Sarah Gibbard Cook
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Sunflower Season

3/28/2022

2 Comments

 
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Exploring an unfamiliar trail, I saw plastic sunflowers tucked into cracks in every park bench. Sunflowers adorn murals, sidewalks, billboards, T-shirts, and social media profile pictures. Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, images of Ukraine’s national flower surround us as a sign of our support. Not till summer will the real blooms turn fields as yellow as the lower half of the Ukrainian flag, beneath a clear blue sky.

Big, bright sunflowers have deep roots in Ukrainian art and folklore. Grown for their seeds in Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona for thousands of years, they were introduced to Europe in the early 1500s. They flourished in Ukraine’s hot, dry climate and rich soil. Sunflower seed oil was especially welcome during Lent, when the Orthodox Church forbade eating foods made with animal products such as butter or lard.

​Ukraine is the largest exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for nearly half the global supply. Russia comes second, with nearly a quarter. Disruptions to production and trade are having ripple effects on vegetable oil availability and prices worldwide, similar to what’s happening with a different kind of oil at the gas pump. The war touches us all, but most of all the suffering people of Ukraine.

2 Comments
Marti Pizzini
3/28/2022 04:14:17 pm

UKRAINE PAIN
Ukraine pain
adding one more
to a long list of
"Things I can't do anything about."
It flickers in the background of
reawakening earth
and bluebirds nesting in my yard.
I bought some miniature pysanky eggs
hand painted in Ukraine
They come with a little hole in the top
where I can screw in a brass eyelet
and make lovely pendants
to hang around my neck
as folk art or
an albatross
or both.
Life is like that.

March 16, 2022
Marti Pizzini

Reply
Sarah Cook link
3/30/2022 07:17:24 am

Marti, this is beautiful! And so true. Life is like that. Joy and woe are woven fine. When I was a child, in the weeks leading up to Easter my mother often served scrambled eggs made from egg blown out of shells with holes at each end. We would dye the empty eggshells in a clumsy imitation of Ukrainian style and hang them on a small "egg tree" in the front yard.

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    I'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. 


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