The weekend began with one goal in mind. Try to wake up early. I’m not a morning person, so a weekend wake-up before 10am is a bit difficult for this household. Along with the goal to wake up early, I had one other very important goal in mind: deliver kale seeds to Madame Mustard. The time had come for the official hand-off.
Let me be honest: Madame Mustard makes me nervous. I think it’s the dynamic between French women and well, any other woman. I also think it’s the fact that some French people just don’t get overly excited about things or at least not like a dramatic American girl does. Or perhaps it’s my crazy excitement about anything kale in general. To add to my morning jitters, I had not seen Madame Mustard in almost three weeks. Last weekend, I went to the market just to get some organic produce but did not talk to her. She is a busy woman – especially at the time when I’m at the market (remember, I’m not a morning person), so there really wasn’t an opportunity for chit-chat. Especially my pathetic pigeon French chit-chat.
The lack of contact or American vs. French language awkwardness makes me more of a headcase about our entire arrangement. Is it even an arrangement? Those were the questions going through my mind on Thursday and Friday and then early, early Saturday morning. But I was ready. Preparing for any potential negative outcomes, I reminded myself that it was possible she would change her mind or just not be that excited about the kale seeds.
Luckily, for the first time, my husband – the fantastic weekend translator – and I arrived at the market by 9am. A record for us. You know, it’s a whole different place that early. Madame Mustard had so many plants and her beautiful produce available – just proves the popularity of her stand.
I walked up to her and said the customary Bonjour and told her that I had a present for her (this is me trying out French humor). The little packet I’d put together included everything she would need. The Organic Certification, the packets of seeds and a few other documents I’d prepped for her about kale cultivation and so on. Her face lit up, well as much a I’ve ever seen it light up before, and she eagerly reached for her glasses to inspect the seed packets.
She responded with a petite smile, “I better go plant the seeds soon”!
I definitely think I can count this as a successful farmer update for all of you. I plan to touch base with her this week and see if or when she will plant the seeds and then we should have beautiful, wonderful mature kale in around eight weeks. I hope this makes your Tuesday a bit better!
Emily in Exile says
I was telling my husband about your Kale adventures yesterday. You are taking Paris by storm :)
and once the Parisian women find out how good kale is for them, they will flock to Madame Mustard in droves to buy it.
Pennelope77 says
You know, what’s funny is that kale is widely used in France, but not in vegetable gardens, it’s used in decorative flower beds. There are some, for example, in the Jardin des Plantes. It is indeed a very beautiful plant and there are different varieties and colors, ranging from green to dark purple.
kristen says
I saw the kale in the Jardin des Plantes a few weeks ago! It is beautiful with all the different shades of purples, red and greens. Now we can look at in gardens and eat it!