French Country Living

French Country Living...Sounds like the name of a Martha Stewart magazine, no?  I have to say that at times I feel lucky enough to have a permanent feature article in it.  We live some 15km north of Strasbourg (with a decently sized city center of 275,000 inhabitants).  However, we are just far enough out to be snack dab in the middle of the country side.  The house that we are renting is fantastically located so that our backyard overlooks a huge corn field.  Yes folks, I was born and raised in Ohio but I have never been this close to corn in my entire life! We moved in last a August when the field was a vibrant green and plants towered above our heads. To my surprise, a few months later, a massive harvester came and showed leaving us an empty field to overlook just a few hours later.

I realized how I (and the kids) literally had the planting and harvesting cycle in our backyard.  It made me think of that sped up video I'd see on Sesame Street when I was a child of a plant growing and then viewed at super speed to see the whole life cycle in some 20 seconds.  So it inspired me to chronicle the various stages of planting and harvest between February of this year until now.

Then, a Saturday night a few weeks ago, I walk into the house to see the kids glued to the french doors (or as we say in french - "doors") overlooking the back deck. A massive harvester was making its way though the field.  Perhaps Saturday nights in French countryside are at a slower pace than the big city - but I'll take it any day.

*Disclaimer - So,  you might be asking yourself  "Why are they harvesting corn in late November?"  Truth be told, this is not "human" corn but instead destined for pig feed. So the corn pretty much dries on the stalks and is then harvested much later than a sweet corn variety. So, yes - I guess this gives me and the kids a better view of both the crop cycle AND insight into the raising of livestock.  Sort of a twofer (of you put a spin on it the right way...)

I mean come on, the pork for a traditional alsatian "choucroute garni " doesn't grow on trees.