Purple Sun Carrots and the Exquisite Ice Crystals

 

One of the local growers for our food cooperative produced these gorgeous carrots. I meant to call and ask them what variety they were but now the smart growers have fled to their winter getaway in Carmel on the California coast. A Google search led me to this site: Purple Sun carrot seeds from Territorial Seed Company. My guess is that they were Purple Suns. Their inky color was beet-like with tie-dye and sun-like patterns when sliced. They were so juicy and saturated with color that they stained my hands as I worked with them.

I am a big advocate for eating your colors and these sweeties were super-charged with color. I kept buying them until they were gone. I roasted them in the oven with other root vegetables. I grated them raw on salads. I fried slices in hot peanut oil and then salted them to make crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, treats.

Roasted Purple Sun, red cabbage, avocado salad

Perhaps I will order some seeds and try growing them this year. It will be awhile though. Our house and yard have been encased in an icy snow since Christmas. It was a very cold January and the dry conditions were such that the Christmas snow began to grow! Each day the ice crystals that formed on the snow grew taller and more intricately beautiful. It is really quite amazing to see.

The crystal forest beside our driveway

Remember the stock tank full of potato plants last year? Well, here it is now:

Ice blossoms!

As you can see, I have reverted back to a variation on my original blog format. I was approached by a woman at an art opening here in town recently. "Are you, by any chance, the 'hungry farm girl'?" she asked. Why yes, I said. I didn't know you were a follower. She explained that, while she doesn't cook (not sure how she obtains nourishment?;-) she loves to read my posts and look at the pictures. At the end of our conversation she gently added that she missed the old format. "It was so beautiful!" I also received a comment from an old friend who follows my blog from Colorado. He too preferred the old format. My uncle liked the white background of the new format I tried, so I've incorporated that into this new version. Hope y'all like it!

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow. If you are looking for a decadent chocolate cake that happens to be gluten-free, this one rocks: flourless chocolate cake

Enjoy!