I love God's creation of the root vegetable... like a squirrel hiding his nuts for the winter, so the carrot stores its sugar in hopes to send nutrients to a future seedling. And I love that we get to eat them... carrots, potatoes, turnips and all -so full of starchy goodness ready to be mashed up or sprinkled with something else wonderful to counterbalance the sweet. They store well, freeze well, and can be totally left alone without you messing with them and they'll be just fine. They are sturdy, strong, and full of hope. Can you dig it?
However, when I first read the picture book The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss, I felt like it was so weak. There was hardly a story wrapped up in the dull brown and orange pictures... parents who discourage and an older brother who looks elderly and somewhat creepy. Perhaps I didn't like it because an old professor from grad school made the whole lot of our cohort retell the story in our own way... sitting through 17 versions of the same lame story made be go carrots - I mean bananas.
But this summer the book dug in and grew a little in my heart... and now it has reached a spot of near favorite status. I see the story contain the repetition that the earliest of pre-readers can grasp. (His mother said it won't come up... His father said...) The slow story makes you wonder patiently too, like the little boy who waited for his carrot to appear. The family perhaps didn't want the boy's heart to break, so were practical and made him see a bit of possible reality - sometimes our efforts don't pay off. And then there is this little boy... with no help from anyone, had made up his determined mind and put his hands to hard work. He showed commitment, diligence, patience and strength as he did not fall into believing the doubts others. And he was rewarded with one huge carrot - the only thing bright contained in the book's pages!
Well we had a blast visiting our carrot patch to enjoy this story. We snuggled our chairs close to the garden's edge - to be near to the real happenings down under the earth's surface. We read and re-read the book and then pulled up quite a few of our own prize carrots. Here are a few pics to show our carrot filled day!
Gavin found a fat good one right away... and held it like a prize.
Could anything be sweeter?? While baby doll gets nurtured, Ivy digs in for more!
The day's take... not too shabby!
Washed, cut and ready to dip! Delish!
We also spent some time on carrot day doing a bit of writing practice. I have this oldie, but goodie... it is a readiness program called Silly Scribbles. Without knowing the image, children follow step by step instructions and visuals to draw. Their lines are formed and placed just so as they practice proper grip of a crayon and the various directional movements needed for future writing. Well - we made a rabbit of course.
And the fun didn't stop there. Gavin is in LOVE with tape - so he added about 30 feet of the stuff to his cut out rabbit to make him as safe as Peter in his bed after a day at old Mr. McGreggor's. Ivy just loved coloring in one of her own - and hopping around the house like a long eared friend.
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Munch Munch - A Carrot Crunchy Day!
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