A Concert and An Orchid Show - February 21 and 22, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

I learned of this local band that was to be playing at a new venue in Greenfield, MA north of us. The venue had taken over a part of a venerable old building, the Hawks and Reed building, near Court Square where the Farmers Market is held.

The tickets were very reasonable for general admission on Friday night. We stopped for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant we used to love. It had changed hands a few years back and we’d not liked it so much. We thought to give it another try. But alas, it’s even worse than before so we shall not be going back.

I much prefer 60’s and early 70’s music and did enjoy listening to them. My husband said they were ok, musically, as he has a much more discerning taste in music than I do. (I am tone deaf…)

We stayed through 2 sets and I stayed in my chair. He’d made sure that I didn’t intend to drag him to the dance floor before we went in. But 2 hours of chair dancing had worn me out and it turned out to be a late night for us. We weren’t to bed until nearly 10:30.

I was supposed to go to the gym Saturday morning, but there was no way that was happening. We were both very tired from Friday night.

I had made plans to go to the Amherst Orchid Society Annual Show with a friend at 10AM. It was held at the Smith Vocational High School in Northampton, MA.

Beautiful wooden plate at the entrance to Smith Vocational School

When we entered the school they had a beautiful display of woodworking done by the Carpentry school. I was quite taken with the plate above.

We walked through the selling area first. On the way, there was one display for the show.

It featured this orchid at the pinnacle of the display.

I call this the “Dancing Lady” because of the markings. This one was in the sale area.

There were several varieties of it in the Show displays.

This one in the sale area was really stunning.

I did manage to get an almost decent shot of this white orchid in the sale area.

One of the sellers explained to us that the faint scent we caught here and there would probably not be stronger as the plants need precise sunlight and temperature to really send out scent, and those requirements weren’t met in the cafeteria of the school.

Many of the plants were labeled but I did not try to keep track of names, nor make sure the correct one was in the photo. So don’t go by any labels near a flower…

I found this display fascinating by the way they had staged the varying coloration of the center flowers. It was one of the best displays, I thought.

The variety of petal shapes for orchids is amazing.

This one was actually deep red, not the orangy color my camera captured.

I had been to this show a couple years back and was taken by the group who put up this display. The pot holds something that floats out of the container and flows down the sides and across the table. If you look carefully you can just see the wisps.

Lot of first and second places

I liked this one. The color wasn’t much, but the petals and reservoir were polished to a high gloss and really attracted the eye.

The center of the Show has this display with greenhouse boxes.

Behind this box was this display of scented orchids. As the seller had said, the scents weren’t strong.

Then over by the larger greenhouse box I found this. It smelled very strongly of vanilla! A delightful plant.

The larger greenhouse display box

One of the displays I liked

We had a great time trying to trace scents to plants and getting lots of photos. The scope of colors and shapes and sizes in orchids is just amazing. I know one of the sellers has taken over the business from her parents. Can you imagine working with orchids for a livelihood?

We went back to the house and gave my friend the tour. She’d not seen it since October, so there was a lot to see now.

Then we hauled out our calendars and set up dates for the Smith College Greenhouses Bulb Show and Lecture on March 6th and the Mount Holyoke Bulb Show and a trip to the Mount Holyoke Art Museum on March 11th. So there are a lot of beautiful flower photos in the near future, if I can remember the camera….

The temperatures have risen to 50’s during the day for the next few days. I’m hoping I can get out into the big garden a couple times to start the clearing process.

Monday we might be going to do much of the final pricing and ordering for siding, floor stone, stone facades, and odds and end.

Lots happening on the homestead now!