April 25, 2014

Thad Showing Carrots Growing

A Carrot Story & Contest

In this week's Farm News, I mentioned a little something about a carrot contest. After you root around our carrot story and enjoy a few photos from our fields, leave us a comment or two with your creative carrot name or story! If you have one of the best comments, there just may be some "carrots" in it for ya!


Carrots - Really Good Ones!
FARM NEWS April 28 - May 2nd, 2014

Sneak Peak of our Carrots Growing
The sweet smell of carrots fills the air surrounding the field that we have broken open for the carrot harvest. Beautiful, sweet, crunchy and tender carrots are organized on the bed in two lines, each with their roots pointing toward the center of the row. Their green tops hang down into the furrow. The group of people who have plucked the carrots from the soil work quickly, keeping up with the tractor that is running a blade below the roots of the carrots to loosen the soil.

Carrots
Carrots in my hand on the left are almost ready for harvest.
Carrots in my hand on the right still have a ways to go.
A second crew bunches the carrots, shaking off as much of the residual loam soil that still clings to the root before banding a bunch together with a twist tie and putting them into a reusable plastic container that is destined for the packing house where the last of the soil will be washed from the gems.

The team treats the carrots with great care. These carrots are SUPER SWEET because they have lots of natural sugars in them, which also make them delicate and prone to easily snapping in two.

Big Carrots, Little Carrots
Carrots Just Starting To Grow
The key to amazing carrots is simple – the variety. Most carrots grown are selected to grow large, straight, last a long time and to not break during the harvest, packing and transportation process – ever notice how bendy some carrots are? The oversight in this process is that characteristics like taste and texture are ignored.

We grow a variety called Nantes, named from the place in France where humans first bred really good-tasting carrots. The seed is the secret to our amazing carrots, but seeds need to be put into the right circumstances to thrive.

Thad Holding Carrot Seeds
Carrot Seeds

We work our carrot soil deep, taking care to ensure that the carrot root can easily make its way eight plus inches into the soil. Beds are made perfectly smooth and a special seeder is used to precisely seed each bed with six lines of seeds, separated by 3/4 of an inch down each line. The result is a plant population of nearly one million carrots per acre!

Sprinkler and Carrot Crop

These little seeds are irrigated with overhead sprinklers on a schedule that is customized to the stage of the carrots growth. Carrots are slow to germinate, taking almost two weeks to get out of the ground. We take lots of care to ensure that we have grown and removed as many weeds as possible before the carrots are planted, and the weed seeds that do germinate are pulled out by hand. Once the carrots get established, their tops easily cover the bed, absorbing the beautiful sunshine and delivering it to the roots.

Our Farm Fresh Carrots
Freshly Picked Farm Fresh To You Carrots
The last step in the process is to wash the carrots and to place a band around the carrots themselves to minimize the jostling that can shatter the precious roots. I know that I often find a tip of a carrot in the bottom of my Farm Fresh To You box and have no problems eating it before the rest of my family can get to it! Over the years, I’ve heard some great stories and names for our carrots. I know some of you ration them out, one per family member, not forgetting the dog. Others have called them "Candy Carrots."

Thad and Lola
Lola Helps Me Show Off Our Carrot Seeds

Carrot Contest!

Enter our carrot contest by leaving your creative carrot comments on this blog post below. Enter as many times as you'd like before Friday, May 9th, at 8:00 p.m.


I've shared our carrot story - what's yours?
Can you come up with a good name for our carrots?  


On Monday, May 12th, we'll pick the 3 best carrot comments and announce the winners here on our blog post and by responding to the email included with your comment. 

Winners will receive a credit to their Farm Fresh To You account. 
1st Place: $31.50 - 2nd Place: $20.00 - 3rd Place: 15.00. 
Thanks for playing along and good luck!


No purchase required to enter giveaway. No limit on the number of entries. Entries will close on Friday, May 9th at noon. Three total winners, (1) $31.50, (1) $20.00 and (1) $15.00 winner will be chosen by merit of comment and announced on Monday, May 12, 2014 on this blog post and via email included with winning comment. Email addresses shared in the comment will not be displayed publicly and will not be used for any purpose other than to notify the winner. 

*Prizes are not redeemable for cash and can only be redeemed for use on Farm Fresh To You deliveries. Contest is open to Farm Fresh To You members and California residents who are eligible to receive a Farm Fresh To You delivery by being over the age of 18 and by living in our delivery area. Check our Delivery Areas here. 

Thank you for all the wonderful stories and name suggestions.  
We are so impressed and flattered!

Congratulations to all our winners!

1st Place: Rhea who said: Nantes Your Average Carrot. 

2nd Place: Liz who said: When we moved into our home 16 years ago, we quickly discovered that our next door neighbor was not just a gardener, but a farmer. He was a retired railroad engineer who grew enough produce on his extra 1/2 lot to feed the entire block. Steve grew many things, but he was best known for his carrots. He swore that Nantes Red were the best variety, and you couldn't stop by his house without digging up a few to take home. All the neighborhood kids loved "Steve's carrots". On Halloween he would make a special bag for each child on the block containing a piece or two of candy and several sweet Nantes carrots! Steve passed away this spring, aged 98, and we miss him sorely. However, thanks to Farm Fresh To You, we are still able to enjoy "Steve's" carrots. He was right. They really are the best.

3rd Place: Yvonne who said: These are truly the most delicious carrots I've ever purchased and can't bring myself to cook them, usually savoring one (or 1/2) after dinner. I'd say they are like "diamonds in the rough" and "worth their weight in gold" so how about Capay's "Kandy Karats".

Congratulations Rhea, Liz and Yvonne! 

Comments (125)

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Little Sweeties
Little Sweethearts
Sugar Babies
I carrot stop getting excited for all that spring is bringing home!
Ordinarily you wouldn't catch me running out of bed to see if we received any root vegetables in our veggie box, but when it comes to these delicious gems it happens in our house time and time again.
My daughter calls them simply put, yummy carrots....enough said. Thank you for all the time and care you put into the delicate orange sticks, my only question is why do we only get one bunch!
I love receiving carrots in my produce box every week. I often look forward to the multi-colored ones, as they're more fun to eat in front of my coworkers at the office. Someone once referred to them as rainbow carrots because they fade from a yellow, to an orange, to a reddish purple color.
Orange Orgasms

Can you provide an option to order extra carrots? I hate that I have to ration mine out. I eat 1 bunch as my daily snack (and usually finish before 9:00 a.m.). My dogs make hunger noises when I'm cutting them up but I only give them a tiny piece. These are way too valuable.
These are truly the most delicious carrots I've ever purchased and can't bring myself to cook them, usually savoring one (or 1/2) after dinner. I'd say they are like "diamonds in the rough" and "worth their weight in gold" so how about Capay's " kandy karats."
These are really good carrots! I have a carrot story:

When I was a mischievous youth in my home garden a friend and I pulled up several rows of carrots while simultaneously flinging them at one another. Mom discovered this and guess what I got to eat - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - until they were all eaten. I still have trouble eating cooked carrots if they're at all mushy.
1 reply · active 564 weeks ago
French Premiere
Tina Dickinson's avatar

Tina Dickinson · 565 weeks ago

First time ever... I was complimented on my carrotts for dinner! Normally no one pays any mind to them but since getting my boxes delivered to my home we look forward to them. I steamed them with lemon and the sweetness of the carrotts with the hint of lemon was amazing! AMAZING CARROTTS!
Debby Castellitto's avatar

Debby Castellitto · 565 weeks ago

My husband and I have truly loved becoming a part of the Farm Fresh family. The produce is super fresh, sweet and tastes of the sun and earth. Also, buying certified organic is important to us. But, we are completely obsessed with the carrots! I hoard the beautiful bunches and then I load them in whatever I'm cooking: soups, stews or roasts. Recently my husband said, "These are REAL Carrots!" A true compliment because all other carrots just don't come close to this level of carrot perfection! With this in mind, here's our name for Farm Fresh carrots, R Carrots R Tops!
My 6-month old daughter is teething like crazy. We have teething rings, teethers that get chilled in the fridge, teething jewelry for me to wear, Sophie the giraffe (two actually!), frozen washcloths, frozen washcloths dipped in chamomile tea, a baby-sized popsicle looking thing that holds crushed ice, even a rubbery thing that looks like a strawberry and vibrates when chewed. Can you guess what stopped her mad chomping frenzy this afternoon and finally gave her some relief? A nice orange Farm Fresh To You carrot from the fridge! I told her "If you think that is good now, wait until you can eat one!"
I love opening my box and getting whiff of these beauties. I, too, occasionally find a broken piece of carrot at the bottom of my box. That's my immediate treat. The sweetness of these carrots is unrivaled. Your recipe for Moroccan Carrots is a favorite among family and friends. Actually that's a recipe frequently made with carrots from our local farmers' market, since I hate to share mine. Thank you for all you efforts to educate us in the true and healthy way of vegetables.
Cant wait to my carrot ginger soup with these! I say you call them sugar babies!
Carrots are so good , plain, cooked or juiced =)
Liz Engan's avatar

Liz Engan · 565 weeks ago

A Carrot Story.

When we moved into our home 16 years ago, we quickly discovered that our next door neighbor was not just a gardener, but a farmer. He was a retired railroad engineer who grew enough produce on his extra 1/2 lot to feed the entire block. Steve grew many things, but he was best known for his carrots. He swore that Nantes Red were the best variety, and you couldn't stop by his house without digging up a few to take home. All the neighborhood kids loved "Steve's carrots." On Halloween he would make a special bag for each child on the block containing a piece or two of candy and several sweet Nantes carrots! Steve passed away this spring, aged 98, and we miss him sorely. However, thanks to Farm Fresh To You, we are still able to enjoy "Steve's" carrots. He was right. They really are the best.
Our daughter is just over a year old. She loves to make animal noises. When we ask her what an animal says, her default is to growl. She also loves carrots - a great chance for us to teach her what the rabbit says: "Eh, what's up doc". Soon, I think she'll have it.
Thanks for the delicious carrots! They are epic (greens and all)!
Love these carrots! Funny thing: last week I was saying to husband "every week there is ONE BROKEN carrot! It's the strangest thing!" Then the box arrived this week and I showed him the broken carrot...then I read the newsletter. (Hee hee)

Enough about the carrots though---let's talk about these AMAZING RADISHES!
3 replies · active 564 weeks ago
My 3 sons's avatar

My 3 sons · 564 weeks ago

One of the very few vegetables my 3 little boys eat are carrots. i try to get creative with carrots and try to get then to eat salads. One big hit is the following recipe that they enjoy putting together with me. I let my boys SHRED CARROTS (about 6 carrots) in the food processor. My youngest loves this part. We place the shredded carrots in a bowl. My other child toasts a handful of PUMPKIN SEEDS in the toaster with some salt and olive oil. When cooled we add the pumpkin seeds to the shredded carrots. My third child squeezes the juice of one LEMON and adds it to the salad. We sprinkle a generous amount of OLIVE OIL. Add salt as needed. And voila, the ONLY SALAD that all my 3 boys will eat. They are 9, 12 and 15 years old.
My dog is a carrot moocher. I've been giving him carrots as treats at work as it's healthy and easier than carrying around doggie treats... and he's HAPPY! Once he sees the Baggie or hears the crunch of the carrots... he's one happy dog!
Angie Longenecker's avatar

Angie Longenecker · 564 weeks ago

What I luv best about Farm Fresh? Trying new vegetables with great recipes provided by Farm Fresh for my grandchildren. They fight over extra vegetables.......
24 Carrot Gold......yummy:-)
Christina Lewis's avatar

Christina Lewis · 564 weeks ago

Last Thanksgiving I came up with the most simple and delicious carrot recipe. It is great to throw in the oven when you already have other stuff cooking. Slice up carrots on the diagonal about 1/2" thick. Place in 9x13 pan and drizzle olive oil over top and sprinkle Herbes De Provence over top. Stir so oil and seasonings evenly distributed. Cook 350 for 1 hr. When done sprinkle with sea salt if desired.
1 reply · active 564 weeks ago

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