We’ve become great friends with two remarkable “agriculteurs” – farmers – here in Barbentane. Anna is a Force of Nature – a tiny 87 year old ball of fire, originally from northern Italy, who’s lived in Barbentane for almost sixty years. Except to sleep (briefly) at night and to faire une sieste every afternoon, she never stops working. She rises between 4:30 and 5:00 every morning and starts cooking. First she bakes a cake to share with the endless stream of visiting friends and purchasers of her produce. Then she cooks vegetables that are past their prime for les ‘poo-lay’ (les poules, the chickens, which in French sounds like ‘pool’ but not with Anna’s undiminished adorable Italian accent). Before 7:00 am, she heads down to her large champ (field) near the Rhone, about a 5 minute’s drive away, with Alain. He’s originally from the area around Bourges in central France, in his 70’s, and lives in Anna’s big house on the floor above. Over the years, he’s worked many fields in Barbentane and has been working Anna’s ever since her husband, Romeo, died years ago.

Together they work the field every day of the year. In summertime, the air is cool and fresh when they arrive. By 10:00, though, the sun is starting to simmer and reaches a full boil shortly thereafter. I know this because this summer Kevin and I have been working in the field occasionally with Anna and Alain. The thought of Anna bending over and working away in the Provençal heat is worrying, so we wanted to help out with all the endless chores that must be done at this time of year. We love hanging out with these two, who don’t speak a word of English, and – being frustrated gardeners with no growing land of our own – we’re thrilled to be working a real patch of ground in this region, renowned  throughout millenia for producing exquisite fruits and vegetables.

By 10:30, I take Anna home while Kevin and Alain continue working. Back at Anna’s, I help her prepare lunch for all of us. She’s hilarious. She always tells me, ‘Oh, there’s hardly any food today.’ Yeah, right – there’s only a salad made of Italian lettuces we just brought home from the field, along with perfectly sun-ripened coeur de boeuf tomatoes; pizza or spaghetti topped with one of her multitude of home-made Italian tomato sauces (her pantry is filled to overflowing with preserves, coulis de tomates, confitures, fruits of all types, etc); a meat course of chicken or pork slowly simmered with home-grown vegetables; and fresh fruit and cake for dessert. Last time we were there, we had fresh pears with frozen sugary raspberries stirred in. (All grown in their field, of course.) So good! A friend visiting from California described the pears here as ‘liquid sugar.’ If Anna’s homemade cake is already gone, she totes out a giant panettone  – those amazing over-a-foot tall Italian cakes that you can buy packaged. I never realized how delicious those things are!

After lunch, we head home, laden down with tons of tomates, basilic, salade Italienne, framboises, poires, pommes, and whatever else we can carry that’s in season. Anna and Alain take their siestes. Afterwards Alain heads back to the field to work well into the evening, while Anna starts watering her magnificent home garden and receiving the inevitable visitors. I asked Anna if she ever takes trips like, for example, to Italy. She replied insistently, “Why would I ever travel anywhere? I’m already in Paradise!”

Our adventures with these two just keep getting better and better. They’ve become such a big part of our life here that I’m going to report on them regularly from now on. You can click on these photos for larger views.

Ruth

Categories: Environment, Friends, Provence
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