Lighten Up: Nurturing the seed with Cate Blanchett
Kew's ambassador for Wakehurst Cate Blanchett, left, and senior research leader Elinor Breman speak to Britain's King Charles III at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank in Wakehurst, Sussex, England. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty
I've always had a lot of time for Cate Blanchett.
Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that she would have made a great farmer's wife — if she hadn't been swayed by the bright lights of Hollywood.
"A farmer's loss, is Hollywood's gain," I often lament down in the pub on a Friday night, when the subject of Cate Blanchett is touched upon.
In all honesty, I would have given my hind teeth to have known her back in the days when I was a single man.
For with all my fancy plans of having a big family and of how I could survive on bullocks and EU handouts, I dare say that she would have been smitten with auld Lehane when he was a younger man.
Yerra, I was quite the charmer back in the day before I started losing all my hair and teeth to the ravages of time.
Anyhow, all this old talk of Cate and the land is not merely the rambling of a lonesome farmer. 'Tis far from it.
There is method to my madness, for Cate herself is intrinsically linked to the land.
A few years back, she purchased a fine farm in the British Heartland. A plot of ground that I believe she still owns today, and what she does with it is anyone's guess.
Cate could well be running a calf-to-beef enterprise. Or better again, perhaps she's milking cows. Who knows?
A good milk cheque, along with her Hollywood wage, would be a mighty combination, even with the recent milk price drop.
All I know for sure is that I have never seen Cate Blanchett at Macroom mart on a Saturday, but God knows I do keep an eye out for her all the same.
Anyhow, she made the headlines recently again by adding another notch to her farming belt; this time, her focus is on the seeding industry. And I don't mean that she now goes door to door selling grass seed to farmers.
No, Cate's interest lies in the preservation of seed. Her interest lies in seed banks and things of that nature.
Yerra, there is a huge building out there in England called the Kew Millennium Seed Bank.
It's a spot where, down through the years, millions of various seeds have been collected and stored.
It's a rainy-day fund if you like — a safety net for plant life just in case something calamitous should happen to all the greenery in the UK. And it's a great idea, for you never know what madness is around the corner.
Anyhow, Cate is now an ambassador to the cause and so has given the venture a mighty bout of publicity. She recently spoke to the king of England about seeding and general germination.
Right now, the seed bank in the UK has the seed of almost every plant grown in the country. So now the search has gone global. Rare and exotic plants the world over are now being sought.
So, if you have some quirky-looking plant sprouting up in the back field that you think Kew Gardens, and indeed Cate Blanchett herself, would be interested in, why not give them a call?
You could have the very thing they desire the most of all.
I myself will be looking hard around the farm to see if there is anything unusual popping up. Sometimes I see the quarest of things, especially in the early morning.
Anyhow, this is the kind of thing that tickles the fancy of the Hollywood actress.
For while many movie greats are only interested in the bright lights, Cate's eye has always been on the outdoors and on all the strange and wonderful things that exist here.
