According to Melissa Word, turmeric should be harvested when the leaves turn yellow; Dig it up, pull off the nubs, and plant the hairy pieces.
Ok. Easy enough. But the leaves didn’t turn yellow until just before Christmas after a very cold snap. Between the cold, the rain, and the holiday, I didn’t make it out there until the past weekend.
I had planted a lone tuber in the early Pandemic days. I wasn’t sure what lay ahead or if regular food supplies would continue, so I ordered seed and bought tubers for the things I thought might be hard to get.
Here we are, slap dab in the middle of the Pandammit. Happily, the grocery stores are still providing the fare to which we are all accustomed. I’m still very excited about what I found in the dirt. Look at this delightful conglomeration of orangy goodness!
I plucked the protruberances to leave the hairy stalks MW had spoken of. These I returned to the dirt. I’ll be eager to see what comes of them next year.
Now, what to do with all the lovely nubbins. I’m quite proud of my first, modest harvest and want to be sure to make good use of it.
I turned to Google and found YouTube articles about drying, powdering, and freezing. But then I found Morag Gamble’s presentation. She suggests storing them in sand to keep them fresh for quite some time. You just grab a piece when needed.
I like the sound of this plan and have book marked her Our Permaculture Life channel! I now have my lovely turmeric nubbins in a bucket. I put my ginger root in another. It seems like the same philosophy might apply. Only time will tell, and I will let you know how this method works out, but all in all, it was an encouraging start to a new year and isn’t that what we are all looking for right now?