The first Heirloom Produce Saturday will highlight our fruit of the month, gooseberries.

Barbara Regina Dietzsch - ‘A Gooseberry Branch with Dragonfly, Butterfly and Caterpillar’ 18th Century

I appear to be drawn to fruit that are slightly difficult and have a hint of danger about them. Listed on the Recettes 2013 page of this blog, are two 18th century gooseberry recettes being featured this weekend. I can foresee a new blog entry post on the horizon as my fascination with this slightly unconventional fruit continues-with more recipes to follow. Also would like to bring attention to a favorite staple of the habitants, buttered bread and onions, made with Red Wethersfield onions from our jardin. Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm remarked, in Volume III of his Travels into North America (1749), on the French habitants fondness for onions, especially red onions.

But please do not be misled, we have other heirloom produce currently at peak and being harvested in the garden; cabbage, carrot, yellow summer squash. Recipes from previous summer Heirloom Produce Saturdays containing recettes for summer squash, carrots, cabbage, apples, and onions, are located on the blog Recettes page.   The herbs and flowers are blooming and with fair weather on the horizon-a perfect weekend to explore the Illinois Country.  A few French Mallow and Pot Marigold seedlings are looking for new homes and heirloom seed packets are offered. Please stop by and visit Saturday, July 13, 2013, 10 AM-Noon. Fort de Chartres Jardin Potager.

Special Note: The next Heirloom Produce Saturday event on July 27 will include a discussion about seed saving and fall planting in the Jardin Potager. Details to follow soon.

You are invited to the Fort de Chartres Jardin Potager outside the walls of Fort de Chartres and sample heirloom produce in our season’s first Heirloom Produce Saturday, July 13, 10 AM-Noon. Some produce, seedlings, seeds, and recipes available.

This garden has been planted in the style of a French l’habitant kitchen garden generally tended by the women of the Illinois Country. Join us in exploring the heirloom vegetables and fruits in our garden. Limited produce, recipes, and seeds available.

Produce currently in season: carrots, cabbage, red onions, and gooseberries.

23 Juin, Sunday

Partly Cloudy, NNW at 16 mph gusting to 33 mph

88 degrees F, Precipitation .53 in

Bonjour, les amis, sometime has passed since the last post to this journal. Summer’s arrival has heralded the start of yet another season in the garden. Spring was mysterious and long, with much rain and flooding of the land adjacent to the Mississippi River; cooler temperatures prevailed until recent weeks. The spring plowing of some of the farmland in the Mississippi bottomland was delayed, and some of surrounding land is still too wet. In our small jardin potager, the challenge of the drenching downpours meant the direct sowing of the garden often had to be repeated, as seeds were overwhelmed by too much moisture and late frosts. Isn’t it ironic, considering the drought of last summer, where severe lack of moisture reigned over the land and most hours in the garden were spent watering in the oppressive heat?

The pea, spinach, and lettuce sowed late winter germinated well and all were growing nicely when the repeated rain and frosts caused some of the young plants to fail. One hopes the fall planting of these staples will have better success. The cabbages and red onions are thriving again this season, with the cabbages looking a bit worse for the attack of insects on their outer leaves. Within a few weeks, both will be ready to harvest, along with the carrots. Kale also grew well these past 2 months, but the spring radishes went almost immediately to flower. Cucumbers and squashes are now growing in leaps and bounds as the heat and rains encourage their growth. The different heirloom watermelon seeds are sprouting, but we have had to re-sow some of the varieties washed out by a few of the heavy downpours.

All in all, the jardin potager is surviving. A bumper crop of gooseberries are ripening, the flowers and herbs are flourishing. Earlier this spring, the French mallow (Malva Sylvestris), was in full bloom. More than half of last year’s growth of this hardy annual over wintered and bloomed profusely in May and early June. Now the pot marigold, love in the mist and French field poppies are beginning to bloom and herb beds are in full growth. After researching all winter, a replacement grape variety was found and we successfully planted our native Riverbank grapes (Vitis riparia) in May, and all transplants are doing well.

As we move through June, we recognize the reality of the coming July which will surely bring back the oppressive heat. Paul Le Jeune,  the new Superior of the Acadian Mission in the year 1633, related to the French Provincial of its order in Paris, “I have never experienced in France, anything like the heat and drought which we have had during this month of June.” We will persevere as have the generations of those who have gardened before us and continue our ever surprising journey.

Our first 2013 Heirloom Produce Saturday will take place July 13.  A new gooseberry recipe will be shared and time has been spent scouting for additional recettes featuring carrot, cabbage, and onion. Heureux Été!

12 Avril, Friday

50 degrees F,

Mostly Cloudy, Winds WNW at 15 mph

As reserves prepared from the produce of last year’s jardin efforts dwindle, late winter and early spring’s cool temperatures are slowly releasing their hold on the surrounding Illinois countryside. The garden’s raised beds gradually are prepared for spring plantings, as the weather allows. This week’s strong storms continue the ongoing process of renewal, the drought of last year becoming a memory of trial and endurance. What weather travails of the year await, only the passage of time will reveal.

Work in the jardin potager began in January, a few days of warmer dry weather enabled clearing and turning in of compost in a few beds. February’s annual garden weekend wasencased in snow and sleet. Work accomplished was limited to physical repairs-resetting the poles for the peas and beans in a raised bed and the restringing of wire along the garden fence line for the espaliered apple trees. The frozen ground prohibited additional work, so we retreated to the warmth of the hearth in the fort’s guard room where time was spent cheerily chatting with visitors about gardening while sharing jardin heirloom seed packets.

Renea Davis and Antoinette Hancock

In March, mes amies Antoinette and Renea worked with me as we prepared beds, weeding and seeding as we went along. The day was cloudy and a chill was in the air, but we managed to prepare four beds. The early spring seeding of Scarlet Runner beans, Blue Podded and Tom Thumb peas, St. Valery carrots, Flat Sided Dutch cabbage, lettuces-Brown Dutch, Cimmaron, Speckled Trout, and Bloomsdale spinach were accomplished. Flower and herb seeds sowed included Coriander, Love in the Mist, French Mallow, Flat Leaf Parsley, Corn Poppy, and Tall Deluxe Snapdragon. This was definite progress, slow but steady. Patience is the most important virtue for a gardener to cultivate, a delicate balance to be found between one’s desire to plant and anticipating garden progress while paying attention to Nature’s signals. We must let her lead the way and as she sets the pace for the developing season. But in centuries past, how difficult the wait and setbacks must have been. With dwindling food supplies from the previous season, the need for fresh produce from their spring jardins would have been urgent.

Asparagus Spears

The weeks following and up to the first week of April extended the run of cool, rainy weather. We experienced days of snow intermingled with limited periods of sun and above average temperatures. More carrot and lettuces varieties have been planted, as well as seedlings of Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage. During this past weekend of the annual Fort de Chartres Colonial April Trade Faire, the beds were watered and the asparagus bedseeded (with the excellent assistance of my garden apprentice, Master Eagan and my husband, Nick). This last task was completed just in time as the warm temperatures produced a nice small selection of spears that were harvested last Sunday. Spring’s remaining weeks hold the promise and necessity of more bed preparation as we practice the jardin potager methods of companion and succession planting. Beet and radish seeds along with red onion sets remain to be planted and then the garden work will turn to thinning and weeding so the young seedlings will thrive and develop.  Later this spring, preparation will be begin in the squash melon bed and the Native Three Sisters garden. The unfolding of the jardin awaits us, bringing delights of this year’s successes tempered by the inevitable heartbreak and disappointments unique to the rhythm of this garden year. Both conditions will be shaped by the elements and the greater force guiding us all. Bonne chance!

A quick note-last weekend’s Trade Faire offered the opportunity to demonstrate the bake oven once again and provided a chance for new explorations of 18^th century recettes. February’s persimmon blog posting inspired my search for traditional French gingerbread or spice cakes, pain d’epices, while also experimenting with a version of Amelia Simmon’s Indian Pudding along the way. Toni’s new recipe was Elizabeth Raffields’s “ Bread made in the French Way”, while Renea baked an heirloom Kaskaskia recipe for blackberry cake. These recipes, along with the other baking endeavors, will be posted shortly on the “Recettes 2013” page of this blog.

Finally the temperature is warming and we are looking forward to spending some time this Saturday in the garden working in the beds and planting. Visit historic Fort de Chartres as a few habitants recreate the experiences of the colonists of the 18th century Illinois Country. We will prepare the kitchen garden for the late winter and early spring plantings. Jardin Potager heirloom seed packet samples will be available to share with those who visit with us! Saturday, March 16, 10-3 PM.