Most of us live in towns and don’t much notice what’s growing outside the city limits in the fields. We usually see them from our cars. We drive through them and they’re the pleasant filler between cities. We know something grows there but it’s hard to say exactly what is planted where or when it’s gone again. We also rarely see a farmer. They don’t come to our yoga class or drink coffee in Starbucks. It’s kind of them to knit together the pretty landscape for our sunday drives but we tend to think everything important is happening in skyscrapers or factories.
In more than three months of sunday drives, I’ve been admiring the French farmer. He would be hard to miss. This country is an abundant agricultural showcase. France has just about every configuration of landscape. Every hill and dale has a unique combination of temperature, elevation and rainfall and the farmers have figured out what thrives where. The choice of crop is finely-tuned to the slightest variation. Cherries grow best right here and pears a few yards further over there. Lavender thrives in the afternoon shade of this mountain and hazelnuts like this sunny river bottom. It must take generations of farmers to figure this out.
When we arrived in France, the grains had already been harvested. The fields were just stubble but I’ve seen them ripening on previous trips. In Normandy, they grow all the grains you find in health food store bread. From a distance, I thought we were driving through wheat fields but up close, the plants were unfamiliar. We asked the farmer their names; rye, millet, flax, barley, oats. I didn’t know where those grains were grown and it was a delightful surprise; like discovering where they grow magic beans. Nebraska grows vast fields of corn and soybeans. I don’t want to be disloyal but these seem a wearying monoculture in comparison with France.
The sunflowers were still standing and we watched them ripen. Their yellow petals dry up and fade leaving only the heavy brown seedheads. Over the autumn weeks they droop lower on their stalks and turn from brown to black. The fields get gloomier and gloomier with these dejected hanging heads until the farmer finally puts them out of their misery and harvests.
We were just in time for the grape picking. Some apples were still on the trees but we’d missed most of the fruit harvest. I would’ve like to see how they pick cherries. In the vineyards, crews of 10 or 15 people walk up down the rows of grape vines with large baskets or plastic buckets on their backs. They are generally temporary workers and young people traveling across Europe, earning some money for the next train ticket. It was often raining but good-natured chatter could be heard from across the fields.Sometimes we’d get stuck behind a tractor pulling a wagon full of grapes. These are the less exalted varieties. The farmers take the wagons to a co-op and they’re dumped into a communal depot after being weighed. I’ve often seen wheat farmers doing the same with wagons of wheat but didn’t know it was done with grapes.
We were also in time for the olive harvest. It starts in November and lasts until January. Large green or orange nets are strung out beneath the trees.The pickers hack at the branches with a small rake so the olives fall to the ground and can be gathered up. Most olives are grown for their oil rather than to be stuffed with a pimento. I didn’t realize that.
After all the harvesting, I learn something else surprising. A farmer really proves his worth in the winter Summer’s steamy growth has been cleared away and the soil has been turned. There’s not a weed out of place and the fields are as tidy as a nun’s bed. The farmer’s devotion is revealed by the winter plough.
And with the pruning shears. The patron saint of France should hold a pair in his hands. Rows and rows of lavender are tidily pruned into little mounds. In the orchards, every tree has been pruned to resemble his neighbour. Different fruits need different pruning. Some trees are opened up in the centre to let in the sun. The remaining branches are pulled into place with white or blue tape. Some orchards look like they’ve been decorated with streamers for a party.
There’s also the single plane tree in the farmer’s yard. It’s been growing there for 100 years or more. If you’ve never seen these trees they’re hard to imagine. The trunk is as wide as a wine barrel and shoots straight up to 5 or 6 thick but short branches. They’re splayed out like fingers on a hand and extend to just the right length to cover the yard. Every summer they leaf out to make a parasol of shade. Every winter, all of the leaves and twiggy stems are pruned back again to the bare knobby knuckles of the major branches.
The farmers here are master pruners and there’s a great exhibition of their work currently on show. You can catch it from now until the spring when the new buds will break out and everything starts over again.
رزرو هتل ارزان says
من این پیغام را خواندم و می
توانم این پیام را به اشخاص دیگر هم پیشنهاد کنم
خرید سنگ دهبید says
عبد تا بوسیله اوضاع یادداشت به این
آراستگی در اینترنت نخوانده بودم بسیار
جذاب و تمام بود و مقاله جالب شما برای بی نهایت از دیدار مجدد کنندگان اینترنت کم ارزش است
مشاوره سئو says
این پیغام مشاوره و پیشنهاد مناسب درخصوص کسانی است که
می خواهند نواحی محتواها
هماننده به این مطلب مطالعه بیشتری داشته
باشند
حمل و نقل دریایی به هند says
این نبا مشاوره و پیشنهاد مناسب به خاطر کسانی است
که می خواهند اکناف محتویات ماننده بوسیله این مطلب مطالعه بیشتری داشته باشند
صادرات پروفیل شهرآهن says
کهتر نمی توانم با این مقاله مشاجره
یا موافقت کنم برای اینکه شیوه تفکر کافی درون
زمینه این مقاله و بلاگ ندارم
قیمت میلگرد امروز says
عالی است مطلب تدوین شده توسط شما کثیر نیک گردآوری
شده شده است و من مطمئن هستم که این پست
برای بی حد از وبلاگ نویسان ستوده است
سیستم خزانه داری says
من نمی توانم با این مقاله مخالفت خواه موافقت کنم برای
اینکه بینش کافی در زمینه این مقاله و بلاگ ندارم
قیمت سیمان امروز says
سلام . من قسم می خورم که این مطلب فصیح
است و محتملاً ابداً نفر نتواند
پیام مشابه بوسیله این مطلب را درون وبلاگ روبرو
کند چون خیلی تمام است
臺灣外匯MT4網 says
You have remarked very interesting points! ps nice
website.
directory submission says
I don’t unremarkably comment but I gotta tell regards for the post on this special one :D.
here says
Competitors can be difficult, especially for new freelancers just
beginning out.
تور هوایی ارمنستان says
عبد نمی توانم با این مقاله تبنگو خواه موافقت کنم برای اینکه خرد
مکفی درون زمینه این مقاله و بلاگ ندارم
learn more here says
Thanks for finally writing about > Tools were made and born were hands, every farmer understands.
– William Blake learn more here
situs Slot tanpa potongan pulsa says
If that doesn’twork well for you, you can truly slipp iit in right here and then clip this device on. I never use tha I simply use this.
Feel free tto surf to my web-site – situs Slot tanpa potongan pulsa
gitlab.pasteur.fr says
Very clear web site, appreciate it for this post.
Wisdompath.Org says
I used to be able to find good ingo from your articles.
Feel free to surf to my homnepage … Healthy Lifestyle [Wisdompath.Org]
harga pagar panel beton says
It’s an remarkable article designed for all the online viewers; they will obtain benefit
from it I am sure.
pregnant womens massage says
OKAY. This probably won’t look applicable, yet somehow my
life practical experience is what it is. Now, I’m a
Prenatal Massage practitioner. I consult a variety of moms-to-be every single afternoon and guide these people to build a considerably less harsh, more
pleasing, and less debilitating gestation. Every single human being is afflicted with distinctive complications.
pregnant womens massage addresses this, in addition being a consultant I really
need to be adaptable and ready to learn more about the way in which to ideally offer
assistance. Generally there is no case where a sole solution may
be of assistance most people. Which is my personal situation,
yet my own method of talking about it might possibly be ambiguous.
Low back pain isn’t going to be all that a pregnant person tackles.
Additionally, absolutely no type of folks always suffer in the
same manner, and to aid the group, people have
got to be fine audience and listen properly.
samurai-Kairyu.com says
Great delivery. Outstanding arguments. Keep up the great effort.
Check oout myy webpage; beverages [samurai-Kairyu.com]
knoxtt.mpeblog.com says
Just a couple of years ago, sports fans could only bet with genuine-life bookmakers on neighborhood or national events.