"They are not long, these days of wine and roses" Ernest Dowson - Vitae Summa Brevis
There is a nip in the air and Autumn is at the door. I like the light at this time of year, clean and sharp. I am writing one final blog post on my recent visit to France and my thoughts are turning to harvest time. In Israel a new calendar year has started and I like the way they start the year with harvest, a season of abundance and fruitfulness.
When I am staying with my family in France I feel connected to the land in such a strong way. Their house sits on a hill surrounded by agricultural fields. Down the farm track are orchards & on the chalky limestone ridge are miles and miles of vineyards. I noticed that walnut trees grow in abundance here. Even in the garden there is a reminder of the land's fruitfulness. The flourishing fig tree is heavily laden with deep, dark, jewels. On a bike ride, or a drive we will pass swathes of sunflowers or the waxy green leaves of tobacco plants. Just below the house is a rich crop of sorghum wheat, the wholesome pearls of grain a pale pinky yellow.
I am really sad that I won't be around at the end of September to help bring in the grape harvest. There will be slow moving tractors laden with grapes chugging along every country lane, dripping juice and crushing skins & pips into the road. The community will be invited to help pick the grapes and bring in the yearly harvest. It is a precious commodity, but also an every day one. What is nice about France is that they aim to make good, affordable wine available to everyone. There is no heavy marketing, no glossy brochures, no fancy labelling, no push to make lots of money out of the product.
When I am in France I feel wonderfully free from the capitalist, commercial push of Britain. Contentment seems to be a national phenomenon. Nobody seems to be aiming for a bigger & better. From what I could see the French don't go on multiple holidays abroad like we do. Everyone seems happy with life at home. This simplification is also seen when shopping. The French don't leave their shops open for long. They close for lunch and are shut on Sundays and Mondays and whenever they feel like it really. They feel no need to be open 24/7. They also don't have a barrage of high street brand names to choose from. Going into town there are no chains stores, no Starbucks or Waterstones or M&S.
I could be deceiving myself and idolising what I have seen. But spending time in France is like entering a quiet bubble for me. Free from advertising noise.
I wandered down a town street and saw a poster advertising a lingerie sale in the church. What a wonderful concept I decided. A church that sells lingerie. They really have been reading Song of Solomon and taking it to heart. But then I relooked and realised that I had misread the poster. The sale was being held in church street, not the church itself! That just goes to show how my lack of good French gives me a warped view of the country.
I am missing all of the signals since my French is not great but it is wonderfully restful not having to be overloaded with choices or pushy marketing promotions.
Anyway, back to the agricultural theme. I will miss the grape harvest but I was able to enjoy the summer phenomenon of Night Markets. During the heat of August there is a tradition of holding Night Markets in every hamlet and village. These are slightly like the equivalent of our English farmers markets, except they involve everyone sitting down for a meal and they happen on the same week night every week for a season. In one town it might be held on a Wednesday night, in another village it might be held on a Friday. In another Thursday may be the chosen evening. But once a week, on that same evening there will be a market. They happen at night because it would be too hot to meet in the day and enjoy a slow meal together.
I visited one with my family, held in the grounds of a Chateau. A long line of tables and chairs were set up in the farmyard behind the vineyard, alongside huge metal vats holding the fermenting wine.
You can tell who are the locals and who are the visitors by the time they arrive at the market. It officially starts at 7.30pm and the Germans and the Brits are always there on time. The French roll in at 9pm when the sun has gone down and the evening is cooler.
From the height of the sun in the sky I can tell you that this is still early evening sunshine and most of the people in this picture are probably visitors including Alexander and Vikki.
As the sun starts to fade and the wine flows. the evening loosens up. There is live music to entertain. The food is varied, a spit roast, seafood paella, goat cheese salad, frites, crepes & ice-cream.
Night markets are now over and harvest time is upon the land. For my sister-in-law, that means trying to gather in and work out what to do with a few hundred ripe figs!
Figs are great for everything, healthy skin, healthy hair, good digestion, they are an anti-oxidant, they are good at cleansing the body and a whole lot more. I suggested she give boxes of them away at the school gates, or to her neighbours. They could be cooked as a jam or a chutney. Or added in to yummy fig & walnut brownies. I squashed a couple and added them to some plain yogurt with a teaspoon of honey and they gave me a great facial. We had many of them as starters, served up with a salty goats cheese or a strong creamy blue. In the end Vikki decided to wash tub loads of them and pop them in the freezer for a few months.
I think the best solution is to eat them straight from the tree, warm and soft, releasing all their flavour and sweetness.
So that is my final reflection on my summer visit to France. Hopefully I will be back in the winter. For now I am really missing my brother's family & this pool ...
And I am looking forward to seeing this pretty little street sign & the cute hamlet of Belveze once again in the near future.
"They are not long, these days of wine and roses" Ernest Dowson - Vitae Summa Brevis