Farmers’ Market: Manet and O’Keefe
Sunflowers, daffodils, and dandelions are the Mae West’s of the flower world. The brilliant blooms fairly well march into the room, look you straight in the eye, toss their heads, and plant one hand on a jutting hip. They declare, “Here I am, you lucky people … feast your eyes!” They dare anyone to ignore the way a bouquet will light up the room.
The blooms are bold and brassy, confident in their manner as they stare into the splendor of the sun. They are the sun in botanical form! We gather armfuls to brighten our homes.
By comparison, snowdrops and lily-of-the-valley in our gardens would seem to have bland, “vanilla” blossoms, an Edouard Manet in a Georgia O’Keefe retrospective. Yet these dainty flowers appear at the edge of the retreating snow or deep in the shade of a low-hanging spruce and gardeners enthuse over their appearance like brand new parents marveling over the tiny fingers and toes of their newborn (even though, in both cases, the adoring devotees had everything to do with the arrival).
Farther afield, we find tiny delicate wood violets peeping up from slim, short stalks, almost hidden by unmown grasses. The blooms seem too frail to pick, are dwarfed by all but the tiniest of vases, and fade much too quickly to fill a room with their sweet, woodsy scent if you gather a bouquet. They appear every year with no input from us at all and every spring we are once again enchanted by their appearance.
Undeniably, whether at home in our gardens or off in the “wilds” of a meadow, we are drawn to color and scent and discovery of life embodied by the plant world. Make your own discoveries of spring’s promise in the form of fruits, vegetables, and flowers on sale at the Presque Isle Farmers Market on Saturday mornings in the Aroostook Centre Mall parking lot. It may not be as exciting as an intrepid safari to a nearby meadow, but can be both fun and rewarding nonetheless.
Editor’s note: This weekly column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information or to join, contact their secretary/treasurer Steve Miller of Westmanland at 896-5860 or via e-mail at beetree@xpressamerica.net.
