Menus for the Spring Season–The Leaves Climb up the Mountain and the Garlic-Flavored Lambs Come Gamboling Down

I asked Mademoiselle Vivette what was usually the first sign of spring at the Auberge. She answered: “In this Valley, people always say that they know it is spring when ‘the leaves start climbing up the mountain.’ When I came here, I didn’t understand what they meant. But it’s true. When the first tiny new leaves appear on the beech trees, they are a marvelously delicate green, but they are only on the lowest trees, at the edge of the fields around the village. Higher up, the beeches are still bare and dark Then, day by day, you watch the green climbing up in the brilliant sunlight. Every morning it has moved up, perhaps ten meters. It’s one of the most exciting times of the year, to see that lovely, light and tender green climbing, climbing, until it meets, on the highest slopes, the somber dark green of the pines.