b mused

March's Postcard of the Month
Well, I hadn't intended to make baskets...

And, yeah - they look more like purple bunny ears, or Lupines, than Croci,

but I thought I'd go with Crocuses poking up through the snow (again*) this March.

I was thinking I'd maybe do a close-up of just a single flower; did a quick pastel pencil sketch:

had in mind collaging something along these lines:

but never got any further.

And then, as March's card was percolating, my beloved friend, Elaine, stopped by the studio with her friend - artist Tamara Wight - bringing me one of Tammy's enchantingly lovely little fairy houses.

Which got me (re-)exploring Tammy's site, Tamara Wright Baskets:

http://tamarawight.com/index.html (check this out!)

Which must have seeped right into my subconscious, because next thing you know, this:

Turned into this:

Basket. :-)

I added on this little perforated scrap:

Just seemed more balanced with this.

Ok - here's the odd thing about my choosing to do Croci (again) for March:

Yes, it's what I think of - other than MUD - when I think of March, so that wasn't unusual.

But!

Somehow, I was completely NOT thinking about the fact that shortly after completing the cards, I would be attending a workshop on Crocus cultivation, specifically the fall-blooming Crocus Sativa, which is the source of SAFFRON - THE MOST EXPENSIVE SPICE**IN THE WORLD! - which I - along with neighbor/pal Peter - was contemplating growing/supplying.

I actually have a few fall-blooming Croci in one of our gardens:

They were planted by the previous owner, and surprise me with their unexpected late-September appearance (who ever heard of fall-blooming Crocuses??!) almost EVERY SINGLE YEAR!

Back in the fall, I'd come across articles about a UVM study re: Saffron cultivation in Vermont:

http://www.uvm.edu/~entlab/Other%20Research/Saffron/Saffron.html.

Knowing that friend/neighbor (over the trickle (not quite a river...) and through the woods neighbor), Peter, had been wanting to get into some viable/lucrative agricultural use of the nice open field that abuts our land, I'd suggested to him that this might be the very thing. This research had come to his attention, too.

So we started to check it out, and next thing you know, we'd signed up for the day-long workshop in March.

Really - this had completely slipped my mind, all the February weeks that I was percolating, prepping, and then making the cards.

And, now, mere days after sending out the March Crocus basket postcards, after attending the excellent and inspiring Saffron Cultivation in VT workshop, I am about to embark on a huge new Crocus adventure! Our Crocus Sativa corms are ordered! Peter and I are going to be Saffron farmers!