all thoughts 'meringue' must pass...

I am home.

I feel as if the year has well and truly started...it is already mid January and I have had a lazy kick off to 2011. Spending a few days away after the holiday festivities is the leisurely way to move into a new year. As we drove home from Switzerland to our farm in southern France my thoughts turned from snow capped mountains and skiing techniques, from fluffy light-as-air meringues and double cream, from crunchy rosti potatoes and melt-in-the-mouth milk chocolate to practical matters. 

January is the month to do those projects that are less critical. Once March arrives the olive trees take priority, throughout spring and summer, until the harvest finishes in early December. Even though we have lived here for over ten years there is still so much more I would like to accomplish with the garden and the orchards. When we bought this property the 50 acres had long been abandoned and while there were many established trees, they had been left to their own devices and not cared for properly. The fruit orchards further away from the house have been left untouched since we brought the property - for no other reason than we had to prioritise. The olive grove came first, then the garden and the apple and pear orchards closest to the house. It sounds like so little when reduced to a few words here but the establishment of the gardens and fruit groves have taken years of hard labour and emotional energy. 

Yesterday was a milestone here at the farm as we have started work on those long lost fruit trees. They need massive pruning, their trunks are strangled by ivy and their roots are buried in a tangle of nasty weeds. It is a 'resuscitation' in the truest meaning of the word - I want to breath life back into those trees and have them flowering in the springtime. What I find really amusing is that planning the 'recovery' of these orchards and seeing the progress as these apple and pear trees are renewed is more exciting to me than anything else. Once I would have said that a walk down Bond Street or Madison Avenue and a foray into Prada or Chanel would have taken top billing but not anymore .....if you know me well this is brave talk on my part...for pounding pavements and dissecting the latest has always been what I do best.

Today will be more of the same here at the farm...I will spend the morning with Gérard our manager and we will talk...and talk...and talk...that is how it works here....lots and lots of talk. Talk until the words go around and around....repetition every which way you could imagine. That is the Provencal way...We will walk around the groves and discuss the pruning techniques and the after care for these orchards, we will discuss how exciting it is to be finally attacking this long neglected part of the farm and we will luxuriate together in the progress we have made....and tomorrow the cycle will begin again. I am not complaining.....I love to talk the talk and walk the Provencal walk....who would have ever thought.....not me.....xv

image of Swiss meringues - vicki archer