Garden haul of the day--carrots

This morning, we got quite the yield of carrots from our garden!

The boys got right to work pulling the greens off.

It was a bit more difficult than they thought it was going to be...

...but they got the job done!

We found some VERY interesting looking carrots--you sure don't see these in the grocery stores!

Carrots are determined to keep growing downward, and will go around whatever is in their way or do whatever it takes to get there. Even if it means sprouting another root or three!

After we beheaded them all *grin* we brought them to the sink for a good cleaning.

I let these soak for a little while to give the dirt time to loosen up a bit.

You can see how dirty the water got--and this water had already been changed a couple of times.

But they came really clean! No need for peeling. Many of the nutrients are in that outer layer--you don't want to peel that away! A good scrubbing is all these guys needed.

Did I mention....that....we had a bunch!?

As I washed, I enjoyed the peace and quiet and the scenery out of my kitchen window...

...this little guy was keeping me company. 

(Well, him and three of his buddies--but I never had my camera in hand when they were all there together!)

{*Dear Shane--Have I told you how much I love you AND my new camera?!?*}

After the carrots were all clean, I got to lopping--the icky parts off of the ends, that is.

See that green circle? That's not ripe. Want to get that off!

Same carrot. Much better.

I chopped the really large ones in half....

...and then the chopping blade of my food processor got to work.

It did this for me....

....in a matter of minutes!!

After all was said and done, I was left with a giant bowl full of carrots!

I put the bowl next to a pint of tomato sauce, so you could get an idea of how large the bowl really is.

(It holds a whopping 32 cups when the lid is on--let alone overflowing like this!)

That is a LOT of carrots--they'll be going into the freezer tomorrow! All in all a great day in the preserving department!