My sixtieth birthday arrived last week and I wanted to spend the day doing all the activities I would like to occupy my next forty years with…like growing food in our yard, and nourishing its soil.
But what should I plant in my yard? I chose carrots although I don’t know why I made that choice. Before I made the decision I went through our carefully maintained seed collection, bypassing cauliflower, spinach, and collard greens, and without hesitation picked out the pack of carrot seeds. It was only while planting the seeds that I remembered that my first theatrical role was as King Carrot. I was only five years of age, and had participated in a parade and won a prize for my costume. It consisted of two giant carrots cut out of carrot colored cardboard, which I wore like a sandwich board! To win the admiration of my fans I wore a crown of green like the green shoots of the carrot (or it might have been green and gold).
Afterward I paraded around our orchard where I knew nobody would see me, imperiously stretching my arm over my “vast kingdom”, and in the deepest voice a five year old boy could have, I would say to the unflinching Irish countryside-”I see all of this filled with carrots subject to my rule!” What a hoot!
Perhaps that’s the reason why now, 6,000 miles away from that orchard in Donegal, Ireland, I chose carrots to honor my birthday! A symbol of my dedication to having a kingdom of carrots, but as it is in America, I will treat them as partners and not as my subjects!
Filed under: Gardening for the Baby Boomers, Renewal
Great news! another carrot convert. You can read a whole lot more about them in the World Carrot Museum.(Yes!)
OH and careful because you will be eating your partners, or maybe they too will start that in the US soon.
Thanks for your comment which opens up a carrot world that I would never have found unless you had taken the trouble to write. I have visited your GREAT website and will be putting in a link to it on ours. Looking forward to learning much more about carrots!
Peter