When Josh first built the carrot washer in 2011, it was powered with an exercise bike. It was quite hard work to operate and sometimes a very slow process due to the belt  slipping...but it sure beat washing carrots by hand in big tubs of coooold water!  The boys dumped the carrots  into one end of the washer which was slightly elevated. The carrots tumbled down to the other side while being sprinkled with water by a perforated metal pipe attached to a garden hose.  At the opposite end, the quality control guy was cutting off the ends and spots and filling up trays. This process was usually repeated 2 or 3 times until the carrots were “spotless”.

In 2012, with increased carrot  planting, Josh outfitted the carrot  washer with an electric motor and chain drive (the box on the side). He also added a dumping chute, tray  shelf, and strengthened the barrel. (Pictures taken in 2013)

This year (2013), the last carrots were washed  2 days before it snowed!

A picture from the shop roof. This is part of the carrot patch before it was dug!

Digging the last few carrots! It was difficult digging them out of the partially frozen ground… a tough year on digging forks, we broke quite a few!

Jesse spraying carrots down before washing.

A cooler of carrots ready for sale!

More carrots! We got tons of carrots this year! We still have some sorting and bagging to do as we get time!!

These two carrots weighed over 5 pounds when they were dug, but have lost some weight due to storage.