Today was my second-to-last Friday off from work (next week is the final Friday). For nearly 3 years, I have had the majority of Fridays off, and working 35-40 hours a week in 4 days. All good things must come to an end. Even though I was technically off from work, I felt like I worked the ENTIRE day! I have been going non-stop from 5:30 AM until now, and that’s after going to bed at 11:30PM! Sometimes, I just don’t know how I do it.
If you’ve been following me for the last few months, you will know that at the end of May/beginning of June, Scott and I planted a vegetable garden. We’ve had an abundance of tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers – pretty standard garden items. But what I’ve really been waiting for are my carrots. Unlike the tomatoes, cucs, and green peppers which were planted from seedlings, I planted the carrots from seeds. On the packet, it said it would take about 90 days to grow. The carrots would be ready to pick when you could see about 1 inch of the orange carrot top. The carrot sprouts (the green parts) have been flourishing for over a month, but no sign of orange – until a few days ago. I finally saw about 1/2 inch of orange sticking out of the ground and was so excited I called Scott and the kids out to see it. This was no false alarm either – like the other time I thought I saw orange, only to discover it was an orange leaf.
I hesitated to pick it for a couple of days, knowing it could probably stand another week in the ground. But, after a particularly rough day and work, I felt like pulling the head off of something, so it may just as well be a carrot. So, I gave a good yank and out popped the 4-5 inch carrot. Even though the carrot was on the small side, I still felt a huge sense of accomplishment knowing that something that started from a seed grew into a full-fledged, edible vegetable. I don’t know anyone who has ever grown a carrot in their own backyard, let along from a seed. I was so proud of myself, for a quick second I thought about quitting my job and becoming a farmer. I mean when you think about it, many times I work longer hours than farmers. And beside, I love farmer’s markets. Hmm…maybe not. I don’t really have the patience – hence the short carrot – and I’m not very good with farm machinery.
After taking about a zillion pictures of my pride and joy, I peeled it and sliced it up. It was much lighter in color than the carrots you buy from the store and not as sweet, but still very good. Right now, I have about 15 other green carrot “stalks” that have yet to poke their orange heads out of the ground. Ahh, I can just smell the cream of carrot soup in the air. Ok, I have to stop thinking about it.
I don’t know how farmers do it. Patience, please, patience.
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