Every year once the onion (or potato) pickers have been through the paddocks, our friends get permission to go in afterwards and collect any produce that hadn't made the grade. They go with another family (of 8!) and this year were kind enough to offer us an invitation to come along too.
Our haul after we have given some away to Grandma and friends.
It was a lovely evening and the girls and I had a great time grabbing the onions off the fields. All that bending and hauling bags was hard work but really rewarding. Agent Smelly spent more time talking to one of her friends so only managed a couple of half bags much to our amusement. The Fashionista despite picking with her bestie did a great job and collected a few bags.
There weren't so many red ones left and those that were, were quite small. We still collected enough to see us through for quite a while. There were loads of brown ones that were of really good quality too, I am not sure why they leave some of them. We got a great haul ... imagine how much our friends got with their crews!!! These onions would have been simply ploughed back into the ground if we hadn't of picked the left overs so if you live anywhere near some onion fields (or some other produce) write to the people and ask if you can clear out the paddocks after they've finished picking them, you might be lucky like us and be given permission to pop along and clean up.
As we now have onions a-plenty I had the girls help me make some onion soup. We learnt that it used to be made by peasants during a time when they could not afford much and hence was referred to as "peasant soup". The papa and I don't mind it but the girls have suggested I don't ever make it again, even if we end up living as peasants.
That's quite a haul. I like this idea. I've never tried onion soup. Must give it a shot.
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