FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Beautiful photos Kristin!

I worked with a woman whose last name was Desjardins. The french have some funny last names. My former french teachers last name was Gros :-)

Oh, how I envy your time in the garden. I never seem to be in one spot long enough to get the dirt beneath my fingernails. The next best thing though is our "timeshare" in a local organic farm. We joined a CSA, (community supported agriculture), called threespringsfarm(dot)com Each Sat we will go to the Tulsa Farmer's Market and pick up our bounty of home grown goodies. Maybe one of these days we will toil in our own soil but until then, I will enjoy your harvest vicariously.

Great pic! I'm new to this and have a question...I'm sorry if this is not the right venue...how would you say "backyard" in french? Is that too....Le jardin?

Merci!

Kristin,

I can almost smell that fumes from here. That's a nice piece of inventive prose, Kristin...that fumoir really did set you free!

Lou

What a wonderful entry today, Kristin. The Cicero quotation is perfect. And I, too, am a fan of Candide's philosophy and have used it in my own blog about my garden. You gave us a wonderful bouquet of words today.

Kristin,
I love your phrase about "hands in the dirt for a flirt with the earth"!! I do have garden gloves, but I rarely use them for that very reason! This is a perfect day in STL for such a flirt!
Bill,
There really are some rules for gender in French. Most words that end in a nasal sound (jardin) are masculine--one noteable exception is une maison.

Hi Kristin

Cicero wasn't far wrong - a book in a sunny garden with a glass of wine do it for me. Nature has so many pleasures to afford us if we only take the time to "stand (or sit) and stare" - wondering at the miracles afforded us. I would like to share a quote from a very famous English female gardener (and ailurophile):

"A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust."
Gertrude Jekyll

My kitten A-K is just learning the pleasures of the garden 'en pleine air' on a harness and lead instead of gazing wistfully from a window. She met her first bumble bee today and batted at it of course! Anything that flies is fascinating to her. She complains when we have to come indoors again but she is too precious to be allowed 'full rein' as it were just yet. She too must learn patience and earn trust that she will not bolt nor stray far in the garden.

love

Robyn x

Kristin,

Thank you for this post, it's wonderful. Quote is great, one day hopefully i will have my own sanctuary :)

So beautiful and lyrical, Kristin! Loved the term "seed sage-femmes." Have a beautiful week-end!

Hoe-Hoe to you too - clever . .

I adore this post - you are so good to us!

XOXO

MOM

I knew what jardin meant, but was so happy to learn the correct pronunciation! I have no jardin, as I'm a reluctant condo dweller in Vermilion, Ohio. . .right next door to Chez Francois Restaurant! (affectionately referred to as Frank's Place!) I'm also a 2x traveler to France and admitted Francophile, so smitten with this country, that another trip is being planned as we speak. I doubt I'll ever get enough to want never to return.
Love your tales and ongoing help with the language.

Salut, Kristin

Nice photo of Max with his 12-year-old soeurette, Jackie. Interesting..... In Engilsh "sis" is an abbreviation of "sister" (apocope). In French a suffix is added to "soeur". No wonder we're having trouble learning French. Ha!

Herm in Phoenix, Az

Someone said,"if you have a garden, you are never alone."

Il y a un jardin qu'on s'appelle Blake a Kensington, CA. La, il y a un etang printanier ou les martin-pecheurs mangent les petites grenouilles. Dans ce jardin qui appartient a l'Universite de Californie
il y a aussi une source souterraine. Les jardiniers l'ont decouverte
et ils ont fait une petite jolie chute d'eau de la source. Qu'ils soient
tres ingenus, ces jardiniers!

I've started a few hundred plants and they're all in my big sunny laundry room! It still freezes almost every night here, so I can't put them out til June! I've got zinnia, hollyhock, nasturtiums, poppies, peppers, summer squash, winter squash, cabbage, broccoli, watermelon, canteloupe, tomatoes, corn, oh my, much more! Every sunny spot of my house is being filled with pots of seedlings I've started!

I love the Cicero quote!

WELL I DID NOT KNOW THAT LE JERDEN MENT GARDRN, THANK YOU FOR SHARING.

woderful cicero quote....your pictures and words always give me a lift....it is getting hot here in the phoenix, az area....soon the plants will die off except for the most hardy....i love spring....spring is so rift with new life....keep writing and taking photos.....i feel like i am beginning to know you and your family....beautiful!

I LOVE your garden poem !
I will save it and savor it .
Ken
Napa Valley

My favorite jardin quote:

On est plus pres'Du coeur de Dieu dans un jardin que n'importe on sur terre.

Thank you for your lovely site.

Bill in St. Paul, many nouns can be categorized as to gender by their endings. ALL nouns ending in -tion and -sion are feminine. The majority of nouns ending in -e and especially double consonants plus e (-ette, for example) are feminine. Except for "eau" (as far as I know), ALL words ending in -eau (bateau, etc.) are masculin. You might be able to find some books that give shortcuts such as these for learning gender, along with occasional exceptions (nouns ending in -ent are masculine, but la dent (tooth) is feminine).

Kristin, your post today was poetry! I hope you are writing down similar compositions.

Meg Tipper, gardening can occasionally tire us (I get sore knees from planting, so use pads to cushion them), but it can provide good exercise, and in the long run is better for our bodies than sitting around; you surely have heard the saying, "If you don't use it, you lose it"? As we get older, we have to do something to stay in shape. One of the fringe benefits of yard tasks is toning; raking leaves, mowing lawns, etc. helps keep my arm muscles from getting flabby.

I think Max and Jackie are so fortunate to live where they do, with opportunities to be outside in such a pleasant and healthy environment.

Kristin: a beautiful quote--food for the mind and food for the body. In response to Bill's query about the gender of Fench nouns it is normally determined by the ending of the word rather than the meaning. For example, nearly all nouns ending in -age are masculine as are those ending in -ment (le village, le monument)also -eau (le tableau)also most of those ending in consonants (le guichet, le bois) with maddening exceptions (la nuit, une fois). Most words ending in e are feminine but there are many exceptions; all ending in -sion or -tion are feminine, sans exception (f). Great book on this by Saul Rosenthal. I just saw that Marianne made this same point!

A very late comment. The "back to the land"movement is thriving here in Western North Carolina.Small farmers are reclaiming (what's left of farmland)the land growing food with what I call my mother's secret ingredient, "love". In my garden labyrinth along with native plants are chou,concombre,oignons,pommes de terre, & heirloom tomates. In containers, are la dalade verte, la taiture, mache & varieties of l'ail (herbs?)
My fumier is supplied by farmer friend's goats. As I see it, humans & animals working together to heal mother earth.
Your family is beautiful. Your writing so creative & inspirational!
Highly reccommend the book I Know How To Cook. Not for reading in bed tho, quite heavy!
Sue Manning in Cashiers, N.C.

French, one of the most beautiful language on the planet. :)Oh by the way, I love the pictures, nice shots.