Tomatoes, done. It's carrot time.

If I haven’t bored you yet by talking about how great my garden has been this summer, let me do so now. What an incredible year to be a farmer! Even I could have won a prize at the Goshen Fair, except of course for the fact that it was an incredible year for all the other local farmers, too.

Mainly I’ve been obsessing over the tomatoes but now that it’s cooler outside, I’ve started concentrating on the hardy autumn vegetables, such as the carrots.

This is the time of year when carrots are large and sweet and easy to yank from the ground; they haven’t yet begun to shoot out the extra roots that will make it hard to pull them.

I’m not one of those gardeners who stands in the yard and eats produce fresh from the ground or vine. I don’t really like raw carrots and I rarely put them in salads. Not to be smug, but it does appear that I am in the right on this, from a nutritional standpoint.

Carrots, like a handful of other vegetables including tomatoes, are particularly beneficial if they’re cooked — and mixed with some type of fat (this includes olive oil). One website, the excellent cancerproject.org, says that cooking and also pureeing carrots can increase their cancer-fighting power threefold. Mashing boiled carrots is also a particularly delicious way to increase their effectiveness.

Pretty much everyone seems to know that carrots are good for your eyes. The vitamin A that is so healthy for your optical equipment is also really good for skin, teeth and muscles.

Carrots are a good source of calcium and potassium, and vitamins B and C. And they have a lot of carotenoid, which leads to the question of whether the carrots were named after this essential mineral, or whether the mineral was named after the vegetable.

Definitely keep eating carrots raw, if you prefer them that way. They’re low in calories and high in fiber and are certainly a better crunchy mid-afternoon snack than, say, potato chips.

And do keep their skin on, especially if they’re nice and fresh; as with most produce, that’s where you’ll find a lot of the nutrients.

Carrot-squash-ginger soup

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Serves four

2 cups butternut squash (roasted and mashed);   2 tablespoons olive oil;   1/2 onion, chopped;  1/2 pound carrots (trim off the greens and bottoms);   2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped;   1/4 cup chopped leek;   fresh ginger (about a 1-inch piece), peeled and thinly sliced or grated;   2 cups unsalted chicken broth;   coarse salt and fresh pepper to taste;   1 pinch paprika or chili powder;   cream (optional)

If you’re not sure how to roast a butternut squash (pumpkins are good in this recipe, too) here’s how: Preheat the oven to about 400 degrees. Cut the squash or pumpkin in half (if it’s a big pumpkin, cut it in quarters) and put it face down on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil that’s been brushed with a little olive oil. Some people scoop out the seeds first; I don’t.

The roasting time will depend on the size and density of your squash/pumpkin; plan on at least 20 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when you can pierce the flesh easily with a fork. Let it cool, then scoop the seeds out and peel off the skin.

Some people put raw carrots in their soup; I like to roast them ahead of time. Roast them at 400 for 10 or 15 minutes, with a little olive oil and salt and pepper on them.

You can do all the roasting ahead of time. When it’s time to make the soup, heat your olive oil in a heavy, deep saucepan and then saute the onion, leek and garlic until they’re soft and translucent.

Add the chicken broth, mashed squash and roasted carrots and ginger. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, to give the flavors a chance to mingle. Run the mixture through a blender or food processor. Thin it out with a little more broth if you want, or add a little cream. Salt and pepper to taste, and add a smidgen of a hot powder such as paprika or chili, or a little nutmeg or cinnamon if you want a milder flavor.