The Quintessential Montreal Moment
Aug. 15th, 2009 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreSo there I was, exiting the Metro at Place des Artes enroute to Papeterie Nota Bene when I see a crowd (2-3 dozen) of people on a street corner, and someone saying something in French. There's some singing, and a young woman with her back to me is playing on the flute, and about a dozen people are leaning up against the building, watching.
I get closer, and I see there's several people talking, but they're talking rapidly in French and mostly not vocabulary I can easily recognize.
There's a yellow cart, like a large kid's wagon, made of wood, but much bigger. In it, there's some vegetables and flowers, and I recognize marigolds and nasturtiums, so I figure it has something to do with organic gardening.
I continue on, wanting to get my errand done, but secretly hoping more will be explained on my way back. I'm overheated and nearly out of water, and my feet hurt, so there's no way I'm going to stand and find out more.
(Papeterie Nota Bene is absolutely worth a visit, but it's not really part of this story except that I nearly fell flat on my face because the stoop was so high and I almost tripped....)
So I'm walking back to the Metro and I see the wagon with one guy hovering nearby. On the side of the wagon is painted some phrasing about La Revolution Alimentaire. Apparently, it's a commune of organic farmers.
It all seemed so quintessentially French and Quebec; the people I know from Quebec are mostly farmers, and French Intensive is one of the major schools of thought on high-productivity organic gardening. If I'd had the vocabulary, it'd be interesting to see what they knew of the work of Ecology Action and Jeavons' refinements to the French Intensive methods. I don't know if they've been translated, though.
I get closer, and I see there's several people talking, but they're talking rapidly in French and mostly not vocabulary I can easily recognize.
There's a yellow cart, like a large kid's wagon, made of wood, but much bigger. In it, there's some vegetables and flowers, and I recognize marigolds and nasturtiums, so I figure it has something to do with organic gardening.
I continue on, wanting to get my errand done, but secretly hoping more will be explained on my way back. I'm overheated and nearly out of water, and my feet hurt, so there's no way I'm going to stand and find out more.
(Papeterie Nota Bene is absolutely worth a visit, but it's not really part of this story except that I nearly fell flat on my face because the stoop was so high and I almost tripped....)
So I'm walking back to the Metro and I see the wagon with one guy hovering nearby. On the side of the wagon is painted some phrasing about La Revolution Alimentaire. Apparently, it's a commune of organic farmers.
It all seemed so quintessentially French and Quebec; the people I know from Quebec are mostly farmers, and French Intensive is one of the major schools of thought on high-productivity organic gardening. If I'd had the vocabulary, it'd be interesting to see what they knew of the work of Ecology Action and Jeavons' refinements to the French Intensive methods. I don't know if they've been translated, though.