The Vegie Patch

Pride

Several weeks ago in our garden we pulled up a carrot. We had decided that they must be nearly ready, seeing some distinctly orange carrot top forcing itself out of the earth. In visions of Beatrix Potter-like perfection we yanked it out only to be disappointed by it’s size. It was about the size of a lady’s thumb and we decided to ignore the carrots for a few more weeks because they were obviously growing a little slower than expected.

Today we endured the same sort of nervous anticipation as we saw a rather promisingly large carrot top protruding from the dirt. In danger of getting our hopes up, we began to dig down beside it, as our soil is very dense and clay-y we were ever-nervous of snapping it off. We both had a go at digging and eventually, in a moment of pride and excitement, I finally prised it out of the earth!

It was slightly less perfect than a supermarket carrot, but as we scrubbed the dirt away it revealed a brilliant, youthful orange colour, quite unlike any mass produced carrot I’ve ever seen. We are so proud of it at the moment that our brains are going wild trying to think of a recipe suitable to enjoy it!

In my mind, seeing this one carrot finally grow to a decent size, ready for eating has given me a deeper appreciation for vegetables and their production process and I wonder how much land is being used in unsustainable ways, either by over-farming or under-farming. I can understand the pressure on farmers and the reasons for GM crops and research, today we’ve pulled up one big carrot but the rest still look pretty puny.

But I also feel that this is a basic human process that everyone should be aware of. After all it isn’t effortful, you put some seeds in the ground, water and watch, it’s not hard and the rewards are great.