Sweet

Sweet
Originally uploaded by oiseau.

The countryside has come to Reims for a three day market (not that it had far to travel!). The main streets are full of stalls and sellers of local farm produce - meat, terrines, jams, dairy and all the finest fattening, heart stopping foods the region creates.

I love the fact that the French have no qualms about where the food has come from. Fifty yards from our front door there is a pig pen with piglets and mother, complete with sign explaining how long the piglets will stay with their mother before they are killed. I'm sure they put it more prosaically than I do - but that's the gist!

So, cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs are residing on our main street and it's a really pleasant, though slightly smellier, stroll.

I've stocked up on dried wild flowers, 'raw' milk from the dairy (i.e not pasturised to death) and the honeycomb pictured above. I'll take another walk today to see what takes my fancy.

Before I do that, I just need to spit out the ball of wax I've been rolling around my mouth for for the last ten minutes.

Update

Back from stroll, where I came across a shepherd with dog and crook, herding a gaggle of geese along the high street. Wildly surreal and I'm annoyed I didn't have my camera with me.

New purchases include, two types of soft cheese, another litre of "raw" milk, a chicken (which - eek - as I put it in the fridge I discovered still has its head on), creme fraiche and half a dozen eggs.