The Excitement of Purple Carrots
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By Autumn Setzler VEGI Imagine a pot- the biggest pot you can think of. Imagine that inside the pot there is soup made from an assortment of vegetables and herbs of all sizes, shapes, and colors; cream-colored potatoes, deep purple beets, and bright green cilantro, to name a few. Imagine that this pot of vegetable soup is boiling over a fire, and that this fire is right next to the elementary school garden. Every fall for over a decade, community members have come together to celebrate the fall harvest of the elementary school garden with the students in Alamosa. This year was no different. Community members from the Police Department, the Public Library, local Students all contributed to the soup! farms, as well as various La Puente Programs came together to make Stone Soup happen. The day of Stone Soup, there were community members reading the story of Stone Soup in each classroom, others helping cook the soup, and others, still, working behind the scenes to make sure everything was running smoothly. “Ms. Autumn! Mr. Cody!” I heard this countless times that week. “Look! My carrot is purple!” the students would shout at me, holding their carrot about two inches from my face. “I’ve never seen a purple carrot!” 6