It will come as a surprise to many, who believe Aurillac is France’s coldest city, that peaches actually grow here. I visited Claude’s garden on 8 August, where he has been cultivating this fruit for almost half a century.
As we are in the most active part of the winter pruning season for apple and pear trees in France, we look at an example of bad pruning and its consequences, in particular the growth of unfruitful ‘watershoots’.
On Thursday and Friday, we ran an educative workshop on apples for local primary schools, as part of their extra-curricular activities. It included a compote tasting session, designed as a formative sensory experience. Continue reading
My personal contribution to the Europan 14 urban project for Aurillac, my home town in France.
I worked for six weeks on this topic at the ‘Communauté d’Agglomération du Bassin d’Aurillac’ in France and was awarded top marks for it. What next? Mapping fruit trees in the area?
The ‘Croqueurs de Pommes du Cantal’1 is a charity that lists and protects local fruit cultivars; its members exchange scions to graft new trees. I put myself to the test: would I be able to participate and provide scions from our trees?
In September I attempted to stop hornets from eating our pears… with pebbles. The improvised solution worked rather well, without damaging the pears.
We ran a compote workshop on Sunday to promote the utilisation of small apples and windfalls. Two posters explained how to turn food wasting behaviours into gourmet dessert making and a live demonstration enabled the audience to contribute and taste. 
It is a good idea to put sheep in an orchard to graze and fertilize. Be aware that they love pears though.
A short post to tell about my jam jars labelling choices this year.
Les Jardins d'ici 