Fruit-bearing

Let's talk about important things, like goddesses, fruit, and Latin roots.

One of my favorite Roman myths involves Pomona and her lover Vertumnus. As the story goes, Pomona was the goddess of fruit trees, and she cared for nothing except her fruit. However, her beauty attracted several suitors, all of whom she she ran away from, try as they might to impress her with mad hunting skills or to win her favor with flattery. Eventually Vertumnus, the youngest of the demi-gods who were wooing Pomona, won her hand in marriage by dressing up as an old woman and, in that disguise, counselling her to marry him. (His crafty persuasive tactics included pointing how unions between different plant species helped both plant species, which ended up being an argument that Pomona could hardly refute.)

The name Pomona comes from the Latin word pomum, which means fruit. That information might serve you well if you plan to attend the Flathead Cherry Festival this weekend; you may, after all, run into some pomologists--those who study fruit-- at the event.

And, now that the fruits of summer are coming into season, it's time to think about fruit recipes and fruit preservation. Pies, breads, chutneys, jams... And the Library is here to help you. In the 641 call number section of the Library, we've got a fantastic selection of cookbooks and books that address various food preservation options.

*Note: Image above is a reproduction of a painting by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1669). The image was downloaded from The Web Gallery of Art: http://www.wga.hu/.