French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France

by Richard Goodman

Richard Goodman saw the ad in the "SOUTHERN Stone house in Village near Nimes/Avignon/Uzes. 4 BR, 2 baths, fireplace, books, desk, bikes. Perfect for writing, painting, exploring & experiencing la France profonde. $450 mo. plus utilities." And, with his girlfriend, he left New York City to spend a year in Southern France. The village was small-no shops, no gas station, no post office, only a café and a school. St. Sebastien de Caisson was home to farmers and vintners. Every evening Goodman watched the villagers congregate and longed to be a part of their camaraderie. But they weren't interested in he was just another American, come to visit and soon to leave. So Goodman laced up his work boots and ventured out into the vineyards to work among them. He met them first as a hired worker, and then as a farmer of his own small plot of land. FRENCH DIRT is a love story between a man and his garden. It's about plowing, planting, watering, and tending. It's about cabbage, tomatoes, parsley, and eggplant. Most of all, it's about the growing friendship between an American outsider and a close-knit community of French farmers.

Genres: France, Gardening, Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel, Biography Memoir, Food

203 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Richard Goodman is the author of French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France. He is also the author of A New York Memoir, The Soul of Creative Writing and The Bicycle Diaries: One New Yorker's Journey Through 9-11. He is co-editor of The Gulf South: An Anthology of Environmental Writing. Richard is working on a book about aging.

Reviews

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to know what to say about this little 200 page book that might make you want to read it. I feel like there are two groups of people in relation to this book: those who will find it a charming diversion, and those who will find it a boring waste of time. You can probably figure out which group you belong to just by knowing a bit of what the book is about.

This book is a conversationally-written memoir about an American who moves to a small town in the south of France for a year, and keeps a garden while he is there. You get tiny glimpses into the lives of the villagers, some descriptions of the town and the weather, and lots of thought about gardens, gardening, and earth. (Earth as in soil, not as in the planet.) Meditations on the act of planting and nurturing vegetables and herbs, followed by the satisfaction of harvesting the fruits of your labor. Descriptions of exactly what it took to carve a small garden into a forgotten corner of a vineyard - hauling water, building steps, breaking up the soil, harvesting bamboo for tomato stakes.

It's a narrow topic. If nothing about that previous paragraph sounds the slightest bit interesting to you, avoid this book. But if you'd like to daydream, just a bit, about moving to a foreign country and trying to make a deep connection with the people and the land there, even if you're not really a gardener, then maybe give it a try. It's quite short, and offers a view of France that I haven't gotten from other books. It's not a book that will dramatically alter my life or views, but it was a nice way to spend a portion of my vacation.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a delight to read--fluid, honest, and fully immersed in the dirt and growing season of France. Goodman was a first-time gardener at the time, as thrilled by lettuce as he was by bamboo he cut for his tomato stakes. This read is a great escape from a busy work-life!

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

French Dirt is 200 pages of decently written garden blog fodder. In theory, it's the story of an American who moves into a rented house in a small village in France with his Dutch girlfriend for a year. It's supposed to be a story about the people he met and his experience with his first garden. And those elements are, indeed, present.

But it isn't much of a story. He went there, he met people, he gardened and he left. It sounds like he a had a great time. But reading this book was like watching someone's vacation picture slide show. Some of the pictures are great but no matter how many times you tell someone it was nice or great they just don't care that much.

Some of the writing was really good: "Intimacy with another country is ripened by pleasure but also by loneliness and error." Or, "But nothing could prepare us, really. For the immense quiet at night. The vast sky. The light - whose clarity and force prompted me to reach for paints I didn't have."

And some of the writing was not good: "In fact, aside from this one luxury, I didn't need much to garden in France. Just a shovel, a rake, a hoe, a pail. Some bits of cloth to secure my tomato plants. Bamboo. A few wooden stakes for boundaries. A cup of coffee in the morning, maybe, to get me going. That and the land, of course. My clothes were just as simple. I wore jeans and a sweatshirt at the start, in April, shorts and a T-shirt later when it got hot. And a cap. I used gloves once in a while, mainly with a hoe."

Overall, the good writing was overshadowed by the author's tendency to communicate all the mundane details like which tools he used, how quickly villagers worked in the fields compared to him, and descriptions of actually doing garden chores like weeding and watering. These are things that are boring enough to actually do. Reading about them was a chore in itself.

My chief complaint about this book, however, was that there was no tension unless you consider the author's failed attempts at growing a melon to be tension. Although some of the villagers were interesting people, none of them seemed to have real lives outside of their gardens or working in their vineyards. They all seemed like caricatures to me. There were no relationship hurdles to overcome. There was no new love discovered or no old love severed. It's a book I'll quickly forget.

[Debra Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about gardening in the south of France and not much else. It’s a snapshot of a man that has a garden for one season. There is a bit about the culture of the people in that area. Goodman’s comparison of growing plants to raising children is interesting. If you love growing things you’ll like this book and appreciate this easy to read memoir.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, peaceful story.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Goodman and his girlfriend rent a house in the south of France for a year. After a few months, he finds that he is not connecting with others, and he is inspired to make a garden. Unexpectedly, he becomes passionate about caring for the garden, visiting it twice a day, and, through the garden, he befriends others in the small village.

Odd little story about this book: I found a copy of this book many years ago, and I Bookcrossed it in December of 2007. I never got around to reading it, and I purged it from my shelves by donating it to a resale shop in my town when I cleared out eight shelves of books I'd never read. It is well-known among my friends and family that I love France, and, a few years later, my sister-in-law, who loves to shop resale shops for books, gave me this book as a little birthday present, not even seeing the BC label on it, not realizing that it was me who had BCed it. I simply had to read it when it was returned to me like this.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story about an American’s adventure of having his first garden while living in a small village in the south of France. If you enjoy gardening the descriptions of the soil and rural France it’s a nice read done in a conversational style that is reminiscent of a blog of the author’s exploits with his garden. A nice diversion!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some individuals, there's something strangely fulfilling about the simple act of gardening, and this memoir of one man's year in France and the garden he plants and tends is meant for them. Charming, perceptive, well-written, a pleasure to read.

[Scott Head · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tale of a year-long sojoun in a tiny village in the south of France. The author, an American freelance writer, and his Dutch girlfriend, rented a stone house for a year and promptly began to experience the cloistered village, slowly breaking into the life of the people there. As it turns out, it is the story of life, rather than merely a garden, and the people encountered in this year of life are wonderful characters and vital to the experience. The author keeps the identity and location of the village protected by using aliases, I suspect the people may also be likewise treated. The garden itself becomes the pinnacle of the story, the place where the French village-life experience is most tactile and real for the author. I wanted to be there. I wanted to see and hear the frogs in the stream near by, to work the grape vines, turn the soil, dig and plant. But more so, I wanted to talk to the people and sit at their tables and ride with them up and down the dusty roads. It was a delightful read, not real demanding, not real dense. Pleasant. I learned little about gardening except that gardeners will go to fists over opinions, yet we gardeners already know that. Still, it was an enjoyable read and commendable to all who wish to learn of life in the slow-moving French south.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this, even though I didn't finish it. I loved his style of writing, and I loved this couple being in a small French town where everybody gardens. It's quite relaxing to experience vicariously, but I sort of ran out of time and there are so many books . . . . . .

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Yorker Richard Goodman spent a year in a rural village in the south of France, and he chronicled this time period in “French Dirt: the Story of a Garden in the South of France.” Part travel book, part gardening book, total love story, this book was as gripping as dirt under fingernails. St. Sebastien was tiny, lacking even a grocery store, but the community members were warm and welcoming, totally indulgent of this outsider’s sometimes bumbling gardening efforts. Vasquez, the Spanish neighbor; Jules, the twenty-year-old gardening mentor; and Marcel Lecot/Monsieur Noysr, the constantly competetive gardeners, brought the village people to life. Always, the reader knows that the garden is a one-time event. Always, the reader knows that the gardener savors every tidbit of advice and of assistance. Always, the reader knows that Goodman loves the dirt, the water, the bamboo stakes, the rake and the hoe, and—of course—the fruits of his labor. “French Dirt” is the best sort of nightstand book: not so suspenseful as to prevent sleep and just the right amount of peace to encourage it.

[David Schwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. The author, an American from New York and his Dutch girlfriend spend a year in a small town in the the south of France (~220 people in the village). After spending a dreary winter there the author decides that what he needs is a garden, and proceeds to get access to a small plot of land. The rest of the book talks about the author working in garden. Fun book to read, not a deep book, gives the reader a nice perspective on a rural French village.

[Guy Choate · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Goodman's A New York Memoir inspired me to write, French Dirt inspires me to plant, struggle with, and reap the rewards of a garden. His enthusiasm for life and eagerness to connect with other people in this small village in the south of France reminds me to take a look at my own surroundings, wherever I may be, and appreciate the ground I walk on and the people around me.

[Connie Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read for those with a love of gardening and interest in life in rural France!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wife (Sara Hunt) of my ultimate mentor at Price Waterhouse sent this book to us following a visit in which we spoke about the wonderful trips we had had to the south of France. In the Peter Mayle tradition, French Dirt is authored by an American who with his wife decided to leave New York City and spend a year in France. They chose a very small village and it is somewhat ironic that their first and perhaps best friends were a Spanish couple living in that same village. But the story is about the garden and all of Goodman's experience with it. Having thought (albeit very briefly and never seriously) about going somewhere in the world for a lengthy visit (and Provence would be the location), I shared in Goodman's joy in the experience. So considering a literary viewpoint, I rounded up French Dirt to 4 stars from 3 stars.

[Susy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who love to garden - you know, planting vegetables and waking up before the sun and the heat- you'll probably love this slim novel about an American couple who choose to spend a year in the south of France. All I could think of was how bitterly cold it would be come January and the true cold the winter months bring.
I think I got the seasonal gist without spending a year in this quaint village. It's a quick read so if you hit the halfway point you can change your mind & still finish in a day.

[Lilliana Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet book and enjoyed the memories it brought back of southern France and my dear friend Emma’s grandfather’s garden. I agree with another review that said that the book is a pleasant daydream if you enjoy imagining a garden in France and it’s probably boring to anyone not into that.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming if you're a gardener.

[Amy Webster-Bo · Rating 4 out of 5]

good story did not like the ending

[Breanna Cahoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

mundane in the most charming way

[Kathy Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

A French village, a garden, the people. Utterly charming.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. I plucked this delightful little 200-page book from one of my shelves; first drawn to its title and then discovering a lovely note my deceased husband's daughter sent him 16 years ago stapled inside the book's back cover, further enticing me to want to read it. A quick, easy delightful read. "Your garden will reveal yourself", writes the wise gardener Henry Mitchell. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this sweet short book.

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pleasant memoir about the author growing his own garden in the south of France. I think it’s a good record of his time there but I would have liked more of an arc in his story and fuller character development for the villagers. Their flatness could reflect the difficulty of connecting in a foreign country, although he also didn’t write much about Iggy, the girlfriend he moved to France with. I’m glad I read it, but not for a gripping plot, enlightening reflections, or interesting and beautiful sentences. Just for what it is… a personal description of one man being and working outside in the dirt and going through the humbling process of gardening. And yeah, in France.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet story.... reminds me a bit of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence. I am always delighted to spend a few days in the south of France, even if it is in an armchair. It also reminds me of my first wild garden in Wisconsin.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It transported me back to he years I spent living in Italy and life of small towns and local people. Priceless images and memories. I met the author in a writing course before I read the book, and I could hear his voice as the narrator. this made the experience better for me, but isn't necessary. All you need to do is savor the words, pull up your own images for the characters and their village and just be there. You will feel the warm sun of the south of France and taste the pate on crunchy bread. One of my favorite parts of the book is the author recounting the pageant of villagers in the town square. It is an armchair year in France.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is best read during the winter. It is a nice diversion and had me thinking about summer and my own garden plans.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is what it is, the story of a garden in France. The American writer spent a year in the south of France and gardened on a small plot. I think what I found most interesting was the cultural differences - very often, here in the US, it seems that gardens are very often kept by women. Not all, of course but it seems to be the norm.

The author of French Dirt tells us that in France, a vegetable garden is most often a man's territory but again, there are exceptions. The author toils over his garden, he worries about it, he delights in the new growth and is distraught by garden disasters. I could relate to his feelings toward his garden. It is this living breathing thing that we tend and we fall in love our gardens.

I'd recommend this book for any gardener that may wonder if there are others like him out in the world. It's a comfort to learn that we are not alone.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two young people rent a large house in a Tuscan village and meet the charming French inhabitants who look askance at first - after all the writer is an American - but then take to him and his girlfriend. They are kind. They serve "crusty" bread. They don't care about making money. Richard knows they have much to teach him about the earth and life and how being French is so much more worthy than being an American. He stays a whole year. He returns to NYC and his heart is lightened when he learns that the garden is complimented by one of the locals as being good "for an American." It's a love song to France. Ok. As short as it is, it may have hummed more sweetly had some verses been deleted.

[Rosemarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the simplicity of it, the feelings he felt and expressed for his garden, the people he met and the country of France. His explanations of the people and the places he lived with everyday in and out showed the good nature of him and the love for his surroundings.
Only there in France for a year, but turned out to be a wonderful experience of simple living and loving of the people surrounding him. Short and sweet.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a charming memoir about an American spending a year in Provence who finds meaning in friendship through gardening. Definitely a light read that was entertaining, especially for a gardener. I picked up this book because we will be spending a week in Provence (Mais oui!) and I wanted a book to 'get me in the mood' for a week in paradise. Although there were a few cute anecdotes, I wish the book had more stories about the people he met and the friendships made.