WELCOME TO OUR CARROT PATCH

We are very proud of our sweet juicy carrots and have recently just installed new state of the art coldrooms to care for the carrots better. Large fans draw massive amounts of cold air over the carrot boxes cooling them down very quickly to their ideal storage temperature helping the carrots to retain more of their nutrients. Our old coldroom is now better set up for potatoes as these different crops need different storage temperatures.

Juicing Carrots

Why it’s good to juice "certified" organic carrots?

A VARIETY OF POISONS ARE USED IN GROWING CARROTS THE CONVENTIONAL WAY.

Prior to planting conventional farmers sometimes fumigate the soil for nematodes and often use poisons at planting to control the ants. Following that weedicides are generally used to control the weeds that continually pop up in the carrot crop. With the number of carrots needed to make a glass of carrot juice it's a really good idea to use organic carrots to avoid these chemicals.
People with various illnesses often turn to carrot juice for the Beta Carotene and other antioxidant properties carrots are renowned for. By using organic carrots you can get all of these benefits without chemicals. Definitely good for your health ..... and they taste really sweet to boot!

FOOTNOTE: The carrots from Bauer's Organic Farm are particularly sweet and make a really bright coloured, creamy textured juice. This is due to the organic growing methods and the wonderful fertile soil they are grown in. The Lockyer Valley is one of the Top Ten most fertile farming areas in the world - providing a good headstart for your healthy juicing carrots.

Storing Your Carrots

Keep them in the bottom of your fridge in the plastic bags they come in. They like to be stored at a very low temperature of around 2oC. The bottom shelf is ideal as the crisper is not quite as cold. To prolong their life and keep them firm and crispy, make sure that you really restrict the air flow around the carrots. If you just put them into the fridge loose they will go floppy within a few days. Keep the top of the bag folded over and they will last for ages. The couple of small holes in the bag (to stop them sweating) won't really matter as long as you keep the bag closed up or folded over. Air is the enemy.

Why certified organic carrots are more expensive than conventionally grown carrots.

CARROTS REQUIRE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF WEEDING

Weeds are the main problem facing organic vegetable farmers. Crops like carrots never really shade out the weeds .... so it's a constant battle to keep on top of them. To control weeds conventional farmers would simply use a weedicide, where organic farmers use a range of labour intensive operations, including scuffling, flame weeding, and a great deal of chipping and hand weeding. Rob and Anthony spend huge amounts of money every year paying people to pull out weeds. It's great for the environment and good to give people jobs, but it does make the carrots a little more expensive.

ONLY ONE CROP PER PADDOCK EACH YEAR

Before planting the carrots, the soil is spelled for 6 months and grows a mulch crop. Leafy green and leguminous crops are grown and then turned back into the soil for mulch and plant food. Conventional farmers often get 2 or 3 crops per paddock each year, where organic farmers reguvenating their soil, will only get one. A huge disadvantage financially.

THE REGULAR DEMAND (ECONOMY OF SCALE)

As the organic industry is still quite small in comparison to the conventional market, it means that the vegies have to be planted, harvested and packaged in stages. So, for example, instead of harvesting the whole carrot crop at once (which would 'flood' the organic market), the organic carrots are harvested fresh six days a week, with small amounts being sent very regularly to a wide range of outlets. As you can imagine, this adds greatly to the cost.


HARVESTING CARROTS

The photo above shows the two tractors with harvester and trailer attached, working their way along the rows. The photo above right shows how the carrots are gently lifted from the soil with the help of a bar going through underneath them and rotating belts holding the tops. Knives cut the carrot tops off at the right spot and they are then elevated into the bins ready to take back to the washer. The carrot tops are just dropped back onto the field and are turned back into the soil as organic matter.

ALMOST READY FOR HARVEST

These great looking carrots are growing in some of the best soil in the world - no wonder we reckon they taste so good. Visitors to the farm say that the soil smells so good you could eat it!! One chap even reckoned it was that good we could even grow babies in it ... but I don't think we'll try!

JUICING CARROTS BEING BAGGED

The juicing carrots are simply the same carrots as the 'perfect' carrots but are either broken, misshapen, too large or too small. They are just the same in quality and nutritional value.

(Left)
ROB WITH ROWS OF YOUNG CARROTS


(Right)
'A' GRADE CARROTS that would be packed into either 20 kg boxes or into 1 kg plastic bags.