Sophie is originally from Paris, but has lived now half her life in Provence. Though raised in the city, the land is in her blood and she sought from early on to work outside, tending and growing, and chose the world of bees and honey. Twenty-five years ago there were fewer apiculteurs around, now, you see artisanal honey at every market. Sophie herself can be found at the Saturday and Wednesday markets in Arles, the Thursday market in Maussane and the Friday market in Fontvieille.

Sophie still works traditionally. She cares for the bees in a biologically sensible and careful manner, prefering non-intervention and organic solutions to the various problems that might plague her bees. She has placed her hives in a number of areas around Provence: close to her home in a valley amidst the Alpilles in Fontvieille, out in the marshlands and reeds of the Camargue, up in the lavender hills of the Drome.

When you find her at the market, she generally has a honey from Provence which is made up of rosemary, thyme, wildflowers and a few trees, a honey toutes fleurs from the Camargue which is rich and buttery, a very floral lavender honey, a light acacia honey which is the preferred honey to cook with, a rich and heady chestnut honey used often for the medieval spice cake made in Provence, and possibly a honey from the Garrigues with notes of rosemary and oak. Each has a perfume and flavor all its own. And tasting them is a joy and a discovery.

In our workshops we offer day trips and visiting Sophie is a favorite outing. We arrive at the end of the long dirt road that seems to amble on forever, and which has been known to stall out a car or two. (Just ask our participants from early May 2000... they actually had to help push the car up a difficult patch... but then they were able to all get back in). We park at her home and put our picnic items inside before heading out for an amble through the woods. This April we were able to pick fresh wild asparagus, thyme in flower, rosemary, bay leaves and fennel. As we wander behind her home we pass olive orchards, occasional cross country bikers, and breathe in the clean and calming scent of the pines that tower above us.

When we get back to her home, Sophie is ready for us. She'll explain the life of the bee, its behavior and habits, how it fertilizes the flowers and how it changes nectar into honey. She'll show us the hives, and hives of earlier times (she has a bit of a collection), how the bees build their nests, the perfect hectagons of their little cubicles. She'll let us taste all her honeys and explain the benefits of pollen, royal bee jelly and propolis to both the bee and us. She also makes a wonderful honey mead (called hydromel in French) and a honey vinager and has worked with local factories to produce vegetable oil soaps, face creams, and more.

Then we all sit down for a lovely picnic together, our salad dressed with honey vinegar, some hearty country bread to tear apart, fresh goat cheese from a friend, and the various charcuterie that we've brought along.

In our week-long workshops we occasionally include an evening at Sophie's where she teaches us a number of recipes with honey. She too has a strong interest in cooking with a slant towards cooking with honey. The world's oldest natural sweetener, honey has been a favorite worldwide. The Bible speaks of it, the Romans sweetened their wine and cheese with it, and preserved fruit in it, the Persians dribbled it over their nutmeats, and... oh so much. Recently she taught us her apple tart, her curried rice pilaf, her honey vinagrette, and her fish en papillote (wrapped in tin foil). It was a divine meal, in a warm and cosy atmosphere, far from any sounds of the city, lost in the woods amidst the blooming roses and buzzing bees.

Here's Sophie's recipe for fresh fish en papillote. We cooked it with trout, but it's wonderful with salmon as well :

Ingredients :

• a large filet or 6 small filets of your preferred fish
• salt
• pepper
• tumeric or saffron (for color and a bit of perfume)
• herbes de provence
• a couple half lemons to squeeze for their juice
• 2 lemon slices per portion
• creme fraiche of the best quality (optional)
• toutes fleurs honey (or a nice floral honey of your choice)
• olive oil

Lay your filet on a large piece of tin foil, right in the middle (you can do entire filets, or portion sized pieces). Sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, tumeric/safron, and herbes de Provence, squeeze some lemon juice over the filet, lay 2 lemon slices on each portion, 2 small dollops of creme fraiche on each lemon slice, 1 small dollop of honey on each dollop of creme fraiche, dribble some olive oil over the filet and then close the tinfoil around the filet carefully, paying particular attention to the sides so that the juice will not drizzle out. Place in a large casserole baking dish and put in the oven at 375F/180C for 20 minutes.