Digging Day

It’s not all fun and games! It’s not as if all we do is sit around, play cards, have “animated discussions” (read that “arguments” if you so desire), and drink. Though enough of that goes on to make digging day worth it!

Digging day is usually the day before the grinding goes on. Though, since last year when I showed-up with my KitchenAid Food Processor it has been chopping rather than grinding… But I am getting ahead of myself.

The day before the big event we all drive out to a field in the county my uncle lives in where there is a big patch of Horseradish. It is on the farm of a friend of my uncle’s and it is where I have been to dig. If there have been other patches in other years, I’ve not been to them. So my siblings and I, my parents, my uncle and aunt, and a cousin all drove out to the field to dig on Friday afternoon.

The digging was a snap yesterday due to all the rain that Minnesota has been getting of late! The ground was nice and soft. In previous years it has been hard work. In previous years it has also been reasonably warm. This year, it was pretty cold, but once you got to turning over the soil, it was plenty warm.

My uncle had an inspired idea this year. After digging our six buckets of roots, we took them back to the farm and ran them under the power washer for a while to knock most the dirt and much of the root fibre structure off the main roots. That aught to make the cleaning tomorrow easier!

It was then off to Chet’s for chicken to celebrate the completion of the first part of the process. I dropped my brother and his wife off in town with Dad and Flo’s car. We had dropped it at the service center for repairs to the heater core on the way in. They were going to get it back to the house this morning, but then they decided to leave it at the shop and see if it can’t be fixed today. So there is no reason to have it at home. It’s not as if there is any dearth of cars around.

So I guess I should finish writing and get into town to get Denis and Helen. And the roads are going to be bad! I just know it. It snowed last night!

Wherever you are today, I wish you well and hope you’re warm and happy!

Don Bergquist – October 10, 2009 – Kensington, Minnesota, USA