All Things Holland

As some might have heard in the news this year is going to be very special one for the House of Orange.  At the end of January Queen Beatrix announced that she would abdicate the throne to allow her son Willem-Alexander to ascend to the throne.  This event will take place on April 30, 2013.  He will be the first Dutch king since 1890.  What does this mean for the Netherlands?  Well for an American outside of Holland the most obvious change will be spring time in the Netherlands.  Queen's Day will be no more!  Instead starting next year, the new Orange holiday will be King's Day; held on April 27, Willem-Alexander's birthday.  King's Day next year is on a Sunday so the party will be held on Saturday April 26.  This year's party will surround the coronation of Prince Willem-Alexander. It seems there are some very Orange years ahead of us! 

At the beginning of the 16th century gardening in Europe was still an underdeveloped skill, vegetable gardening especially.  It is said that Catherine wife of King Henry VII of England could not procure a "sallad" until Henry sent to the Netherlands to have a gardener sent to England to raise the proper articles.  But, it seems that the Netherlands was on top of this modern gardening trend. In most countries carrots are orange, but that has not always been the case.  In fact carrots in the past were never orange.  Before orange carrots there were Western red and white carrots which today might be called parsnips,  and Eastern purple carrots with the occasional wild carrots of different colors. So what is the legend that surrounds the orange carrot?  Folktales tell us that the orange carrot was bred in the Netherlands in the 16th century to honor William I of Orange (William the Silent).  It was to tribute to William I during the Dutch fight for ind...