Late Fall Harvest

For a garden blog I haven't been talking much about the garden, have I? Here is a bit about what is going on:

This is the broccoli on November 15:
I had 13 broccoli plants this year (14 originally, one didn't make it). I bought them at Lowes in Lexington, VA, because my local greenhouse was sold out by the time I got to them. I really wasn't sure I was going to get broccoli this year because by the middle of October they were but wee little broccoli wannabes. When I picked the first batch at the beginning of December they were huge:I got a great Fall broccoli crop! A little wormy, but I took care of them (for the most part. I hope). You can see the size here, my gloved hand is at the left: A week after I picked the first snow-covered batch we were having a cold and windy spell and I decided to pick the rest before the wind got to it. It has all been blanched and frozen now.

I also cut into the single Australian Butter squash I got, and 'Butter' is the perfect word to describe the flavor. Fantastic! I will grow these again:

1/3 of this squash went into this apple and cranberry dish for Thanksgiving:The remaining 2/3 was cooked (too much, I think) and frozen. This is a great squash.

My remaining carrots and parsnips are still in the ground. I covered them over with the now-infamous bags of leaves to try to insulate them some. Next warmish spell I'll try to dig them up. The cabbages, I fear, are toast. Just got them in too late.