CSA Pickup: Week of July 8, 2026 - Carrot STEM Exploration
Updated: Aug 17
Each week, we pick up our CSA from a local farm here in Central Oregon. What started as a simple weekly pickup has become one of my favorite anchors for seasonal learning. We never quite know what will be in the box, and that's part of the fun. Each week's vegetables give us an opportunity to slow down, notice what is growing around us, explore a little STEM, and cook something together.
In this series, I'll share what we received, one simple STEM exploration, and an easy recipe we made with something from our CSA box.
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STEM Exploration: Exploring The Inside of a Carrot
What We Received This Week
Carrots
Beets
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Napa Cabbage
Kale
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Dill
Tomatoes
Quick Produce Notes
Cucumbers: Their high-water content makes them a great starting point for talking about evaporation, hydration, and changes in texture.
Kale: Cooler temperatures can make kale taste sweeter, while hot weather can make leaves tougher or more bitter.
Dill: Its strong fragrance makes it perfect for a simple sensory exploration using smell and observation.
STEM Exploration: Exploring the Inside of a Carrot
A simple, hands-on STEM exploration can turn an ordinary carrot into a chance to look closely at plant structure and talk about how plants move water, minerals, and sugars. When you cut a carrot crosswise, you're getting a peek inside a plant root. Look closely and you may notice rings, different shades of orange, and tiny dots or lines. These details give us an opportunity to slow down, observe, ask questions, and explore what's happening inside a plant.
What You Need
One Carrot
A Knife (an adult can slice the carrot, or an older child can use an appropriate child-safe knife with supervision)
Optional: Paper, Pencil, and Colored Pencils
Steps
Slice the carrot into round pieces.
Look closely at the inside of each slice.
What colors, rings, dots, or lines do you notice?
How does the center compare with the area closer to the outside?
Optional, try drawing what you see. Add labels or colors if you'd like.
If you notice any green tissue near the top of the carrot, take a closer look and talk about why it might be there.
What to Notice
Look closely before you explain anything. What does your child notice?
You might see:
A lighter center and darker areas toward the outside
Rings or bands within the carrot
Tiny dots or lines throughout the slice
Differences in color or texture
Green tissue near the top of some carrots
There isn't one “right” thing to notice. The goal is observation.
STEM Concepts
The inside of a carrot gives us a simple way to talk about the structures that help plants move materials from one place to another.
Plants have a transportation system called vascular tissue. Two important parts of that system are xylem and phloem:
Xylem carries water and dissolved minerals through the plant.
Phloem transports sugars made by the plant to other areas where they are needed.
A carrot is a root, and the structures you see inside it are part of the plant's vascular system, the network that helps transport water, minerals, and sugars. You may also notice tiny dots or lines in the carrot. These are part of the carrot's internal vascular structures. Cutting the carrot gives us a cross-section view of these structures—almost like looking inside a tiny transportation system.
What About a Green Carrot?
Sometimes you may notice green tissue near the top or “shoulder” of a carrot. This can happen when part of the carrot is exposed to sunlight while it is growing. Sunlight can cause that exposed tissue to produce chlorophyll, the same green pigment that helps leaves capture light for photosynthesis.
That's a pretty amazing thing to notice in a vegetable from your CSA box: the carrot is a root, but a small, exposed portion can respond to sunlight by producing the same green pigment we associate with leaves.
Green coloring near the top of a carrot isn't necessarily a sign that something is wrong. It can simply tell us something about how the carrot grew.
Want to Color What You Observed?
Want to take your carrot exploration a little further? I've created a free Carrot Anatomy Coloring Page that kids can use to review the parts they observed.
Keep the Conversation Going
After your exploration, ask:
What did you notice first?
Did every carrot slice look the same?
What surprised you?
Why do you think the carrot has so many tiny structures inside?
What do you think would happen if a carrot couldn't move water?
What questions do you still have?
You don't need to know all the answers before you begin. Sometimes the best STEM activities start with simply looking closely and wondering, “What do you think is happening here?”
Kitchen Science: This Week's CSA Dish
You don't need a separate “lesson” for every activity. Sometimes the learning is simply noticing what changes when we cook.
Roasted Carrots
Roasting carrots is a great way to notice color and texture changes.
Ingredients
4-5 Large Carrots
1-2 Tbsp Olive or Avocado oil
salt and pepper to taste
Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Peel and cut carrots into strips or coins.
Lay carrots on a baking pan. Mix with oil and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway to prevent sticking. I recommend checking your carrots at the 25-minute mark as some ovens cook faster. Carrots should be tender and lightly browned on the edges.
How Kids Can Help
Washing and peeling the carrots
Arranging the carrots on the pan
Observing how the carrots soften and darken in the oven
Taste testing, comparing the difference of raw and cooked carrots
Kid Skill Highlights
Fine motor skills: peeling
Kitchen confidence: helping with simple tasks
Sensory exploration: noticing smell, color, texture, and taste
Cooking Reflection
Cooking reflection prompts are a great way to tie everything together, and to have kids speak to what they noticed. These prompts can be used at the dinner table to create a fun family conversation.
What changed when we cooked the carrots?
What did you notice first?
Which part was the most fun?
Cooking Observations and The Science Behind Them
Cooking is a part of STEM and noticing how food changes as it cooks is a simple way to practice science together. These notes explain a few of the changes you might see and what’s happening behind the scenes.
Color: The carrots become deeper orange and develop browned edges as heat changes the food's structure and affects its pigments.
Texture: Heat softens plant cell walls and reduces some of the carrot's crunch. Water also evaporates, making the outside drier.
On a more scientific level, heat changes cellulose and pectin, which are important components of plant cell walls. As the carrot cooks, these changes help soften its texture.
Browning and flavor: As carrots roast, water evaporates and the carrots become more concentrated in flavor. The high heat also creates browning reactions on the surface, giving the carrots deeper color and new flavors. These changes help explain why roasted carrots can taste sweeter and richer than raw carrots.
Science Words to Know
You don't need to memorize these words! They're simply useful vocabulary for describing what you're noticing in the kitchen.
Cellulose: A tough material that helps give plant cells structure and gives raw carrots some of their crunch.
Pectin: A natural substance in plant cells that helps hold them together. Heat softens it, which helps cooked carrots become tender.
Evaporation: When liquid water changes into water vapor and leaves the food as it heats.
Caramelization: A browning process that happens when sugars are heated, creating deeper color and new flavors.
Closing
Our CSA box gave us more than a few fresh vegetables this week. It gave us something to slow down and look at together. A simple carrot became an opportunity to explore plant anatomy, notice changes in color and texture, and then experience those same changes in the kitchen. That's what I love about seasonal learning. We don't always need to create a lesson. Sometimes we just need to notice what's already in front of us.
July is our simple STEM month, with one small exploration each week.
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