our own organic garden

One of the first wants was to have our own vegetable garden. With Claudia being vegetarian our taste for fresh and natural food has more and more developed and hence the drive to find a place in the Provence which allows us to be self-sufficient, self-supportive and in control of what we put on our table.

In the summer of 2009 we spent one week on an organic farm in the Drôme, La Ferme du Pescher, a small collective with 2 vegetable farmers and a goat farmer who also makes delicious goats cheese. Claudia learnt more about the planting, growing and harvesting of the various vegetables and fruits and their seasonal cycles, while Jim became fromager and single-handedly ran the fromagerie. In June of 2010 Jim and Claudia will again spend one week at this farm, to help and enjoy the lifestyle.

In our garden we have a mature fig tree, an apricot tree and a cherry tree, to make jams with natural jelling agents like agar-agar and a small amount of sweeteners, like rice syrup or agave syrup.

With seeds from an organic farm La Ferme de Sainte Marthe we grow courgettes, tomatoes, lettuce, fennel, cucumber, leeks, carrots, onions, garlic as well as an herb garden with mint, basil, coriander.

With our own organic garden we want to be independent and also be able to offer our home-grown products at a table d’hote.

First observations about the soil here on the Plateau de Valensole: the soil is hard and does not retain moisture well. However, the garlic which we planted in January has not needed one drop of water and is now, the beginning of May, already 30 cm high.

Our initial hesitance to water our plants too much and to deplete our earth of this precious resource has been amended to give our plants a chance. We take our water from a nearby bassin, which accumulates rain water only and is also home to Vincent the Frog. This allows us to close the cycle of rain water irrigation and at the same time using only as much as is needed.

The cherry tree has grown very large, with an amazing amount of cherries on it, without any diseases or parasites. We will have to trim it, though, as the net, protecting the cherries against the ever-present birds, is difficult to mount and does not cover the whole tree.

Our vegetable garden has produced some remarkable results! Jim loves courgettes which in turn appear to love the soil and full sun. The different types of lettuce including roquettes didn't do so well; the small lettuce plants I had bought this spring, however, did really well. Maybe the location is too sunny?

Beginning of August I am preparing the soil for some summer planting which will result in a harvest in the fall.

In October I will prepare the beds for fall planting for harvesting in the winter. I will also prepare the land next to the watering basin, lalso called e bassin de Tante Louise, a long-deceased part of the original farmers' family, for spring planting. At the moment it is covered with wild wheat and lots of overgrown stones which appear to be part of a building or simply a wall.