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!

After the deluge - back to the garden / Après le déluge - le retour au jardin

The series of bizarre weather events continues ... this time with four days of heavy rain and flooding in the Midi, while Wales and England came to a standstill under a covering of snow.

La série d'événements météo bizarres continuent ... cette fois quatre jours de pluie forte et d'inondation dans le Midi pendant que le Pays de Galles et l'Angleterre se sont arretés sous une couche de neige.

The stream which runs from the spring and past the gardens was full of rushing water - if only we could save it all for the summer!

Le ruisseau qui coule de la source était pleine d'eau babillarde - si on peut la garder pour l'été!

Today the clouds were coming from the north-east - a direction which rarely brings rain here.  It's the 'marin' from the sea which brings rain / Aujourd'hui les nuages sont venus du nord-est - une direction qui apporte très rarement la pluie. C'est le marin qui apporte la pluie.

We're hoping to plant our potatoes at the full moon this weekend, so Lo Jardinièr has been preparing the ground for them.

On éspère de planter les pommes de terre à la pleine lune ce weekend, donc Lo Jardinièr a preparé la terre.

For the first time for several weeks it was warm enough to have lunch in the garden - tapas of picholine olives and cured sausage followed by a delicious chickpea, chorizo, cabbage and carrot stew which Lo Jardinièr had made.

C'était la première fois pour quelques semaines qu'il a fait assez beau pour manger au jardin - des tapas d'olives picholines et de saucisson sec, et puis un ragout delicieux de pois chiches, chorizo, choux et carrottes que Lo Jardinièr avait preparé.

The spring flowers are beginning to come out. The garden is covered in speedwell - a weed, but a pretty one:

Les fleurs de printemps commencent à éclore.  Le jardin est couvert de véronique - une mauvaise herbe, mais c'est jolie.

And the crocuses: / Et les crocus:

Spring is on its way at last!  Le printemps arrive enfin!

Ecological footprint / empreinte écologique

There's a link to a quiz you can do to find out your ecological footprint - expressed in terms of the number of planets we would need if everyone lived like you - on Jardim com gatos.  Like all these quizzes, it has its critics but I think it's quite a useful way of finding out what improvements one can make in one's lifestyle.  Try it and see how large or small your footprint is!