Toastie Start to July

This first week is due to see temperatures soaring here in Northern France. It's an explosive growth time, I submit some updates of how the small-holding is coming along, with a bit of a focus on our varied Kale beds... for Kristen. Freya and I couldn't spend too much time in the poly-tunnel, but you can see the tomatoes doing marvelously on the left and Kale on the right.

Lacinato Rainbow Kale

Halbhoher Kale

A mix of both Lacinato and Halbhoher Kale, so why the large amount of Kale you may be thinking, well that's a very good question.  Kristen Beddard, the face, brains and driving force behind The Kale Project (http://thekaleproject.com/) found us, care of Olivier Cappaert, the face, brains and driving force behind Excuse My French (https://www.facebook.com/ExcuseMyFR).  The project has a simple objective, "to bring the healthiest green vegetable to Paris".

True Siberian Kale

True Siberian

Red Ursa Kale

Red Ursa Kale

The nutrient values on this incredible super-food are simply staggering: in 100 grams of cooked, strained and unsalted Kale you will find (USDA recommended daily amount in parenthesis) Vitamin A (85%), Vitamin B1 (5%), Vitamin B2 (6%), Vitamin B3 (3%), Vitamin B6 (11%), Vitamin B9 (3%), Vitamin C (49%), Vitamin E (6%), Vitamin K (778%), Calcium (7%), Iron (7%), Magnesium (5%), Manganese (20%), Phosphorous (4%), Potassium (5%), Sodium (2%) and Zinc (3%)
Nero Di Toscano Kale

Delphinium

Foxglove

The clover is awash with countless bumble bees. The sound is so soothing, I honestly don't think I have ever seen so many chunky bumble bees in one spot.

A truly remarkable creature, we never get bored of watching, listening to or taking pictures of bees!

Strawberries a plenty too. This is the fifth straight day of picking them and we have been cropping pretty much this same amount daily... jealous much?

They say that you are what you eat, well Freya is aiming to become a massive juicy strawberry.

She is now starting to understand the seasonality of fruit and vegetables. We refuse to buy strawberries out of season, which is often hard to explain to 3-year old, but when there are more strawberries then this little one could possibly eat, she gets it and can look forward to natures bounty.

Late Spring Early Summer Update en Beauchene

Six weeks since we last had pictures on the blog regarding the state of the small holding, today I went out (June 23rd, 2013) to take some photos of how the plants have done after a slow and wet start to the Spring. The poly-tunnel turned up, eventually, which enabled us to get some of the more delicate plants going.

In this picture you can see some Lacinata Rainbow Kale and squash growing. Not particularly delicate but the constant warm temperature in the poly-tunnel gives them a good start before being planted out.

Here you can see mainly tomatoes but inter planted with basil and peppers, see if you can spot them!

This bed closest to the compost has mainly herbs and insect-friendly flowers growing.

In the foreground here you can see our mahoosive strawberry plot, sorry,Freya's mahoosive strawberry plot! Behind you can see a couple of raspberry bushes, some spring onions that we have let go to seed and a on the "interesting" looking frame tayberry (black raspberries in Americanese).

In the foreground here peas, to the sides, potatoes and down the middle some calibrese.

True Siberian kale here!

This beautifully rich looking area has from left to right, rhubarb, tatties, carrots, more tatties then kale going to seed. Inter planted here is onion (biological control) and lots of marigolds (beneficial predator encourager!).

Sweet peas at the base of one of Andy's over-engineered structures the rest is as stated before tatties and brassicas going to seed.

This is another large bed of red ursa kale.

In the foreground more tatties in the background some green manure planted last year, clover, which self-seeded and grew this year.

And these are the stunning violet flowers on the clover.

Here we have on the left the parsnips going to seed, surrounded by potatoes and leeks; down the middle you can see leeks, nero di toscana kale and onions, borage growing on the right side.

Here we have two large sections being sheet-mulched in preparation for next year. This should kill back all the grasses and the weed seeds too that remain.

Here's our Mediterranean herb bed which includes thyme, rosemary, basil, tansy, wild strawberries, lavender, to name just a few, but until they are established we have had to encircle them due to...

...These new arrivals. They've been with us 4-weeks now should be good to provide eggs from Autumn onwards, except the cockerel of course!

Why Margins Matter!

One of the key principles of Permaculture is to use the edges and value the marginals.  The "invisible" line between things is where some of the most valuable, interesting and productive things can happen in any Permaculture system.

A simple example, the below picture is of a "modern" monoculture approach to farming, where big is best, wipe out all the margins and suppress (through chemical and pesticide treatments) the "integrity" of your single crop.

But where is the diversity, how is the soils condition and health maintained, where is the LIFE?

(image courtesy of http://www.permanentculturenow.com/permaculture-as-a-revolutionary-force-for-change/)

If you compare that with  any rudimentary permaculture site (above)you will see that the margins are everywhere, the growth of pioneer species and what would be considered by most farmers or gardeners as weeds, can encourage beneficial insects to keep your food stuffs disease and insect free; which encourages a more divers range of birds to feed on the insects berries and what not depositing them further afield; as more plants grow from self-seeding, more insects lead to more birds and more mammals and even larger predators and your small holding can produce SO much more then the ocean of green above!

So let the wild ones in!  These are all the little ones we find in the margins around La Fieffe:

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Some of these are duplicates, have some fun identifying them, if you like (or can).  I'd like to share what I think they are, but one of the blog followers is a horticulturist and a pedant to boot, so I dare not claim to know absolute truth, you know who you are ;~)