A Friday at Montrouch in August

Friday is always a busy day at Montrouch. With two markets, the organic market in Narbonne and Place de la Republique producer’s market in Perpignan on Saturday there is a lot to get sorted out.

So that naturally is why I was awake at 5am, when the alarm sounds at 4.45am tomorrow I will moan and groan, but this morning for no apparent reason I was bouncing about all by myself. Totally pointless of course, the sun does not break over Mont Tauch until around 6.30 now so there is nothing to do. The electricity flipped out last night so it was Suduko by candle light and endless cups of tea until then.

First job when daylight finally arrived was to pot up the Lemon Verbena cuttings, this is the third lot but they have been really late this year, the mild January saw the mother plants start to come out of their Winter slumber only to be knocked back by the February frosts. The long cold Spring saw them re spout about a month later than usual and then the very hot Summer has seen them grow really slowly, indeed I am no sure that the mother plants in the ground have made it, luckily I have a couple in half barrrels in the shade that have fared better.

The hundreds of Sage we sowed in Spring have now out grow their pots, we have many more than we need for this year, but the problem with sage seeds is unlike most seeds once the packet is open the seeds do not keep viable from one year to the next so it is all or nothing. So 6 month later they are pot bound and have eaten all the nurture in the soil. So they have to be tipped out, the roots gently pulled apart, the soil pulled off and then be replanted in larger pots with new soil, it is a fiddly job but well worth the effort.

Anyway that got done and it was time for coffee and the morning nose at the internet. The demonstration yesterday against the bitumen factory in Lezignan Corbieres/ Ferrals des Corbieres got a lot of press (See Lezignan Corbieres’s unfortunate Bitumen Factory for more info on that one) and a good piece in the Guardian about the Catalan Dragons making it to the Super league final in Wembley tomorrow.

Caroline was already in the kitchen making her gluten free pizza pastry, the gluten free fruit cake had already been baked last night, and the pissa sauce made. Friday is when it all gets put together and baked. Most organic bakers round here do a ‘gluten free’ range, but they do it in the same bakery as their usual produce, so it is more accurately described as made with gluten free produce. The bakery is still full of gluten particles and they then put them in containers surrounded by gluten products, some dusted with flour to transport them to market. I have yet to eat one of these gluten free breads that does no make me sick.

With the sun finally getting some power to was off down to the solar panel shed with Caroline to top up the batteries with distilled water, the batteries are now 10 years old, at about the limit of their lives so need lots of tender loving care, they are horribly expensive to replace. Anyone who lives of grid and smugly says they don’t pay for their electricity is fibbing, the sun light might be free but storing it costs a fortune.

Back in the garden it was time to up pot those pot bound Rosemaries, sort out the last of the Sorrels and up pot the Tarragon.

The smell of the pizzas baking that was coming out of the kitchen forced a lunch break.

Returning to the plants it was time to separate out and re pot the perfumed Geraniums, both the Rose and the Lemon small superb this year, the hot Summer really concentrates the essential oils.

With Summer in the way out it is time to think about Coriander. In Summer Coriander bolts, within a couple of weeks of germination the plants are already pushing up flowers and the leaves falling off. If however you plant in Autumn the plants will grow all Winter. here at Montrouch the plants grow to the height of my chest with stems the thickness of my thumb. Delicious for Winter curries.

Last but not least I made a start on the fourth wave of basils, I started with the Genovese as they sell fastest. Mission successful, now only the Red Osmin , Greek; Marseillais, Lemon and Thai to do.Well got to have something to do on Sunday.

Caroline had finished the pizzas and was starting on hand washing clothes.

To make room for the new basils on the shady tables under the olive tree it was necessary to throw out the old flowering Greek basils. t They got chopped down, their leaves pulled off and then whizzed in the liquidizer with oragnic olive oil and a dash of lemon juice. The highly perfumed green sludge that results is poured into jars and will for the basis of our own pesto, as well as being eaten raw on our tomatoes.

Now all that is finished, the van and Landy are pointing in the right direction, just got to sort out the plants to take to market and water the rest. Chop up the cake and wrap it, cut the pizza into slice and wrap in cling film.

Time for a glass of cold Rose to sum up the strength.

Go the Dragons a victory tomorrow as well as two good markets will end the week on a high point.