Educating Futureman:Carrot Juice

Dateline: 30 April 2015

I still have good carrots in my garden bed, nearly 10 months after planting them (they are the last of the Four-Day Carrots). But the roots are starting to wake up, so to speak. Carrots are a biennial plant; they will grow a second year in an effort to produce seed. Once the second-year growth starts, the roots are not good for eating.

So, it was time to get them all harvested, washed and stashed in the fridge. But, more importantly, it was time to teach my grandson about where carrots come from, and the whole process of making them into delicious juice. 

Although Futureman has had carrot/vegetable juices from a young age, and has helped with the juicer before, and drinks the mixtures right down, he has not dug carrots from the garden, carried them back to the house, and helped to wash and peel them. So this was a good learning opportunity...

Futureman had carrot-apple-kale juice. Marlene and I had the same, but with some beets and ginger added. Awesome.

There was nothing fast or efficient about making carrot juice with Futureman but, of course, this wasn't about being fast or efficient. It was about introducing Futureman to down-to-earth work and simple agrarian pleasures. Like any three-year-old, he thoroughly enjoyed the process. And so did I.