Dr. Christopher Rodebaugh has been making a name for himself in West Virginia. Aside from being a well-respected dentist in Greenbrier County, Rodebaugh is currently our reigning, defending, undisputed state champion squash grower.
Several weeks ago, the WV Daily News reported that Rodebaugh had claimed the state championship by growing a 955 pound squash; the largest West Virginia has ever recorded. And now, less than a month later, Rodebaugh has become a dual-champion. But this time it wasn’t a squash he grew; Rodebaugh’s current preferred produce is a nearly four-pound carrot.
At 3.69 pounds, Rodebaugh’s carrot smashed the previous record by nearly a quarter-pound. And much like with his championship squash, the previous carrot-record was held by a friend of Rodebaugh’s from the Morgantown area.
“We’ll try again next year for five pounds,” Rodebaugh said.
Now, if a 3.69 pound carrot doesn’t sound all that impressive, think about it like this: Rodebaugh’s carrot is approximately half the size of the average bowling ball.
Rodebaugh’s journey to immortality began in his basement back in February. Rodebaugh originally planted four carrots with seeds he had acquired from a distributor in Minnesota.
“I let my children name them,” Rodebaugh said. “There was Mommy Carrot, Daddy Carrot, Stella Carrot and Solomon Carrot.”
The carrots were then allowed to grow until May before being harvested.
“If you want to grow big carrots, you have to harvest them before they go to seed,” Rodebaugh said. He then went on to explain: “With carrots, you don’t know what you’re going to get.”
The first to be harvested was “Stella Carrot,” who grew to resemble a softball in both size and color. After Stella came “Mommy Carrot” and “Solomon Carrot.” However, both were rotten.
The last to emerge was the patriarch of the family, “Daddy Carrot.” Despite having a portion of himself broken off during harvesting, Daddy carrot was confirmed by the scales at IGA to weigh a new West Virginia state record 3.69 pounds.
“We had a pretty good year this year,” Rodebaugh said.
When asked again what particular produce Rodebaugh will focus his attention on next, the dual-champion said, “It’s the same goal…I want that pumpkin. That’s the glory.”
