Back in April 2017 I had been invited by Jean-Martin Fortier to give a seminar on perennial vegetables to the staff of La Ferme des Quatre Temps, an amazing farm near Hemmingford, Quebec. Jean-Martin is well-known for his book “The Market Gardener” (see https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=12597). I used the opportunity to travel around Canada and ended up in Quebec where I had been invited to visit namesake Patrice Fortier who runs an alternative seed company La société des plantes. Sadly Patrice was on a trip to Italy, but I nevertheless had a great couple of days in Kamouraska, see https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=10384 We kept in touch and earlier this year he asked if he could interview me for his new print-zine Mi-Sauvage: Les Adventices (Half-wild: The Weeds) has now been published and can be ordered from Patrice here: https://www.lasocietedesplantes.com/blogue/ It can’t be bad with a lovely illustration of a dandelion on the front. I just wish I had payed more attention in my French lessons :) (however, modern technology allows me to scan and translate!)
Thank you to Charles “Mr. Accordion Pissenlit” Frandelion for asking me over to Saint-Pascal (in the Kamouraska municipality) east of Quebec City and entertaining me with a great day enjoying the nature of his area and visiting the headquarters of La société des plantes, run by the legendary Patrice Fortier (www.lasocietedesplantes.com), where he works! Patrice was sadly in Italy…we will meet next time!
Charles with his drying racks
Crithmum maritimum overwintering in Charles’ basement
Anchusa azurea
Digging out more room for plants under the house :)
Eastern Quebec is colder than Ottawa and Montreal and there was much more snow
Charles’ root cellar, shared with a couple of other people
We could barely squeeze around the door!
Veggie storage boxes
Sprouting radishes for seed…we ate these for dinner
View of the St. Lawrence
Charles veggie and medicinal plant gardens
Mulleins
Charles’ native american sweat lodge!
Hot stones were placed in the sweat lodge
An old apple orchard
Cedar shingle clad farm building
We stopped by the road for a sample of fresh sugar maple sap! Delicious and sweet enough as it is!
Alle of sugar maples
Angelica had gone wild in the garden and was appeariing green as the snow retreated!
Udo (Aralia cordata): Patrice Fortier and Telsing Andrews are probably the two best sources of perennial vegetables in Canada…
Angelica stalks
Wonderful neat rows of dandelions ready for harvest in the polytunnel!
Imagination needed for what was growing under the snow….here there was a bed of camas (Camassia)
Last year flowers of a species of Ash…male and female plants on separate plants
Patrice has a great collection of books
6-7 pages on pissenlit
Vulture
Evening dinner with friends
Charles’ laptop wallpaper ;)
Large skeins of geese passing over :)
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
