Nancy Lingemann Remembers Alan Chadwick, Part 4
This is the fourth part of Nancy's interview with Greg Haynes in March, 2014. Alan Chadwick's approach to the culture of cut-flowers is in stark contrast to the direction taken by modern commercial interests. Today, florists sell flowers so long-lasting that they may as well have been embalmed. They are lifeless waxen things with hardly any scent that look like they were made in a laboratory rather than grown in soil. They are the florist's counterpart to supermarket tomatoes that have practically no flavor but will resist rotting for a full month after harvest. Both of these commodities are bred for a long shelf-life, but have sacrificed vitality, beauty, flavor, scent and naturalness in order to achieve that condition.
Alan chose vegetables and flowers for all of the characteristics that have been rejected by those whose primary goals are economic. Eating his vegetables brought about a revitalization of the palet and was an absolutely new experience for people who had never eaten anything but store-bought produce. His flowers were an incredible enchantment. Their fragrance and delicate colors were enough to delight the earthbound senses and transport you to some long-lost Eden that you never imagined could really exist.
Nancy and her business partner still refuse to provide the industry-standard embalmed-cadavers of flowers, and her customers love that. She has a unique niche in the market that she attributes to Alan's influence. (10:27)