Lily's Carrot

Last year Lily and I planted lots of carrots, about six rows. So many seeds fell into the rows I was certain I would have to thin them.  Unfortunately something else thinned them for us; some creepy crawly came along while we slept one night and feasted on all the green carrot sprouts popping up, leaving us with two or three chomped down remains.

Earlier this summer I noticed two carrots growing in the same spot, a few seeds must have overwintered and Lily was delighted. They just happened to be in a section of the garden where the kids dig and play and create mountains, lakes and volcanoes for pachycephalosaurus, you know, things common to most gardens. So even though we watered the two carrots, that was about all we did to take care of them and honestly I didn't hold out much hope for them. 

However, one of them thrived despite the plastic dinosaurs, raging floods and hot lava. Two weeks ago, Lily and I decided to pick it.  It was huge and gnarly looking with a mini carrot growing out the side. And it tasted delicious.  

Here she is last year about this time planting her carrot seeds.

And here she is this year with her carrot. Amazing the difference a year can make.

I'm sure glad we picked it when we did, because just two days after Lily ate it, she crashed teeth first into the coffee table knocking four of her front teeth loose. One of them was broken and fell out all by itself this week, another one's on it's way out any day, and the other two are loosey goosey! I think it'll be a while before she can eat huge carrots again.