betanin, carotene

- or: various shades of red and orange in the farmers' market.  I didn't know, however, until I checked, that the orange in carrots doesn't come from the same source as that in beets.  That may be a completely useless factoid.  By coincidence, however, I met carrots in print later in the day, in Michael Pollan's Second Nature, in which he asks (p.118, in my copy), "What does a carrot care about?"  What does it need, in order to fulfill its destiny?  The answer would seem to be shoulder room - don't plant your carrots too close together - and light soil (I knew they preferred sandy soil, but the fact of lightness seems to be key).  However, I wasn't reading for carrot wisdom, but actually for stuff about weeds and, especially, dandelions (just for reference, those are dandelion leaves in the top right-hand corner).  Research takes one down some great strange paths ...