Together with Belgian Spawn representative Guy de Man, Pieter went to French mushroom grower André Sarazin in Cuts, near Compiègne.
Husband Pieter left and André Sarazin to the right who is holding his sunglasses as this was on a sunny day in France.
André Sarazin did organize the 3rd ISMS Congress in Paris in 1956
They also for the first time had simultaneous translation!
Wearing a headphone and some professional translators did translate...
Guy de Man was quite a character for capturing Pieter this way and writing in the corner: How beautiful and signing off with Guy de Man...
One more of such photos by Guy de Man...
But Pieter truly was admiring the excellent quality of these brown and white 'Champignon de Couche' inside their wooden boxes!
See their broad stems?!
Hard to find such quality nowadays.
The quality that is grown inside those marl caves always looks excellent!
Here Pieter is with André Sarrazin at his compost place in Cuts.
This was the first grower to also have some kind of tunnel. Pieter walks on the concrete edge of a kind of cellar that was aerated from below.
Nowadays we call it a bunker, not a tunnel...
Bottom left you see Paris and to the north east you see Compiègne and Cuts where the mushroom farm from André Sarrazin was located.
André Sarrazin's marl cave business at six locations, once was the largest private owned mushroom business in France... He started it in 1958.
Sadly, André Jr. and the successor, got killed in an accident and André Sr. succumbed to grief...
The company got sold but ceased to exist as it is very difficult for mechanizing inside those rather low ceiling caves... To continue growing in bags is hard physical labor!
~
André Sarrazin did take Pieter to Compiègne, the historic location where on November 11, 1918 the Armistice agreement was signed to end WWI.
But a nasty revenge by Adolf Hitler in June of 1940...
André Sarazin did organize the 3rd ISMS Congress in Paris in 1956
Wearing a headphone and some professional translators did translate...
See their broad stems?!
Hard to find such quality nowadays.
The quality that is grown inside those marl caves always looks excellent!
This was the first grower to also have some kind of tunnel. Pieter walks on the concrete edge of a kind of cellar that was aerated from below.
Nowadays we call it a bunker, not a tunnel...
André Sarrazin's marl cave business at six locations, once was the largest private owned mushroom business in France... He started it in 1958.
Sadly, André Jr. and the successor, got killed in an accident and André Sr. succumbed to grief...
The company got sold but ceased to exist as it is very difficult for mechanizing inside those rather low ceiling caves... To continue growing in bags is hard physical labor!
~
André Sarrazin did take Pieter to Compiègne, the historic location where on November 11, 1918 the Armistice agreement was signed to end WWI.
The untold story of the 1918 Armistice just click it for a 2 minute video right at the top.
~
One year while traveling in France, Pieter did show me the area as well.
History lessons we ought to all learn from!
~
One year while traveling in France, Pieter did show me the area as well.
History lessons we ought to all learn from!
I would LOVE to have been there to see where the Armistice was signed. I have been to battlegrounds in Allied Countries, but not there.
ReplyDeleteDearest Katie Isabella,
DeleteOf all our visits, both of us value the historic places the most!
This sure was a very meaningful area in history.
Hugs,
Mariette
Liebe Mariette,
ReplyDeletedie Erinnerungen bleiben.
Liebe Grüße
Elisabeth
Liebe Elisabeth,
DeleteJa, das stimmt und es sind wertvolle Erinnerungen.
Liebe Grüße,
Mariette
Dearest Mariette,
ReplyDeletewonderful memories and great pictures!
Thank you for sharing!
Wishing you and Pieter a wonderful weekend,
Love and hugs, Claudia xo
Dearest Claudia,
DeleteYes, those memories made by my Pieter as mushroom educator and pioneer are priceless.
Not so much the Compiègne site though...
Hugs,
Mariette
Dearest Agnes,
ReplyDeleteWe not only have them but lived them!
Hugs,
Mariette
Haha I love the photos of your husband Pieter by Guy de Man. I can see he was quite a character :-) It's wonderful Pieter got to go to the place where Armistice agreement was signed and you also visited the area. Such a great experience to set foot on the historic place!
ReplyDeleteDearest Tamago,
DeleteYes, indeed Guy de Man was a person with lots of humor and when I saw this photo for the very first time, I laughed out loud! One can almost see Guy's grin when taking this photo...
Indeed, very special trips that got interwoven with important history and I'm glad Pieter pointed that out to me at a later time.
Hugs,
Mariette
Amazing mushrooms!
ReplyDeleteDearest Anne,
DeleteYes, those were fabulous quality mushrooms!
Hugs,
Mariette
Hello Mariette, Mushroom growing certainly takes a lot of ingenuity to develop such an unusual crop! It was a good specialty for you and Pieter, as it introduced you to so many fascinating and beautiful places.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Dearest Jim,
DeleteYes, it certainly was and both of us never ever grew tired of this specialty as we met with incredible people, lots of humor and getting to know several characters. Also the sightseeing along the way was rewarding!
Hugs,
Mariette
I always enjoy seeing photos of your many trips. That must have been a beautiful area.
ReplyDeleteDearest Janey,
DeleteThank you and yes, when I later ended up in this region with Pieter, I too came to love the area.
France in general is a beautiful country!
Hugs,
Mariette
Guy de Man certainly had a interesting perspective on photo-taking. Haha. As Tamago wrote, quite a character.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these photos!
Dearest Kea,
DeleteYes, he kind of went to the 'bottom' of it! Haha, this photo made me laugh the first time I viewed it and will do so forever.
Hugs,
Mariette
You have shown such interesting and wonderful phtos of Pieter.
ReplyDeleteGreat memories,Mariette.
Dearest Tomoko,
DeleteYes, those are some interesting memoirs about Pieter's early pioneering work and the people he met.
Hugs,
Mariette
The compost place is so large. The work must be very hard. I can feel their enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your careful reading of my post. Happy new week to you!
Dearest RTC,
DeleteWell, this compost place was not that large in comparison with many where we worked for as consultants in later years.
It is hard work but the 1960s were still like GOLDEN years for button mushrooms of good quality and hand picked. Later, through over production and also mechanical harvest, that declined. So it is a joy to see these historic photos!
You write very informative and captivating and yes, being a writer, I also do read very thoroughly. Unless it is worthless... some just use the text from others...
Hugs,
Mariette
Stupende fotografie, la mietitura mi riporta indietro nel tempo, andavo volentieri sul trattore con mio nonno.
ReplyDeleteBuona serata.
Caro Giancarlo,
DeleteÈ bello ricordare i ricordi con tuo nonno. Le memorie sono le storie che hanno sagomato le nostre vite...
Abbracci
Mariette
Dearest Mariette,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating! What a rich life, and the pics...LOVE.
Hugs to you and Pieter.
XXX
Dearest Barb,
DeleteYes it sure was a rich life and always around people that could be helped and benefit from Pieter's personal visit.
Hugs,
Mariette
The way things are going, it sure doesn't seem like many people have learned very much from the past.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly wonderful that you two have so many photos from so many years ago. I
Dearest Tammy,
DeleteHistory is not the most favorite subject for a lot of people; that is obvious and it looks also that they want to rewrite history by omitting certain parts...
Pieter lost lots of his photos that stayed behind at the practical training college but we're grateful for the ones he still had!
Hugs,
Mariette