Terra firma - literally

The highs have been several degrees above 0C all week and the sun has shone on the parsnip bed.  It stood to reason, I thought, that the ground would yield sufficiently to allow me to remove a parsnip or two, even if they had to be pried out of the side of the mounded bed.  No go.  Not with an ordinary garden fork and my ordinary body weight, anyway.  Try again in March.