ALBERTA • A Canadian woman who lost her engagement ring on her family farm 13 years ago has found it in the most unlikely of places - on a carrot.

Mrs Mary Grams, 84, was shattered after the ring - given by husband in 1951 - went missing while she was weeding the garden on her farm in September 2004.

She decided to keep mum about it and bought a cheaper replacement, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) report.

"I didn't tell him (her husband), even, because I thought for sure he'd give me heck or something," she told CBC.

But as fate would have it, the long-lost ring made an appearance earlier this week when Mrs Grams' daughter-in-law, Ms Colleen Daley, pulled up a misshapen carrot with the ring wrapped around it.

She did not notice the ring at first and wanted to feed the carrot to the dog, but decided against it.

She saw the ring as she was washing the vegetable.

The carrot had grown straight through the ring and looked a little like a finger wearing it, said Ms Daley.

Ownership was not an issue as the farm had been in the family for 105 years.

While happy to get her ring back, Mrs Grams said she wished she had come clean with her husband, who died five years ago.

But she is still looking forward to putting it back on, saying: "I'm going to wear it because it still fits."