Introduction

If anyone reading this is thinking about starting their own blog, let me tell you that the first post is without a doubt the hardest. Where do you start? What do you say that sets the tone and lays the groundwork for everything else that follows?

Perhaps first I will say something about the name Birfucated Carrots. To bifurcate means to divide into two or more parts or branches. Last year in our garden we planted some amazing carrots, all heirloom or old varieties. We had purple, white, yellow, orange and multicolor ones. The one thing they all had in common was they nearly all bifurcated because of the hard clay ground they were grown in. They tasted fine, and were a delight to eat, they just looked a little funny both because of the colors and the shapes. Anyway, thus was born the name of our weblog.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Patrick Wiebe. I was born near Chicago in the US, and currently live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I worked for many years as an IT consultant, but at the moment I am finding other things to do with my time.

My current interest is heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables. In general heirloom refers to older varieties of plants that are untouched by modern agricultural technologies and free from patents and intellectual property rights. By definition, these are plants that the seeds can be saved from, and when replanted the resulting plants will grow true to their parents. The name heirloom came about because before WWII, it was common to save and replant saved seeds. These seeds often stayed in families and were passed on from generation to generation.

Anyway, I will avoid getting too deep into the subject of heirloom vegetables on my very first post, and instead save most of the details for later. Hopefully, Steph will also share some things with you, as well as perhaps other family members and friends.