Queen Anne's Lace Trivia

I got a letter from Atticus about the wild carrot seed called Queen Anne's Lace (and no Atticus, I don't mind if you call me Sis though that's kinda dumb). Anyway, since Atticus lives in Rainier, where they can't raise hybrid carrot seeds because the Queen Anne's Lace that grows there and would contaminate it, he knows a lot about it. Here is what he told me:

Queen Anne's Lace is called Bishop's Lace in England and was introduced into the U.S. from Europe/Asia/Africa in 1739 (wow no wonder it grows everywhere - that was 270 years ago).

This plant is a biennial (that means it blooms in the second year and then dies).

It requires a climate that has at least 120 frost free days to reproduce (which is why it grows on Oregon's west side and not the east side).

A teaspoon of ground up seeds taken orally and pressing the flowers between your knees are ancient forms of birth control (oh come on Atticus, that's dumb too).

You can cut Queen Anne's Lace, put the flowers in a vase of colored water and they will turn from white to whatever color you made the water (just like they do with carnations).

So, now you know as much as Atticus does about Queen Anne's Lace.

Luv,

Sissy

Eating carrots...

My favorite way to eat carrots is grated with a little water sprayed on them. Even though I like them, they don't let me eat them very often - has something to do with them having too many calcium oxalates which I guess isn't good for us iguanas. But, you humans can have all you want and this is a good way to eat 'em.

Luv,
Sissy

Carrot Sandwich Spread ingredients:
3/4 cup of finely grated carrots.
1/4 ounce of cream cheese, softened.
1 stick of margarine, softened.
2 tablespoons of finely chopped green olives.
2 tablespoons of grated onion.
Dash of white pepper

Instructions:
Mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly
Chill the mixture in a refrigerator
Spread into a sandwich, onto toast or however you like.

Know where carrots come from?

Leaving Madras, heading south on U.S. 97, I was looking out the window at a field of hybrid carrot seed. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought I knew most things but I didn’t know that Central Oregon was a big carrot seed player – they grow 85% of the nations carrot seed and 40% of the world’s carrot seed.

Expensive to grow too – nearly $1200 an acre because they have to grow the male and female carrots side by side to get them to pollinate and that means it takes up a lot of ground with less yield. See the photo? Three rows of male plants to five rows of female (don’t ask me how you tell the difference ‘cause I don’t know).

We don’t see a field of carrot seeds in the Willamette Valley because we have the wild carrot called Queen Anne’s Lace and it cross pollinates.

What happens next? They harvest in September, send the seed to California, California grows the carrots and then sends them back. Who would have thought? Not me, that’s for sure.

You can find out more at www.oregonstate.edu/dept/coarc/crops/vegetable_seed