What is pack day you ask?
It is the absolute first day set by the Georgia Department of Agriculture that the delicious Vidalia onion can be packaged and sold. The Georgia state vegetable will be available to make fried rings of deliciousness. Hamburgers were so missing out on that needed extra flavor. I am so excited I might cry (from cutting onions of course).
How did this ground-dwelling bulb that makes my mouth water come to be such a big deal?
The story dates back to 1931 when Toombs County farmer Moses Coleman planted a batch of onions that he expected to be hot, but to his surprise, the onions turned out to be sweet. The crop ended up being so popular that he sold his harvest of onions for $3.50 per 50-pound bag, which was a hefty price for the Great Depression days.
I have a consistent route I take to work in the mornings. And as I tend to do, I am usually peeking around to see what is happening in the landscape. This time of year, the headliners during my drives are usually dogwoods, azaleas, cherries and forsythia exploding with color.
But on this morning’s journey, there is one that is really showing out nicely that I tend to forget even exists. And it happens to be the state flower of Georgia. The Cherokee Rose (Rosa laevigata) was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly as the floral emblem of the State of Georgia on August 18, 1916, at the request of the Federation of Women s Clubs.