baby diapers v. baby carrots

My mom teaches preschool, and every year she has her students bring in various items to bury in their "ecology garden." Then, at the end of the year, the class digs up the ecology garden to see how the items have changed. The scrap of cloth had started to break down and had some roots growing through it ("COOOOOOL!") and the potato had started growing new little spuds from its eyes ("WOOOOOWWWW!") The baby diaper had absorbed every drop of moisture within a 20-mile radius and weighed approximately 85 pounds (j/k, kind of). These results were all to be expected. The big upset of the day was the baby carrot, which had not changed AT ALL. Apparently, some baby carrots are now pumped so full of preservatives that they can be buried in dirt and exposed to all kinds of weather, and in a matter of 9 months you can dig them right back up again and get a nice big crunchy chomp of carrot. Good news!