Blake Pinneke, age 8, of Colo, Iowa, for his question:

HOW DO WE GET CARROT STEMS?

If you have grown carrots in your back yard garden, you know they come from seeds, but there certainly aren't any visible when the vegetable is ready to be harvested for the diner table. All you find is a long orange root, that you enjoy eating either raw or cooked, plus a fern like and lacy top.

Carrots actually are biennials and need two years to complete their life cycle. That means if you want to obtain seeds, you will have to leave the plants in the ground. After a properly prescribed period of time, Mother Nature will produce a beautiful flower at the top of the lacy top, and when the cycle is completed, the flower will be full of new carrot seeds and ready to start a new season.