Rose Pons
sower of knowledgde

"When children are surprised that the apricot tree no longer bears fruit, I explain to them that other kids were here before, convinced that the apricots would have grown again in the night." Rose, who hosts four classes per day, knows very well that the young city dwellers are unaware of Nature's cycles, and sees some of them avidly pouncing on anything that grows. At Rose's place, they suddenly discover where their food comes from. Also, patiently, to overcome these serious gaps in their knowledge, she teaches them to respect the seasons, to name different varieties, to make vegetable dyes, to transform the raspberries they gather into sorbets. On the farm that has fed five generations of Pons, she has created an extraordinary preservation-orchard of forgotten fruits, an old vegetable and herb garden, and a beautiful farmyard. And so that everyone can appreciate the results, she lets visitors fill their own shopping baskets. With some luck, this Autumn they will discover the Cantalou apple, which took six years to cultivate, or the rare Trets melon, an enormous black ball streaked with white: an old man worried about seeing them disappear, gave Rose the precious seed. She admits that her activities are not a source of high earnings, but she, who always said to herself: "I'll never be a farmer", is in it up to her neck.