still harvesting,dec 13

larry@stinescorner · Dec 14, 2014

did you know that before the arrival of potatoes in Europe,Turnips was a main crop for many peoples survival?I will say from experience,they are very economical to grow,and the harvest time extends way longer than potatoes,,they are not as tasty as potatoes in my opinion,but are definately a good food to grow if we had to consider survival food

just my 02 cents for the day,,,lol

when food supply is short,,wouldnt they look tasty?

Gene Dotson · Dec 14, 2014

Slice then thin and fry or french fry them and are a great substitute for potatoes. Don't know it they can be mashed like potatoes though.

Gene

paul · Dec 14, 2014

Mine were a little bit hard a week ago, now they are awful
mushy and past their prime here. The cattle love them tho, I
haven't seen the cattle much, they were rooting out the turnips
and getting enough moisture from the snow they didnt come
home much for water.

Not the best pic, the black lumps are cattle in my cornstalks
and oats stubble, oats has turnips in it.

Paul

Angle Iron · Dec 14, 2014

We start thinning them at about 1 inch in size and eat some in salads like radishes or alone with a little salt. After that up until around 3 inch we dice them boil like a potato, heavy cream, butter and mash. Salt and pepper to taste. Now I don't care for them but my wife and her family are nuts for the greens from the turnips. Remove the heavy stems, shred like you would spinach or any other green. In a pot to simmer with a streak of lean, fatback or bacon for flavor. This is an ongoing thing as the green tops keep on growing and can be cut over and over. Same thing with the rutabaga greens as well. Take the pot juice and pour over crumbled corn muffins. My wife says its like candy. As I said I don.t care for them but she has eaten them since they were kids. Her parents were kids during the 30s and I think they ate what ever was growing at the time and were happy to get it.

RalphWD45 · Dec 14, 2014

My Moms people. were poor Kentucky people, transplanted to northern Wisconson, during the depression. They mostly worked in logging, around Long Lake wisc., and Iron River Mi. They were of German - Dutch decent, and Turnips and Rutabagas were considered a staple, along with various Beans. I grew up eating Turnips, and Raw sweet frosted Turnips, were my favorite Dads people were Illinois farmers, and didn't use those root crops much, but would plant Turnips in the Rye, for the Hogs to graze on. If I wanted a turnip, I could usually find a good one, in the Rye.

gtractorfan · Dec 14, 2014

One of the farm shows yesterday talked about cover crops and what they showed looked a lot like your turnips. Maybe someone just planted more than they could harvest lol!

paul · Dec 14, 2014

This summer fall after the oats and straw harvest. Found my pic.

Paul

Bruce from Can. · Dec 14, 2014

My Dad and Grand dad grew turnips for the cows. We
had a turnip pulpper to chop them into slices for
the cows so they wouldn't coke on large chunks. My
Mother loved turnip, and would cook and mash it
with butter, my Dad hated the smell of it,as do I.
smells like a cow burping in your face .LOL.Bruce

todd hamilton · Dec 14, 2014

I like turnips but wouldn't want to live on them.
My mother lived on potato soup made with water one
winter when she was a little girl.

Bob Bancroft · Dec 14, 2014

Did you just take those pictures today? I'm going to proclaim you're at the garden spot of America. Soil dry enough to get on it most any time. Yet enough moisture to grow good crops- and I've never seen any irrigation equipment in your pictures.
Seems like all we have anymore is mud, or now snow.

Animal · Dec 14, 2014

Me too, I can not stand any kind of potato soup to this day...

todd hamilton · Dec 14, 2014

Mom made good potato soup with milk, bacon and onions. If anyone complained she would offer to make same with water

47fivewindow · Dec 14, 2014

when making mashed potatoes add one turnip for each
4 spuds. you cant taste turnips, it just seems
moist and earthy. mmm good

Traditional Farmer · Dec 14, 2014

Grate Turnips like you would cabbage and use them to make cole slaw.I like it better than cole slaw made with cabbage.I generally grow around an acre every year as cover crop and pull some for the hogs every day mine are still doing good.

larry@stinescorner · Dec 14, 2014

yes,we did make it this fall,it was good,I made a 4 galon crock of turnip kraut too,but its not ready yet

davpal · Dec 15, 2014

I planted several acres of them in flooded out spots we had in our bean fields this year. They were the purple tops and some of them went up to four pounds. I still have them out there but I just can't force myself to eat them much. They were mostly planted as a bribe to the deer to leave our soybeans alone.

Bret4207 · Dec 15, 2014

(quoted from post at 19:53:45 12/14/14) Did you just take those pictures today? I'm going to proclaim you're at the garden spot of America. Soil dry enough to get on it most any time. Yet enough moisture to grow good crops- and I've never seen any irrigation equipment in your pictures.
Seems like all we have anymore is mud, or now snow.

I think Larry is in Jersey or close to it. New Jersey was "The Garden State" for a good reason back in the day. Climate, soil and close to population centers. Even in the 40's and 50's it was a big farm state.

larry@stinescorner · Dec 15, 2014

I took them saturday in pa,,,the ground is a limestone shale,the area in the picture is dark black soil,the top part drains well,the lower part is usually wet,that piece of ground actually is owned by the neighbor,its right next to our property,it is a comunity turnip patch which I plant and tend to,I will type the history of it on a rainy or cold day,,,,lol

Donald Lehman · Dec 15, 2014

Raise a few each year. As you say, I like taters better, but I sure wouldn't turn em down if it came to eating turnips or going hungry. My daughter lives in VA and she says they are big on turnips, turnip greens, turnip EVERYTHING in that area.

RN · Dec 15, 2014

turnips and beets in northern Europe and a few places in US are critter food and survival for poor human food- more nutrition than a snowball. Greens and root usable, short growing season for something edible, long harvest season for the roots -can dig until really hard freeze and ground gets solid a foot down. Korean 'kaffir corn/grain sorghum' and beet and turnip greens, roots and whatever you can shoot or trap have kept some humans alive through winter in some northern states and Canada. Humans learn to like them because the ones that don't like them starve and don't reproduce. If all else fails, use them in Kimchee and kraut, have some barley pop to wash it down. RN

Mike M · Dec 15, 2014

I had some and thought they were more like onions ?

Cas · Dec 15, 2014

Thank for the info on turnips for survival food.
I hope that day never comes. But, I have been slowly preparing for it for a few years now. Most people are ignoring the possibility of a black swan event.
An example from recent history, is Germany in the 1930s. The Jewish people saw the writing on the wall, but only 5% actually left for other countries. 95% met an untimely end.
That is where most of the people in this country have their thinking now. Prepare and hope we will not need it.

Leroy · Dec 15, 2014

Did not know they could be fried like potatos. Parents liked them just boiled, I could not stand them that way. Fried might have been OK. Never tried mashing them.

still harvesting,dec 13

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