More Snow!

Brun de Vian-Tiran at L'Isle sur la Sorgue

It has suddenly gone cold at night here and is the first real indication that there really is a winter out there somewhere . . .  One of the things about old stone Provencal houses is that in this kind of weather the draughty fit to the windows makes its presence felt, particularly in a Mistral!  Looking for a way to keep warm, I came across the family run luxury blanket factory of Brun de Vian-Tiran at L'Isle sur la Sorgue.

 

The Sorgue coursing through the village has provided free energy for an assortment of industries, the earliest of which were water-powered flour mills and wool mills. 

The wool came from the flocks grazing on the nearby Crau in the Alpilles.  The fleeces were soaked in basins of pure Sorgue water,  where they were then pounded by water-driven hammers to degrease the wool.

Between 1750 and 1850 there were 35 wool processing plants in L'Isle, the only one that remains today is  Brun de Vian-Tiran.  

It is a family run business started in 1808, and the factory was water-driven until as recently as 1922.  They process over 50 varieties of wool from mohair to camel yak and lama. They also use wool from a heritage breed of Merinos from Arles, sheep reputed to have the finest wool in Europe. 

The Brun de Vian-Tiran still use locally grown teasles to card the wool,

 and the factory machinery, is a work of art in itself.

Pruning

 

 The farmers are busy pruning the cherry trees.   The trees are at their most architectural at this time of year, their branches a stark black against the blue sky.  As you travel round the valley, you can see how each farmer has his own distinctive preferred shape.

 

The vineyards are also being cared for too.  When young, the vines are pruned to produce a strong straight trunk with two lateral limbs called "cordon".  Last year's growth is being cut back now, so that the vine is left with a short cane with fruiting buds which will produce next year's grapes.  As not all buds will fruit, the length of the cane and the number of buds left on it will determine the success of the coming harvest. 

As most pruning is done during the cold days of January the pruners have these ingenious improvised carts with them in the vineyards.  They act as portable bonfires for simultaneously burning the cuttings and keeping the workers warm!

Happy New Year 2012

Still Life: Drawing Board, Pipe, Onions and Sealing Wax by Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh painted this still life at the New Year 1889.  He depicts familiar objects laid out on his drawing board -  his pipe, a letter from Theo, sealing wax and onions past their best.   The book, Manuel annuaire de la santé is a reference to his concern to maintain good physical health.  He has included a traditional green Provençal olive oil jar, which is identical to this one from the kitchen at Les Bassacs.  It is of exactly the same beautiful deep green glaze and terracotta.

Like many of us at the beginning of a new year Van Gogh was full of good resolve, "the desire comes over me to remake myself"  and convinced that he would find happiness and good health in the act of painting.   

He wrote to Theo his brother, "I am going to set to work again tomorrow.  I shall begin by doing one or two still life's so as to get back into the habit of painting".   

That January he completed 15 paintings all of them still life's or portraits including three versions of his 'Sunflowers'. 

This painting made in January 1889 'Still life with Oranges, Lemons and Blue Gloves', captures for me some of that post-Christmas ennui that slightly tired citrus fruit conjures up.

Joyeux Noel from Les Bassacs

A sudden and unexpected fall of snow on Tuesday morning gave us a timely reminder that Christmas is upon us. 

Being the first to walk through the snow and down lane is always a treat . . .

and the vines make beautiful abstract patterns in the field.

Merry Christmas from Les Bassacs!

Bee Hives

Some bee hives have arrived on the edge of the nearby garrigue.

They have been a favourite subject for David's paintings in the past

Ignoring the warming signs, David risked life and limb to take these photos.

Cherry trees

The ailing cherry orchard behind Les Bassacs, famous in Les Bassacs folklore for the year that they were covered in ghostly white veils, has finally been cut down.  This will seriously affect our supply of fresh cherries, as David had taken to cycling up to the orchard on May mornings, and filling carrier bags full of fresh cherries.  We don't know what they are planning to grow on that land, but the nearby fledgling lavender field looks promising.

Blossom in december

You realise how unseasonably warm the weather has been when the cherry trees start to blossom in December.  David spotted this one when he was out running yesterday afternoon at Croagnes, and this on the day I bought our Christmas tree!

Olive picking time in the Luberon

We have been enjoying some very still, sunny weather after a couple of weeks of rain.  This morning we walked up the little path to the olive groves behind Les Bassacs to find that the olives are being picked.  

It is still a prosaic scene, even with the use of the vibrating rake connected to tractor batteries! Traditionally olives are picked by combing them off the branches with hand rakes into baskets tied onto the waist of the picker or dropped into nets beneath the tree.  This was something that Vincent Van Gogh painted in 1889, and a method that was current until about 5 years ago here.

The Olive Orchard, 1889 Vincent Van Gogh

Our pickers were employing vibrating rakes. This means that they didn't have to climb ladders to get to the olives. The olives are being harvested at this green stage to be preserved in brine and sold in the markets on those marvellous olive stalls in the summer. If the olives were being used to make oil they would have been left until they had turned purple or black.  These women had come from Robion to do the picking and the olives were going to the Robion olive co-operative to be treated.

Summer 2012

The details of the summer programme are up on the website.  I always under-estimate the amount of time it takes to redo the website.  This year I have had to update our picture in the 'about us ' section, finally acknowledging that we don't look so young any more.  Still smiling though!

You will find the updated site on www.artsinprovence.com