How NOT to Grow Prize Winning Carrots!

Although it was definitely awkward at the time, one of my favorite "ooops" moments in life actually involves myself as a five-year old, and gradually attained almost "legend" status in my family, in the course of the subsequent 50+ years.

When I was little and we were still living in my native Denmark, my parents kept a large vegetable garden at the end of our yard. Although both my parents worked the garden, it was basically my mother's pride and joy. 

Adventures in Vegetable Gardening

As a small child of some three or four years of age, I found this all quite fascinating and took considerable interest in the ongoing planting, growing and harvesting activities. Whereas my mom couldn't ever get me interested in the never-ending weeding project, I was quite good at such things as fetching tools, making little furrows for seed planting and tossing rocks into the adjoining field.

By the time I was five, my parents decided it would be a good "learning experience" for me to have my own small patch of land on which to learn how to grow a things.

In no time at all, I was sowing and growing radishes, green beans, carrots, sunflowers and other good stuff. The faded photo (above) shows me in my very first garden, in 1964.

Wait... I Could Turn this Into Something...!

I was also an enterprising young lad, and knew that my mother would sometimes buy vegetables from the grocery or the nearby farm stand. So my five-year old brain reasoned that I could probably sell some of my home-grown produce to the household... and get some money.

Unfortunately, neither my agricultural knowledge nor my sense of "scale" were very well developed.

Regardless, one early summer day proudly showed up at the kitchen door to present my mother with an offering of a bunch of approximately one inch long carrots no thicker than a coffee stir stick. I had even managed to find a piece of string to tie them together by the green tops, just like "proper farmers" did.

I assured her they were "very fresh," because that seemed important to adults.

Rumor has it that my mother actually managed not to laugh, and was able to gently tell me "dear, they are really still a little too small" while maintaining a "serious" look.

Oops.

Not Easily Daunted...

But the true nature of the "legend" grew out of what happened next.

Resigned to the idea that it would be a few more days before I'd make my fortune from my carrot farming endeavors, I resolutely marched back to my small plot of land and stuck the (by now quite wilted) minuscule carrots back in the ground!

Of course, I was deeply saddened and dejected when they-- within a couple of days-- simply died, instead of growing into prizewinning veggies.

Oops, version 2.0.

Although this tale returned to haunt me for years every time my family talked about gardening, I eventually made peace with it... and now find a small measure of consolation in having been able to provide an amusing tale, for so many years!

I was reminded of it, a couple of days ago, as summer started up in earnest around here, and things are really starting to grow. And yes, as you can probably detect, I still do garden...

How about YOU? Do you have any interesting memories of "awkward" things done with childhood enthusiasm? Any that reached "family legend" status? Have you watched your own kids do anything like this? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- start the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Posted 20170623 09:03PDT