovered 3 2 pounds of mashed pumpkin from last year. We used one pound today to make pumpkin pound cake. 

Like sucks, don't you know?

Later on it smelled like citrus and chicken and peppers. We still have 9 5 whole halves of pepper halves for stuffing from 2012!!!! And so we had a delightful chicken dish with an orange, onion, herb topping. It was good. And peppers stuffed with shredded carrots and whatnot.

Here's the funny thing. I've noticed-- though I can't point to any specific reference-- that other folks who garden do what we did today. The veggie freezer is pretty empty right now. It's a good time to tidy it up, take stock, and consume the last of yesteryear's harvest. 

And begin again!