Weary and worn out

Mama Kitty decided to join us on our walk this morning, as she often does.  It was right around freezing when we left the house, perfect weather for a walk.  Our autumn leaves were breathtaking this year, but they sure didn't stay around long.  Before our walk, a friend came and relieved me of the sweet potatoes, so I did not have to toss them.  
My project today is to remove the tomato cages, dead plants, and the green tomatoes all over the ground.  I was making good headway when I got distracted by the parsnips.  This year is the first time I ever planted parsnips; according to information on the Internet, they are better left in the ground until a hard freeze, or even better, until the next spring.  
That doesn't work for me.  I like for Cliff to plow my garden, and he doesn't want to have to dodge around plants here and there.  So I decided to see how big the parsnips were, and maybe cook some today to see whether I even like them.  

 You can't tell it by this picture, but those two bigger ones are about eighteen inches long.  

I spent about twenty minutes trying to dig this one up without success, so I went and got Cliff.  He spent another ten minutes or so, and finally got it out of the ground.  I think it's those side roots that made it hang on like that.  I had no idea how to cook them, so I looked at a few ideas and decided to try THIS ONE.  I almost decided to toss them out, because slicing them was like trying to slice the inside of a tree!  However, they did cook tender in the microwave.  I'm going back to my garden cleanup for now, and will fry them as instructed when it's dinnertime.