A Cueillette-ing We Will Go!

You guys. I'm in love with a farm. (A husband and daughter too just in case any of your were worried).  But not just any farm, a cueillette kind of farm. It's a good thing I've got friends that aren't as lazy as me otherwise I would have passed all this cueillette-y goodness without a clue (as in, my friend Heidi actually looks up cool places to go even after more than a decade of living in France). I mean, I've lived here for seven years now and just found out about these things the other day. But what is a cueillette farm, you might just be asking yourself? So glad you asked. Below, ladies and gentlemen, is a cueillette: 

        cueillir

   

                       vt  

              [ +fruits, fleurs]   to pick

           (ANTHROPOLOGIE)   to gather

           (fig)   (=attraper)   

               [+malfaiteur]   to catch

cueillette

   
      nf  

   [+champignons, fruits sauvages]   picking, gathering  
la cueillette des champignons      mushroom picking  

   [récolte]   harvest, crop

     (ANTHROPOLOGIE)  

   la chasse et la cueillette      hunting and gathering  

I mean, who doesn't want to go to a farm where catching, gathering, and hunting is involved, right?? The way a cueillette farm works is basically like a glorified u-pick farm. Only instead of just berries and whatnot, they have a little of everything, including flowers! Fun right?  

They way it works is you grab one of these big ol' wheelbarrows at the entrance and head out to whatever part of the farm that has the seasonal produce you might be interested in. 

Here's a list of just a few of their products mentioned on the sign below: beans, eggplant, tomatoes, spicy peppers, zucchini, raspberries, spinach and radishes. 

And of course not an awful place to take the kiddos: 

Near the entrance/exit they had a few products already picked and get this: pumpkins were less than 5 euros a piece! That's half the price of a Paris pumpkin! (Please understand this is important news to us American expats that are forced to tramp all over Paris every year looking for a dang pumpkin to carve only to have to sell all our possessions just to buy the thing)

Spaghetti squash below: 

Putting the wheelbarrow to good use: (laziness must run in the family...lol) 

In the apple orchards, pickin' with Papa: 

As it turns out the girl is much better at picking up apples on the ground than cleaning up her toys... 

After our hard work on the farm we decided to head over to the other end where the animals and store were located. 

This, believe it or not, is an 'insect hotel'. I still haven't decided whether it is cool or creepy... 

Isn't this just the cutest chicken coop ever?  It kind of looks like a little house! 

I have to say I was pretty blown away by their store. Here I am expecting a couple zucchinis and tomatoes and this was the view that awaited us:

I mean, everything just looks gorgeous, doesn't it?? 

I loved some of the different creative displays as well. Check out the sausage stand: 

And is this not the most beautiful display you've ever seen for fresh herbs? Only in Europe would they make a fountain into a plant display! 

They also have a cafe/restaurant within the store as well. It was a little pricey for our little outing but definitely something to not rule out in the future! (Besides, who doesn't love a dog presenting you with the menu??) 

Good times were had by all. Here's our fall harvest that we took away: 

 Not too shabby, aye? 

The name of the place we went to is called Les Fermes de Gally and you can check out the website here:  http://www.ferme.gally.com/_cueillette-acces-horaires-cueillette-de-gally   There are quite a few cueillettes in the Paris area though, if you're interested, just do a google search for cueillettes in Paris and you're sure to find some! Happy picking! 

Small Space Gardening Take Two

Some of you may be wondering whatever came of my window gardening post a few months back (see here if you have no idea what I'm talking about). Well don't you worry, I didn't slack off. It took me a few weeks but I finally got down to it and planted a few seeds. Pinterest had this really cool idea where you plant seeds in egg cartons so that when they're seedlings, all you have to do is make a few snips in the carton and you can put your seedling directly into the soil, cardboard and all. 

And that's when it happened: lesson number one. Lesson number one is not to believe everything you see on Pinterest. Apparently the cardboard absorbs a ton of water so you'd have to be constantly hovering to wet it down with a spray bottle (why not fan it and give it a few grapes while your at it...) and who has that kind of time? 

And then there was lesson number two: don't try growing helpless little seedlings with a psychotic cat on the premises. Our darling little angel Fifi thought it would be nice to catapult a few of the egg cartons across the room. 

Plant growing lesson number three: just because you sweep up the seeds and dirt all over the floor and slide it back into the egg carton doesn't mean it won't hold a grudge and not grow. 

Which brings me to my last and final lesson: just plant the little buggers outside in the first place. They'll be catproof and just might have a chance at making it... 

from left to right: cilantro, chives, basil 

That's right. Eat your heart out Martha Stewart. 

ps. Secret lesson number six: don't plant mint with anything else that you don't want taken over by the plant.... So they say at least... it doesn't look quite so scary here... 

Bon Appétit! 

Small Space Gardening

I heart spring. March is that great tipping point between winter and beyond and every time it rolls around at this time of year I can't help but do the happy dance. In honor of all that's bird chirp-worthy, I'm going to attempt a try at window box gardening! In our new apartment I've been blessed with 4 foot wide (and fairly long!) windowsills just waiting to be graced by my professional green thumb presence. [cue my mom laughing right now] At least I'm going to try...hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Here's the line-up:

Basil

(The variety in French says: Grand Vert...big green?)

Cilantro

Mint

(It's all over France as a weed!)

Chives

Carrots

Wish me luck! ;)