Thursday, February 6, 2014

Walk Like an Onion

A dear friend, now widowed and living alone, called me yesterday. She has a vigorous mind, and a sense of humor, but gets a little down sometimes. My panacea for such a situation is to grow something--anything. A pot of grass seed, which I have done, is so delightful and green in the chill of winter.

I asked, "Do you like onions?" Turns out she loves them. I listened to her rave for a time, then asked, "How about Egyptian walking onions?" She said she had not heard of them, so I gave her a brief description of their growing habits and their vigor.

"They are very strong," I warned. "Stronger the better," she answered.

I only have one problem with this marvelous plant. I love them so much that I want to replant them rather than eat them. They are like a mother and her babies, and I want to see the offspring survive to have their own "children". I mean, what other onion replants itself, can withstand cold winter, heat and drought of summer and keep on multiplying? You don't need to dig them, just pick off their clusters at the top of the stem.

This is probably old hat to you, but to think that there are people in their 70's who have not even heard of them is so sad.

While we talked on the phone, I got online and typed in "onion sets" on Amazon's site. There they were, leading the parade. I selected her name and address from my online file and with one click ordered them to be sent to her. Now she can become a fanatic too.

Find Egyptian walking onions on Amazon here.

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