Some signs of spring / quelques signes du printemps

A few signs of spring in the garden today / quelques signes du printemps au jardin aujourd'hui:

the first daffodil / la première narcisse

a bee on the rosemary flowers / une abeille au fleurs de romarin

apricot flower buds / des boutons d'abricotier

red squid from the market, barbecued to eat in the sun / encornet rouge du marché, grillé pour manger au soleil

. . . . and not so good / . . . . et moins bon

the sounds and sights of building work over the garden wall / le bruit des machines du travaux à l'autre coté du mur

And, at home, the tomatoes are germinating / Et chez nous les tomates germent

a small beginning to the gardening year!

Heated seed starter / Une boîte pour faire germer les semences

Because we don't need much heating here - most winters - we don't have a central heating boiler or even an airing cupboard, both of which were useful in Wales for providing warmth for germinating seeds in spring.  So I found a description of a homemade seed starter on the Mother Earth News website and asked Lo Jardinièr to make one like it.  Luckily he collects and hoards all sorts of useful bits and pieces, so the only thing we needed to buy for this was a light bulb.

J'ai demandé à Lo Jardinièr de construire une boîte chauffée pour faire germer les semences, que j'ai trouvé sur le site Mother Earth News.  Heureusement, il toujours ramasse et amasse les petits trucs, donc le seul truc qu'on a dü acheter pour ça c'est l'ampoule.

The box, 40 cm x 34 cm, with 25w light bulb fitted.....	lined with aluminium foil to reflect the heat ....
light bulb covered with a sheet of aluminium to diffuse the heat ...	the whole box covered with a piece of metal ....

the seed tray with our tomato seeds on top of the heated box.

Our box measures 40 cm by 34 cm, but the size can be varied according to the materials you have available.  If it's any bigger you may need two light bulbs.

La boîte mesure 40 cm x 34 cm, mais on peut la faire plus grande, selon vos materiaux.  Si c'est plus grande que ça, peut-être il faut mettre deux ampoules.

I offer no electrical guarantees - make sure the wiring is done safely! Faites attention à l'électricité!

One tip from our knowledgeable garden friend who tells us about the weather : once the seeds have germinated and the plants have started to grow, you can put the seed trays in the car where they will be warm and get lots of light before they are ready to be transplanted into the garden - a sort of mobile greenhouse!

Une astuce de notre ami du jardin qui nous dit tous sur le temps - quand les semences ont germé et les plants ont commencé à pousser, on peut les mettre dans la voiture, ou ils auront chauds et il y aura beaucoup de lumière jusqu'à ils soient prêts à planter dans le jardin.

Greece again / La Grèce encore

Once again I've invited Greece into my kitchen ... MaryAthenes' challenge on the blog en-direct-d'athenes ... with this simple, delicious recipe. 

Encore une fois j'ai invité la Grèce dans ma cuisine ... c'est le jeu de MaryAthenes sur le blog en-direct-dathenes ... avec cette recette simple et délicieuse.

Exohiko ou agneau en papillotte façon campagne / Country-style lamb parcels

Ingrédients :
Pour 6 personnes :
1,5 / 2 kilos d'agneau dans le gigot sans os, en petits morceaux / lamb cut into small pieces
3 oignons coupés en 2 ou 4 / onions quartered
3 oignons verts (oignons nouveaux) en rondelles / spring onions sliced in rounds
3 carottes en rondelles / carrots sliced in rounds
3 pommes de terre en morceaux / potatoes cut in pieces
350 g de gruyère (κεφαλογραβιέρα) en cubes (j'ai mis de la feta) / gruyère cheese (or feta)
le jus d'un citron / juice of a lemon
200 ml de vin rouge liquoreux (mavrodafni : vin utilisé pour la communion à l'église orthodoxe) / fortified red wine [I used Banyuls, the sweet strong red wine from Roussillon / j'ai utilisé le Banyuls, le vin doux du Roussillon]

200 ml d'huile d'olive / olive oil

1 càs de romarin écrasé / soup spoon of crushed rosemary

1/2 càc de cumin ou thym ou origan / teaspoon of cumin or thyme or oregano

sel, poivre / salt, pepper

Préparation :

Mélanger tous les ingrédients dans un grand récipient et laisser reposer au frigo une demi-heure. / Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and leave for half an hour in the refrigerator.
Découper 12 morceaux de papier sulfurisé. / Cut 12 pieces of greaseproof paper.
Déposer sur le papier doublé 1/6 de la préparation. / Put one-sixth of the mixture on each double sheet of paper.
Fermer à la ficelle. / tie up with string.
Mettre les 6 papillotes dans un plat et faire cuire au four préchauffé à 200o pour une heure et demie. / put the 6 parcels on a baking tray in the oven at 200 degrees C for one and a half hours.

Ouvrir les petits paquets et servir tout de suite ! / Open the parcels and serve them straight away!

I love these all-in-one dishes - all the flavour is preserved inside the parcels and they are so easy to serve to a large number of people.  In Greece, according to MaryAthenes, this dish is served at family gatherings at weekends.

It's the kind of dish that makes meat go a long way as you can vary the proportions, adding more vegetables and less meat if you wish.  We bought a shoulder of lamb which made four of these papillottes, and four servings of tagine.  I then put the shoulder bone into a soup-pan of water, and added onions, leeks and potatoes to make the Welsh dish cawl.  Recipes for the tagine and the cawl will be on the recipe blog mediterranean-cuisine.blogspot.com.

'Little spring' work / Le travail du 'petit printemps'

At last we've had some milder weather and a day of sunshine yesterday.  One of our garden neighbours walked past with his dog and, as usual, stopped to chat - he knows all about the weather and can predict when it will rain all through the year.  He tells us when it's the right time to sow tomatoes, peppers, salads and when to plant trees.  Now, he says, is the time of the 'petit printemps', the little spring, but it will be followed by colder weather in March.  We're making the most of the good weather while it lasts.

Enfin il a fait plus doux et hier le soleil brillait.  Un de nos voisins du jardin a passé avec son chien et, comme d'habitutde, il s'est arreté pour bavarder avec nous.  Il sait tous du temps et il peut prévoir quand il va pleuvoir pendant l'année.  Il nous dit quand c'est le temps pour semer les tomates, les poivrons, les salades, et quand il faut planter et tailler les arbres.  Maintenant, il dit, c'est le petit printemps, mais il fera froid encore au mois de mars.  On profte du beau temps quand ça dure.

The cold frame is finished and ready to use.  Lo Jardinièr filled in the gaps between the planks on the sides with wood and plastic sheeting and covered the floor with terracotta tiles which we hope will store some warmth.

plastic sheeting on the sunny side to let in more light ....

tiles on the base, and a bamboo prop to hold it open.

La petite serre est prête.  Lo Jardinièr a mis du bois dans les interstices entre les planches et du plastique sur le côté ensoleillé pour faire entrer plus de lumière, et il a mis des carreaux de terrecuite sur le plancher, qui conserveront la chaleur.

While he was doing this, I prepared one of the two planned tomato beds.  I dug a trench about half a metre wide and about 4 metres long, filled it with goat manure and forked it and watered it well, then covered it over with soil again to leave until we put the plants out in May.  This bed will hold 24 plants.  We'll prepare another similar bed for 24 more plants.  We may have more plants to find room for, and the cherry tomatoes will go in a separate bed.

J'ai preparé un des deux parterres pour les tomates.  J'ai creusé une tranchée d'une longuer de 4 metres et une largeur d'un demi metre.  J'y ai mis du fumier de chèvre et l'a arosé, puis je l'ai couvert de terre pour laisser jusqu'au mois de mai.  Il y aura 24 plants et nous allons préparer une autre parterre pareille.  Les tomates cerise seront dans une autre parterre.

Old walls and spring growth / Vieux murs et la croissance de printemps

Archaeologists have found the remains of medieval walls on ground near the gardens where building work is scheduled to start soon.  The walls are part of the system of water mills and streams on the hillside.  Maybe the find will delay the building work ... who knows?

Les archéologues ont trouvé des vestiges des vieux murs mediévaux près des jardins où le lotissement va être construit bientôt.  Peut-être cette découverte retardera les travaux ...?

Sowing tomatoes / Semer les tomates

Even when we're away from home Lo Jardinièr can't stop picking up recyclable materials.  In Uzès after the market on Saturday, he found on the pavement some polystyrene cases which had been used to carry shellfish.  He couldn't resist picking them up and bringing them home - they'll be very useful for sowing our tomato and pepper seeds in.

Toujours le recyclage.  Après le marché à Uzès, Lo Jardinièr a trouvé des cartons de polystyrène sur le trottoir.  Il les a apporté chez nous pour semer les tomates et les poivrons.

We divided one of these into four sections with thin strips of  wood(recycled, of course!) and sowed Roma, Coeur de Boeuf, St Pierre and Ananas tomatoes.  The Ananas seeds were from our own tomatoes last summer.

Next we're going to make a heated seed starter box, using instructions from Mother Earth News - more on this soon.

Allotments in the UK / Les potagers en Grande Bretagne

Good news from the National Trust in Britain in today's Guardian newspaper online.  The National Trust, the body which looks after historic buildings and land in the UK, is campaigning for an increase in vegetable growing and will be offering some of its land for the creation of 1,000 new plots.  I know that the effects of the global financial crisis can be tragic for some, but perhaps it will lead people back to their gardens and to valuing home grown vegetables, not just for economic reasons but for simple enjoyment of gardening and for the future of the planet.

More truffles / encore de truffes

 

pommes de terres gratinées au truffe

Gratin of potatoes - pommes de terres gratinées - is one of our favourite dishes and last night I made one of the most delicious ever, using some of the truffle we brought back from Uzès.  I only wish I could include the scent of truffle in this photo!  Potatoes, butter, crème fraîche and truffle ... it was wonderful!  The recipe will be on the Mediterranean cuisine blog..

A weekend away and some rare treats / Un weekend de petits plaisirs

We spent the weekend in Uzès, near Nîmes, a beautiful old town of narrow streets and turreted buildings. One of the highlights of our stay there was the Saturday market in the arcaded place aux Herbes.

Nous avons passé le weekend à Uzès, près de Nîmes, une belle vielle ville de ruelles étroites et de tourelles. Un des points forts de notre séjour était le marché à la place aux Herbes.

Under the arcade in one corner of the place we found La Maison de la Truffe - Uzès is a centre for the sale of truffles which grow under oak trees in the surrounding hills. I was shocked when I asked the price - over 700 € a kilo - but they are very light, so we were able to afford a couple of small ones as a treat.

Au coin de la place nous avons trouvé La Maison de la Truffe - Uzès est un centre de la production de la truffe. J'ai été étonnée quand j'ai demandé le prix - plus de 700 € le kilo - mais les truffes sont très légère, donc on en a pu acheter deux petites.

more truffles than we could afford	.... and one that we could
thinly sliced (beautiful patterns)	and added to pasta with melted butter, a treat when we got home.

And there's still one small truffle left which I'm going to use in other dishes, and I'll add a small piece to some olive oil to make truffle oil.

Vegetables stuffed with artichoke purée /

Les légumes farcis à la purée d'artichaut

We had some excellent meals in Uzès and one of the vegetable accompaniments which inspired me to experiment at home was a yellow pepper stuffed with a purée of artichoke hearts. In the summer I'll make this with our own vegetables from the garden, but when I found a stall in the market selling ready-made artichoke purée - caviare d'artichaut - I couldn't resist trying it with some courgettes and serving them today with olive bread from an organic bread stall.

Trying to think positively about building development / En essayant d'être optimiste quant au lotissement

I was upset to see that the building work on land around the gardens has now started. Trenches dug ready for foundations and services. We've known this has been planned for several years, but seeing it happening was a shock today. I'm trying to be positive about it. We should still have the same uninterrupted view from the garden and we're sheltered by old stone walls and bamboo. I tell myself I shouldn't be selfish - people need houses and why shouldn't they live on the hill next to our garden. I like having people around me, that's why I live in the village rather than in an isolated rural house ..... but I find it hard to accept that a small village like Gabian with 700 inhabitants, can absorb the increase in population which an extra 100 houses will bring without changing its character. We'll see.

Les travaux ont commencé sur le terrain autour des jardins. Vers 100 maisons. J'essaye d'être optimiste, mais c'est difficile d'accepter qu'un petit village de 700 habitants peut se developper sans changer son caractère. On vera.

Organic local food - the only hope for the planet / la nourriture bio et locale - le seul espoir pour la planète

If you haven't already read it, you should read Kate's recent post on Hills and Plains Seedsavers about the cost to the environment, to the planet and to all of us of industrialised agriculture. As Kate reports, it takes 10 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food using 'conventional' agriculture, whereas Producing food naturally, in your own backyard or close to home actually produces 10 calories of food for every 1 calorie put in to its production. How can we afford not to eat organic local food? There need to be huge changes in the way societies agree to produce food. Organic local food should no longer be seen as elitist and expensive - it has this reputation in developed countries, although it is considered normal in many other parts of the world. I can only hope that the global economic crisis can help to put a stop to the progress of large-scale food production and GM crops and begin a return to more rational methods.

L'agriculture globalisée et industrialisée prend 10 calories d'énergie pour produire 1 calorie de nourriture. La production naturelle, locale et biologique prend 1 calorie pour 10 calories de nourriture. Comment peut-on refuser la nourriture bio?

First anniversary / Premier anniversaire

It's a year since I began the Olives and Artichokes blog at the start of the last gardening year.  One of my earliest posts was about planting our potatoes on the day after the full moon in February 2008.  Yesterday we did just that, again ... the cycle of the seasons and the gardening year.

In my first post I hoped that the blog would be 'a diary of what we learn'.  Well, it has become that, and a lot more too.  Writing the blog has been more involving - and taken more time - than I'd thought, but it has also brought unexpected rewards.  I've become part of a worldwide community of gardeners and like-minded people.  I've made friends, some of whom I've met, some of whom are still 'virtual' friends but no less real when it comes to exchanging ideas and advice.

Perhaps most importantly, writing the blog has encouraged me to think more about gardening, food and the environment.  Lo Jardinièr and I are still gardening for the same reasons as we always have done - because we enjoy it, because we like good food and because we believe that local, organic food is better for us and better for the planet.  But now we think through the issues and arguments more and we're part of a 'conversation' that circles the world.

We're looking forward to the next year of Olives and Artichokes and we hope that all our new and old friends around the world will continue to enjoy reading about our garden and food adventures as much as we enjoy learning about yours.

C'est le premier anniversaire du blog Olives and Artichokes et nous espérons que nos amis et nos lecteurs autour du monde continuent de apprécier l'histoire de notre jardin et notre cuisne autant que nous appécions les vôtres.

PS  Looking back at last February's posts shows how comparatively cold this year has been and how late this spring is.  On 17 February I posted photos of almond blossom and apricot buds which were about to flower - there's nothing like that yet this year.

After the full moon / Après la pleine lune

This morning as the moon set behind the hill at 7.45 a.m., it was clearly waning, slightly less than a full circle of light above the Mediterranean pines.  According to the Gardeners' Calendar, today was a good day to plant potatoes.

La lune s'est couchée derrière la colline à 7.45 ce matin.  On a pu voir qu'elle décroit, elle était un peu moins qu'un plein cercle de lumière au-dessus des pins mediterrannéens.  Selon le Gardener's Calendar, aujourd'hui était du bon temps pour planter les pommes de terres.

We had already prepared the ground, so we planted most of our potatoes.  There are a few left to plant later.

On avait déjà préparé la terre, donc on a planté la plupart de nos pommes de terre.  Il y en restent quelques unes pour plutard.

Last night friends came to supper and I made ragout d'escoubille, an Occitan stew of pork, chicken, sausage, vegetables and olives.  I used the Lucques olives we were given by these same friends in November, which are now ready to eat.

Hier soir nous avons invité des amis et j'ai préparé le ragout d'escoubille, un plat occitan du pork, poulet, saucisse, légumes et olives.  J'ai ajouté les olives lucques que ces amis nous ont donné en novembre qui sont prêtes à manger.

We served the ragout with oak-aged Chateau des Adouzes 2000 red wine - a good strong-flavoured accompaniment for this dish.  The recipe for ragout d'escoubille is on the Mediterranean cuisine blog.

On a servi le ragout avec du vin rouge du Chateau des Adouzes 2000 veilli au futs de chêne.  La recette du ragout d'escoubille est sur le blog Mediterranean cuisine.

Our first ever lemon! / Notre premier citron!

Today I picked our first ever lemon.  It's small, but wonderful, and two slices of it went very well in gin and tonics this evening!

Rainbow / Arc en ciel

The crocuses are all out now / Tous les crocus fleurissent maintenant

And as this rain cloud raced down the valley,

Et pendant que ce nuage allait à toute vitesse le long de la vallée,

the rainbow got brighter ...

l'arc en ciel est devenu de plus en plus clair

....and brighter.

J'invite la Grèce dans ma cuisine / I'm inviting Greece into my kitchen

A tempting challenge - to invite Greece into my kitchen - and one which isn't too difficult for me. Greek and Turkish cuisine have many similarities, so many of the dishes on the blog En-direct-dathenes resemble the food I ate while I was growing up in Istanbul and have been cooking ever since.

Pour participer au jeu de MaryAthenes j'invite la Grèce dans ma cuisine avec ces keftedes au cumin et ouzo:

As my entry in the game suggested by MaryAthenes I've made keftedes with cumin and ouzo:

(pour 30 de keftedes / to make 30 keftedes)

600 g de viande hachée / minced meat**

1/2 pain blanc rassis / stale white bread

1 gros oignon haché / minced onion

2 oeufs / eggs

1 càc de cumin / coffee spoon cumin

1 1/2 càc d'origan / coffee spoon origano

1 verre à liqueur d'ouzo / liqueur glass of ouzo*

sel, poivre / salt, pepper

farine / flour

huile à friture

citron

Faire tremper le pain rassis dans de l'eau. Essorer. Mettre en miettes.

Soak the bread in water. Drain. Make into crumbs in a mixer.

Melanger le pain et la viande hachée à la main. / Mix the bread and the meat by hand.

Ajouter l'oignon, les oeufs, le cumin, l'origan, l'ouzo, le sel et le poivre et bien malaxer. / Add the onion, eggs, cumin, oregano, ouzo, salt and pepper and mix well.

Laisser reposer 1 heure au frigo. / Leave in the fridge for 1 hour.

Former des petites boules, les rouler dans la farine et les faire frire. / Form the mixture into small rissoles, roll them in the flour and fry them.

Vous pouvez les manger chaudes arrosées de just de citron ou froides. / Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon or cold.

*Parce que je ne suis pas en Grèce, au lieu de l'ouzo. j'ai ajouté du pastis. * Because I'm not in Greece, instead of ouzo I added pastis (the Midi equivalent of this aniseed spirit).

** You can use beef, veal or lamb (lamb would be most likely in Turkey) for this or pork, which is what I used because it is easily available here.

And from our lunch today, a couple more meze ideas ...

quelques autres idées pour un repas de mezes ...

Crushed haricot beans with sweet onion, black olives and toasted sesame bread. Cauliflower fritters. Recipes for these will be on the mediterranean cuisine blog.

Making a cold frame / construire une petite serre

It's hard to believe in the cold weather we're having that we should be sowing tomato, pepper and courgette seeds very soon. Some of our neighbours have done this already. In preparation for all this spring activity, Lo Jardinièr has been making a cold frame.

C'est difficile de croire qu'on doit semer les tomates, les poivrons et les courgettes bientôt. Quelqu'uns de nos voisins l'ont déjà fait. En vue de toute cette activité de printemps, Lo Jardinièr construit une petite serre.

Some friends gave us two crates, one of which we decided to use as the basis of a cold frame, and a couple of weeks ago we trimmed the bay tree in the corner of the garden so that it won't shade the finished frame.

Now all that needs to be done is to fill in the sides with planks of wood and polythene sheeting. We're especially pleased because it has cost nothing at all to make - we've used only recycled materials that people have given us or that we had lying around, things ...

...like this piece of metal salvaged somewhere by Lo Jardinièr from a previous life as a curtain rod holder. It makes a very good handle for the top of the cold frame.

Another one for Melinda's Buy Sustainable challenge, I think.

Soon, we hope, the cold frame will be full of thriving seedlings!

Bientôt, on éspère, la serre sera pleine de plants à croissance rapide!

Lemons at last! / Des citrons enfin!

Our three lemons - our first ever - have ripened very slowly during the cold weather, but at last they are turning very yellow, rather than yellowy-green. Very soon I'll pick one, slice it and add it to a gin and tonic!