What's on the menu this Year?

Unlike say, July, the hot, fun, no school month, January is much maligned in the pecking order of months.  It's typically cold and grey, or grey and wet, or wet and cold, simply put it's pretty flippin grim!  What makes it worse is that we still have another eight weeks or so of winter, so it's not going to get any better, any time soon.

Last week contained the most depressing day of the year (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/blue-monday-the-science-behind-the-most-miserable-day-of-the-year-a6816926.html), and we are slap bang in the middle of S.A.D. season to boot! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder)  So not too much to be upbeat about, right?

WRONG!!!

In January, every day we get two and half more minutes of daylight (http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/france/paris?month=1) and this will accelerate as the northern hemisphere starts to tilt back towards the sun and Spring approaches.  This is a really exciting time of year as we now start to plan what we will want to be eating this year and through the hungry gap in early 2017. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_gap)

So what do the Palmers have in store for this years grow-fest?  Well firstly we have some of the usual suspects still stored over the past few seasons, some of which we have not diligently noted the variety, sorry about that!  These are listed in order of when we should be starting them off... (For the record, if I misspell any of these varieties, it's because I can't read my brothers chicken scratching he calls 'writing'):

Cherry Tomatoes, Sweet Basil, Celery, Parsnip, Togi vine Tomatoes, Yellow vine Tomatoes, Rotoco Peppers, Lipstick Sweet Pepper, Yellow Bell Pepper, Early Jalapeno, Early Watermelon, Piacenza Cabbage, Spinach Beet, Quintel Winter Cabbage, Garden Cress, Sanguine Beetroot, Unknown Runner Bean, Unknown Coriander, Sanda Brussel Sprout, Seven Hills Brussel Sprout, Hardy Leek, Pointy Spring Cabbage, Golden Acre Cabbage, Wheelers Imp Cabbage, Dwarf French Bean, Tall Giant Sugar Pea, Climbing Pea, White Beetroot, Green Bush Corgette, Red Baron Onion, Unknown Yellow Onion, Tall Flower Sunflower, Nasturtium, Broccoli, Boltardy Beetroot, Leaf Lettuce, Flame Lettuce, Yellow Leek, Paris Early White Onion, Kyoto Spring Onion, Cherokee Bean, Long Green Ridged Cucumber, Finisimo Basil, Dwarf Bush Corgette, Blacktail Watermelon, Cheyenne Bush Pumpkin, Autumn Giant Cauliflower, Asturian Tree Cabbage, Petit Gris Watermelon, January King Cabbage, Sutherland Kale, Toothed Lettuce, Cardinale Lettuce, Mustard Habanero, Wrinkled Garden Cress, Radish, Garlic Chives, Pattipan Squash, Marrowfat Peas, Qunioa, Spring Cauliflower, Early Sprouting Purple Broccoli, Later Sprouting Broccoli, Florence Fennel, Pointy Spring Cabbage, Yellow Leafed Pakchoi, Turnip Broccoli, Large Half Long Carrott, Quick Heading Broccoli, True Siberian Kale, Purple Autumn Cauliflower, Early Dwarf Pea, Lemon Balm, Cupidon French Bean, Velvet Queen Sunflower, Champion of England Pea, Small Bush Pea, Unknown Swede, Cornichon, Panais.

This year we have ordered again from our favourite supplier in the UK (www.realseeds.co.uk), the tasty morcels for this year are:

Dragon Purple Carrot, Manchester Table Carrot, Touchon Carrot, Basque Chilli, Early Jalapeno, Ohnivec Hot Chilli, Osaka Purple Hot Mustard Greens, Red Mizuna, Coquille de Louviers Lettuce, Belleville Sorrel, Kaibi Round Sweet Pepper, Napia Pointy Red Sweet Pepper, Aquilon Dwarf French Bean, Cupidon Dwarf French Bean, Hatif d'Annonay Dwarf Pea, Lord Leicester Tall Pea.

We are also trialing a new supplier here in France (www.fermedesaintemarthe.com), lets see how these turn out:

Lavande Officinale, Oignon Ailsa Craig, Oignon Jaune Paille des Vertus, Oignon Robelja, Thym Commun, Ptiron Banana Blue, Epinard Fraise, Poireau Monstrueux d'Elbeuf, Melon Honey Dew, Piment de Cayenne, Tomate Beefsteak, Tomate Cherockee Purple, Ail Violet Germidour, Ail Cristo.

Additionally from Ferme de Sainte Marthe, Remi, our long-term volunteer, has ordered the following:

Celeri a Couper, Arroche Rouge, Chicoree Rossa di Treviso, Chou de Bruxelles de Rosny, Fenouil Romanesco, Poireau Bleu de Solaise, Artichaut Vert de Laon, Aubergine Black Beauty, Concombre Le Genereux, Fraisier Alexandrie, Mais Pop-corn Tom Pouce, Melon Charentais, Piment Boule de Turquie ou Red Cherry, Poivron California Wonder ou Carre Doux d'Amerique, Pivron Corno di Torro Rosso, Mais Doux Golden Bantam, Carotte Longue Rouge Sang, Radis de 18 Jours, Haricot Purple Queen, Assortment de Courges, Assortment de Tomates Reines de la Table, Assortment de Medicinales, Assortment de Fleurs Comestibles.

All that is left to order are this years tatties (potato, pomme de terre) and we should be ready to commence.  SEE, January is bloody exciting.  Time to fire up the heated propagator people!

Addendum: As we build up our stock of seeds, we could really do with a more organised umm, organiser. If anyone sees something like this (below) for a reasonable price (free), please nab it for me. Come on Natalie, you work in the Library system, you must "know a man"!

Unexpected School Visit

For the Class of Mrs Mangan.

So, on a visit to Wisconsin, this most recent yule, I was talking to a friend of mine about our life in  France, growing organic, living sustainably and the other challenges we face compared to our previous lives in metropolitan UK and America.

It dawned on my friend that maybe I could share some of my experiences with her class at the school she taught at in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  Unaccustomed as I am to talking to groups of people I was a little taken aback and somewhat shy... I mean 3rd Graders, what exactly does that mean to someone who hasn't been through an American education system... Ah ok, 8 or 9-year olds.  With this in mind, I agreed.

I turned up, Mrs Mangan briefly introduced me, and off I went... in exceptionally poor French...

"Bonjour à tous, mon nom est Monsieur Palmer et je suis ici pour vous parler de ma vie en France..." lots of confused faces and lots of side glances towards Mrs Mangan.  I continued this charade for a couple of minutes, eventually offering them the option of me continuing in English, I'm slightly better in that language.

Without boring you all with the full details of the topics covered, we included latitudes, thermohaline circulation, growing seasons, beneficial beasties, similarities and differences.  That about covers some of the topics.

Before departing the Badger State, I was handed a pile of hand-written letters, from all the students from Mrs Mangan's class.  As promised, I will answer some of their follow-up questions for you all:

'Alex', my favourite meal would probably be Chicken Malaya (Madras Hot).
'Ciera', don't forget that slugs and snails do a really important rotting biomass removal service.
'Donovan', good luck with finding a WWOOF host that inspires you, although you'll probably have to wait until you are 18-years old.
'Madison', remember that beneficial beasties help us all, not just me.
'Keisha', I've not been able to do a head count on the number of animals in France, but perhaps this website may help you: http://www.wildlifeinfrance.com/mammals-in-france.html
'Rowan', apparently, yes, we do have basketball in England, see here: http://www.bbl.org.uk/
'Lindsey', I'm glad you enjoyed learning about France.
'Josiah', in order to help you stay up to date with the number in my village, you can look at this website: http://www.beauchene61.fr/
'Walker', they do have toys in France, many very similar to the ones you will find in the US.
'Benson', favourite colours are of course green and gold.
'Lucy', these animals are different though: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragondin AND https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver
'Dominik', I only speak the two languages, English and French (poorly).
'Vi', I don't want you to think the French are lazy, they just don't WANT to work as much as you Mid-Western people do!
'Jack', you may want to read this about the Norsemen of Normandy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsemen#Connection_with_Normandy
'Callam', what's your favourite fruit and vegetable?
'Captain Questions', there are bad people in the world, but every time something bad happens, look around and look at all the good people helping out... there are MORE good people.
'Sam', right now the temperature difference between you and me is 32 degrees, 15f where you are, 47f where I am!
'Noah', looks like the Blackhawks are having a better season than the Bruins.
'Brady', I like France, The UK and US equally.
'Emma', I enjoyed speaking with you all, glad you enjoyed it.
'Ben', there certainly is a lot of differences, but that just makes life more interesting.
'Isabelle', I don't tend to play sports these days but stay active gardening and chopping wood, It's really important to stay active.
'Remy', yes a lot of my family lives in Wisconsin, more than those that live in both France and the UK.

There you go.  Hope you all have a great New Year, stay in school Kids!