What do you do in winter when the Food Forest is dormant?

What do you do in winter when the Food Forest is dormant? You go exploring!

And we've been lucky enough to go to France and check out a whole lot of French chateaux, gardens (including Monets garden), and of course sampling the food and wine!

For nearly the past month we've travelled through France- Paris, Mont St Michael, and then down through the centre of France, through the Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and finishing up in Nice. What an experience, and what a beautiful place.

Every time you turn around it's another "wow". So happy we got to experience that.

And the surprising thing? After New Zealand where we aren't afraid to use herbicides and pesticides all over the place- all round France they are encouraging nature and letting the wild flowers and grasses grow. I kid you not! Even in Paris at the base of the Eiffel Tower they are proudly proclaiming their wild flowers and grasses. They put signs up about wild flowers and proudly proclaim "no herbicides here"! I even saw a Paris hotel with a big bill board outside about the wild flowers.

It was an amazing journey - and I've come home with a notebook brimming with ideas for the Food Forest and the Farm Shop.

And hey! Did I mention the food and wine? I'm sure I said "Oui" to every yummy eating and drinking opportunity that came my way!

Very inspirational!!!