It’s still early in the morning and Phoenix Russell has decided to spend the first part of the day combing one of her favorite beaches to collect conch and clam shells to make jewelry. She also spends most fall mornings and evenings sitting in a deer stand.
On a hazy, warm Monday morning in June, the Edgartown harbor master pulls into his parking spot adjacent to his office on Morse street in Edgartown. Charlie Blair has barely parked his battered blue Suburban before he jumps out and asks: “What kind of shape are we in?”
Her flower studio looks more like a temporary movie or stage set than a place of business. Filled with silver vases, vintage glass bottles, ribbons and buckets of fall blooms — among them stunning red, magenta and saffron-colored dahlias — this is the front office for Krishana Collins, flower farmer. The building is an old farm structure that looks like a miniature house, with aging shingles weathered white trim and casement windows, and one long side wall completely chopped off.
