Farmers’ Market: Plot Turns
Themes and storylines of television shows and movies can be repetitive. “Watch this!” Familiar iconic symbols signal viewers to sit up and take notice of an upcoming game-changer.
A secret weapon shows up in early Star Wars movie series when Han Solo instructs Chewbacca to launch the Millennium Falcon into hyperspace. At Hogwarts, Harry and Ron encourage Hermione to wave her wand and chant spells in multiple Harry Potter films. “Hit the button, Max!” the villainous Professor Fate instructs his mechanic/sidekick, Maximillian Meen in “The Great Race”. You get the idea. In each case, the storyboard reads, mayhem ensues.
Like the stars whizzing by the space travelers until they are a blur, the arrival of spring to Aroostook County has vaulted May days into hyperspace. The season that seemed so diffident about making an appearance, is suddenly bursting to announce its presence. In the Plant Kingdom, dead brown thatch is overrun with a creeping carpet of green. Stick-like tree skeletons are dressed out in tiny delicate leaves; those that bloom burst into a riot of color and fragrance. Honeybees fairly vibrate at the mouth of their hives in anticipation of pollen and nectar. Brooks and streams fairly leap free of their banks when their ice-sealed surfaces granulate, sink, or break free like calving glaciers in the Arctic. Peepers herald their availability from newly formed pools. Moose mamas lead their gangly youngsters down for a drink. Birds eye each other suggestively, then pair up and rocket like dog-fighting Blue Angels between potential nest sites, emitting high-pitched squabbles. It is clear that neither has learned the benefit of the response, “Yes, dear.”
Around The County, farmers heed nature’s call, powering up to disk, lime, plant, cultivate. We walk fences and replace insulators, enlisting electric fencers in our bid to our animals to curb their enthusiasm for grass somewhere over the next hill.
Next Saturday morning, members of the Presque Isle Farmers Market will also race about in preparation for opening day. We head for the parking lot at the Aroostook Centre Mall, ready and eager to offer locally-grown products to equally eager customers from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. this season’s opening day. “Hit the button, Max!”
The Presque Isle Farmers’ Market contact person is Gail Maynard, who operates Orchard Hill Farm in Woodland with her husband, Stan. Their phone number is 498-8541 and their email is orchhill@gmail.com.
