Carrots and life

If ever anything would always be the same, one would think it would be carrots. Huh uh, not so, now when you go to purchase carrots, you are faced with a selection. I find little finger size ones, for snacking on and vegetable trays. I read an article about how they are processed, and now skip the little carrots and go for the family size carrot. =^_^= That said, at this time of year, you can get some P R E T T Y big sized carrots. The other day i found a carrot that was so big,I think with patience I could have stuffed it.
In the warmer months, I love to simply walk around snacking on a raw carrot. the natural sweetness is refreshing on a hot day, and the crunch is second only to the crunch of a fresh radish.
Interestingly enough, I found that the carrot taught me a lesson in life this past summer, actually it was just a couple of weeks past. One should never take our carrots for granted.
I found myself downtown in between meals, I was walking around the market when I was struck with a craving for a crunch. conveniently I was in the market, so walked up to a stall and picked a box of coloured carrots. the packaging was just like I got today, you can see how inviting they are,
For those of you still not educated (yet) in the lure of the carrot, there is a different taste albeit subtle to the “designer” carrot, vs. the good old farm variety. To my taste buds they are sweeter, with a lighter lingering taste of carrot that is teasing on the palette.

Now skip forward to later in the week when hubby and I found ourselves on a back road in the countryside far from the maddening crowd but with working farms. My crunch craving hit… what to do.. “oh look” I cried out, Hubby well used to my outbursts, slowed the car and took the lane way that advertised Fresh veggies and Pumpkins. In earlier posts you saw pictures of the pumpkin and squash displays.
With no radishes in sight, I headed for the carrots. Yes there was one basket left. Greedily my hand reached out and in the blink of an eye I was at the cash. Recognize the symptoms, we do this in life, we want something, we get something, we don’t really inspect, or take in the whole picture, we just act.
Now what could be wrong, or go wrong with freshly picked carrots from a working veggie farm. thank you for wondering/asking. A lot. Ms city here, used to buying carrots in the grocery stores, fresh produce markets had not anticipated or thought about the real home-grown carrot, that comes to you straight from the ground. It was encrusted in dirt, good old farm soil, I was traveling in the car .. I didn’t have running water to clean it with… nor did we have the dogs with us, so their fresh drinking water was not with us.
How badly did I need to feel and hear that crunch.
I dipped a clean tissue in my drinking water.. and rubbed. That dirt was caked on, but with purpose and dedication, I managed to get most of it off. I crunched into that carrot like it was a jewel from the ground (which it was). I lived to tell the tale, even discovered that I did recall in the long last memory cells, that carrots don’t come all sparkling clean from the farm with out someone washing and packaging them
A reminder on how much we take the food we eat for granted. At first my citified mind wanted to cry out loud, how can that farmer not know to clean the vegetable before putting up for sale. thank goodness the other part of my brain, spoke up, it was me, it was my spoiled city self that was not being grateful for the opportunity to taste a carrot “really’ fresh from the farm, and the lesson that, life and the food we get should not be taken for granted either.
I now have a greater appreciation for what I find in the stores, the journey they had to take to get there, and I don’t begrudge the money spent for the quality of goods I get. We need to take time in life to appreciate the bounty that we have available to us.   God provides.

I used carrots today to give variety to the potato oven fries, presented along with the potatoes, were carrot and orange beet slices. Yummy, I toss them in a virgin cold pressed olive oil with seasoning before putting them in the oven to roast.

With the veggie baked fries, we are having sliced pork (Pork is my cold weather meat) stir fried and simmered in a buttered (light) curry sauce.

Eat your carrots they are good for your eyesight.

photo -Q