It’s been more than a month and law enforcement hasn’t a clue about who stole the carrots from the community garden behind the Cook County Community Center.
One day the carrots were there, underground, minding their own business, sweetening up to become winter carrot cake or a part of a simmering vegetable stew or just getting ready to become part of a good old fashioned garden salad, and then, in the blink of a potato’s eye, they were gone. Vanished without a trace. Not even a spade dragged along the ground to follow.
So why steal carrots?
First of all, carrots are important enough to have their very own museum. Two in fact. One is in Raeren, Belgium and the second is a virtual museum coming out of the United Kingdom. Not every vegetable has its very own museum.
This noble vegetable wasn’t always the color of a Halloween moon. The Dutch are believed to have created the orange carrot through gradual selection. Early on, about 5,000 years ago, carrots were white or purple or yellow and used more for medicinal purposes than for food. It has been reported that Kublai Kahn brought carrots to China about 1300 AD.
Just who the first person was to bring carrots to Cook County is unknown. What is known, however, is that someone—maybe mistakenly—dug up carrots in the community garden that were planted and nurtured all summer by others who came back to find them missing.
Next summer, if you want carrots, plant some or buy them. It’s doubtful another Kublai Kahn is going to come along and just hand you a bushel full.
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