Septembre

This morning I put on a sweater. Summer is leaving and Fall arriving. I feel it in the air. I see it in the garden as the courgette look more tired. The tomatoes too, look a little tired. 

Fall is in the air; the courgette grow fiercely in compost. 

Soon ready to harvest gigantic courgette in the upper garden. 

Tomatoes in the greenhouse, tired but still producing. 

Things seem to be slowing down, which is nice since it’s been a busy summer. The village is getting quieter as the last of the tourists bid their farewells. For a moment I felt some emotional resistance to the change in season. A goodbye to summer means no more swimming in the sea, less people around, no more garden, less travels, less sunshine.

But then, I like the idea of slowing down and looking in. I begin to look forward to Fall and Winter more and more as I live this agrarian lifestyle. Fall and Winter means a little break, physically and mentally. It’s a shift to new activities, a time for reflection and introspection. Mother Nature gets quiet too. She slows down, goes dormant, the bees semi-hibernate, flowers die. But life continues, just at a different rhythm. 

Potimarron colorfully decorate our shelf. 

Fall is here & I can taste the Butternut Squash Soup already! 

Busy preserving loads of tomatoes this week as a tomato sauce.

In the kitchen, the food changes too. Fall and Winter means squash soups, pumpkin pies, baked goodies. Hopefully, we find some mushrooms. I’m rather looking forward to a new palette to play with and new flavors to explore. I’ve also been doing some preserving, making tomato sauce from our loads of tomatoes and pesto with our basil. 

While I’ve always loved snow and enjoyed visiting the Sierra Nevada mountains in California with my family as a kid, I never really liked the cold. To visit is one thing, and to live in quite another. So, like a songbird, I retreat to warmer places when the cold comes. Furthermore, being a Southern Californian, my body is not built for anything below 70 degrees fahrenheit. Or so I always thought. But I’ve been delving deeper here, reading about the mind and body more, and actually, mind over matter is a real thing!

So, I believe one can adapt to a new environment like the cold, with the proper mindset and gear. Sweaters, woolen socks, gloves, mittens, wool scarves, coats, stockings, a fireplace or wood stove, lots of movies and books. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t pack any warm clothes, but fortunately, Jorris’ mom gave me so many of her woolen clothes which her mom made. Despite my plea not to bother her, Jorris just asked if she had a coat I could have and she came out of her room with arm loads of sweaters, coats, scarfs, for the both of us. It was so sweet and kind. 

Jorris' family's garden in Bontebok, Netherlands. 

Beautiful Nasturtiums in Jorris' family garden. 

Jorris' mom, Edith, magical gardener. 

Edith is a magical gardener and understands plants so well. She saves seeds from all her flowers and always offers me some. She offered me some mash, stokroos and judas penning. If our chests were transparent and we could see eachothers hearts, hers would look like her garden, blossoming with flowers and singing birds, full of life and love. She has magical green hands and can grow anything. She took me on a garden tour of some beautiful inspirational gardens around her neighborhood. She made us fresh apple juice from homegrown apples and warm apple pie for breakfast and a magnificent risotto for dinner. As with all gardeners I’ve met, she has a most generous heart and gives and gives without asking for anything in return. 

Our trip to Bontebok was short, but so worth it for the occasion of honoring Opa. Opa passed away earlier this year. He was 98. Jorris and his Opa Jules Van Bergen had such a special and deep relationship. They traveled a lot together throughout Europe and philosophized. I love it when we reach a place and Jorris gets excited to tell me a memory of he and his Grandpa there. 

I’ve had the honor of meeting Opa once. His wisdom and light resonated so powerfully. His home was filled with books on spiritual growth, philosophy, theosophy. It was decorated with souvenirs from far away places, colorful rugs and carpets, images of Eastern deities. 

Wonderful ceremony of honoring Opa.  Photo: Jorris

His ashes were scattered around his favorite Linden tree. 

Friends and family placed flowers on his ashes. 

We scattered his ashes around his favorite laurel tree in the backyard woods of Jorris’ family and Opa’s home (the houses are on the same property). Together, friends and family of Opa sang songs, shared some words and left flowers by the tree. 

It was such a beautiful ceremony, so authentic and thoughtful, full of peace and love. I couldn’t imagine a better place to be in the end than right in your own backyard under your favorite tree surrounded by the people who love you. 

I was really humbled and honored to have been invited to such an intimate family occasion. I always feel welcomed and “at home” with Jorris’ family. They are such open-hearted and kind people. We have good laughs together and play music some times. Jorris’ brother Valentijn started a fire for us all to just sit around after dinner at the restaurant. It was lovely and simple. No t.v., just hanging out together, with some humorous animal clips on youtube of course. 

Sweet little backyard sitting area where Valentijn made a fire. 

Endless green pastures with roaming sheep around Jorris' neighborhood.

A beautiful canal runs through Bontebok. 

It’s such a different way of spending time together than I am used to with my family and friends. I like it so much, getting together by a fire or going on a garden tour of the neighborhood. Valentijn drove us to his mushroom spots to see if we could find any. That was exciting too. I feel much more connected to spending time together this way. There is a time and place for everything of course and I still would enjoy the thrift shopping with my brother, of course and the crazy shenanigans of my cousins back in California when we get together, but this kind of coziness and these activities are just hygge (Danish word for cozy). 

Bus rides through Europe can be long but also very beautiful. 

At the train station in Holland, the start of our 30 hr trip!
photo: Emille

It was a short but sweet time we spent in Holland, just the weekend. 30 hours straight of train and bus rides later and we found ourselves safely back to our yurt in the Southern French Alps. The way up to Holland was exciting and a little less tiring since we made some stops. 

Meeting up with past wwoofers Ysé and Arnaud in Paris on our way up. 

One night stop in magnific Lyon. 

Date night in Lyon, first course: poached eggs with onion in red wine sauce. 

We had hitchhiked (6 different rides) to Lyon and spent one night there where we stayed at an awesome Air b n b and had a date night. We stayed a few hours in Paris before our bus to Holland and had the chance to meet up with our past wwoofers Arnaud and Ysé from last year. It was so wonderful to have a drink with them and catch up. I just thought on our drive to Paris, who do we know there, and I texted Ysé and it just worked out perfectly. Jorris was hesitant at first when I had asked if we should reach out to them, but then after our meeting up, he said how he really enjoyed it. We even had some time for a Thai date night before catching our bus.

Anyway, one week being away from the garden and home was nice. It’s good to have little breaks like that I think. Just to break from routine with new sights and stimuli for the mind and senses.  

We have a few markets to prepare for this month, so I’ll be back in the kitchen making more products, new soap recipes, more lip balms. We’ll be moving our hives to the coast soon as it gets colder. Other than that, I’m curious to see how this Fall season unfolds.





*photos by Tiffanie Ma, unless otherwise noted. 

Week 2 In Review

Boys will be Boys.

Flower pots in front of entry. 

The days and weeks fly by at Larchmont Charter! Week 2 was fantastic! We did a lot of clean-up, amending of beds with compost, started seeds and beautified our garden space. Fall time is all about preparation for the growing season and clean-up. With the last of our cherry tomatoes, figs, apples and pomegranates harvested, comes space for bright beginnings.

We started new fall crops of: Spinach, carrots, radish, lettuce, red cabbage, chard and I will get some Kale today. I will also get some Fava Beans to plant where the tomatoes were; this will fix some depleted nitrogen into that area. While all of these mentioned crops were started by seed, some in the beds directly and some in planters, I am planning on buy some baby lettuce crops to introduce transplanting to students and get our season rolling.

Seed Saving: Making seed packets. 

A part from starting new life, we have also been saving the old. 2nd and 3rd grade students harvested dried basil seed heads, sunflowers, beans and pea seeds for saving. We made seed packets which will store our seeds until we are ready for sowing in Spring. Saving seeds is crucial to the preservation of biodiversity. By teaching this important skill, students are cultivating the strongest variety of these plants within this particular space. That is empowerment.

Compost Bin!

1st graders dove into the world of composting as we resuscitated our 3 bin compost system, using kitchen scrapes from our lunch chef Robertino's kitchen and Fall's offerings of leaves for a balanced amount of "greens" and "browns" in our bins. We can't wait for 6 months to pass when we will have rich humus!!

Kindergarten kids love Salad.

In cooking, the Kindergarten class loved their apple and pomegranate salads with a drizzle of pomegranate juice, honey and balsamic dressing. The 4th and 5th graders delighted in a warm bowl of Three Sisters Stew, learning about the traditional Native American companion planting of: Beans, Corn and Squash.

Fresh herbs from garden for stew.

    

4th and 5th graders 3 Sisters Stew.

Only the Best ingredients will do. 

*photos by Tiffanie Ma

DIY Seed Bank

Larchmont Charter Seedbank

Gardening is as much about saving as it is about spending. With fall here and plants now spent, in or gearing towards their final phase of life, which ends with lots of seeds, it is a time to save. While the photo above shows commercial seeds and not seeds from our garden plants, we will be doing that in our 3rd grade classes tomorrow. 

These seeds shown above in the picture, however, are a symbol of the importance of beginning a seed bank. Not only are things kept in order and readily easy to find, but these seeds can mean the beginning of many generations of plants to come. 

While we spend money in the beginning of the season to get things going, many times, gardening is about being resourceful, frugal, conscientious, and creative. The two C's are at the top in my book. Being conscientious about our surroundings and what we have to work with allows us to be resourceful and creative with transforming what we have into what we need. 

It's a challenge, a fun one, if you ask me. As a gardener and school school teacher on a budget, I'm constantly looking for ways to transform readily accessible things on campus and at my home. This seed bank featured above was an unused shoe box. I gave it a new purpose in life, covering it with Trader Joe's paper bag and using pieces of the paper bag to make dividing labels. Now, seeds will be safe and sound. 

*photo by Tiffanie Ma