Welcome FlowerChild

Today our two girls were invited to a birthday party at a farm called Graine et Ficelle. The set up is wonderful. The owner of this farm decided 6 years ago to abandon her hectic life in Paris to become completely bio. She has a wonderful terrain of 13.000 metres and keeps donkeys, goats, cows, rabbits, chicken, pigs and sheep. The children can feed the animals, clean the stables, brush the donkeys and the parents (in this case the birthday girls’ parents) pay 18 euro per child. Wow! But simple things as caressing a real donkey can offer a lot of pleasure and happiness to city kids. Not as much as the Tamagotchi who is returning with a similar success (at least that is what the company Bandai hopes for) as in the year 1996 when they sold 40 millions Tamagotchi globally. For the price of 35 euro you can take care of your little electronic pet on a daily basis. To me this feels like real poverty.

Since we live in the south of France (coming from Amsterdam) the quality of the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables has increased considerably. You taste the sun in practically everything you eat. Food in France is very important and at an early age children learn to eat healthy meals. In the schools there are professional cooks and sometimes if you are lucky the cook will learn the children what the fruits of the season are and why it is important to eat them. The fruits of the season and preferably also from the region are healthiest and, because they do not travel far and long, very fresh too. So in Autumn we eat lots of apples, plums and chestnuts.

If children are unwilling to eat fruit (I have experience) you can try out the tips from this Australian website.