Quiet Sunday Afternoon

Fame!!

Posted by Rosie

Last Sunday we all went to a Vide Grenier (Boot Fair) at the nearby village of Pontécoulant. Whilst there we met some people who had bought a cake from my stall at Easter. I was chatting away when suddenly a photographer appeared and snapped a picture of us. Much to my surprise, the picture appeared in the local paper this week - L'Orne Combattant. Fame indeed!!

Play Tower Update

Posted by Simon

It's been a glorious day here as my slightly sun burnt neck will testify and I have had a good day getting on with the play tower. I have added a second tower and now constructing a walk way between the two. Also, they now have a little climbing wall and steps up. The boys are 'over the moon' with their towers and cannot wait for them to be finished.

Leaves, lovely leaves

Posted by Rosie

Nettle leaves first. There's a nettle patch in one of the sheep fields which Simon wanted to strim (they can be very invasive if not kept under control) but I have beaten him to it and picked them for nettle brew. No, not nettle beer (that's a bit further down my To Do list) but an infusion of nettle leaves left to soak in water for a couple of weeks and then given to plants as a food. I also found out last year that if sprayed over blackfly it completely kills the little blighters.

So, take one bucket, fill with nettle leaves, add water, cover and leave for two weeks. After that time approach with care - nettle brew is evil-smelling and when handling it it is one of the rare times I wear rubber gloves. But it is brilliant stuff, diluted one part to 10 parts water, the plants love it and it is free!

This is the collection of leaves from the garden that I threw into a stir-fry for supper last night - purple sprouting broccoli, chard, cabbage thinnings and the flowering stems of kale. Each was so tender they only needed a few minutes, some fish and a few flavourings added and there was my take on fast food.

And lunch today - Simon's not around so I had something he doesn't like - a salad (freshly picked lettuce of course) with walnuts and cheese. Delicious.

Thank you leaves - supper, lunch and plant food all from within a very short distance of the door.

Ouch, that hurt!

Posted by Rosie

I had a trip to the osteopath today - the second in 4 days to be precise. My back has always given me trouble and it got to the point last week when it hurt so much that I really needed to do something about it. I picked up Les Pages Jaunes , dialed the number of the nearest osteopath and booked an appointment.

Well the good news was my sacro-iliac joints were not too misaligned (as they have been in the past) - but the surrounding muscles and tendons were very inflamed - in other words, no major bone crunching but some painful manipulations and a bill for 100 euros. As I said - ouch - that hurt!!

During my consultation he showed me some exercises to keep my back supple and so hopefully pain free. He also advised always making sure I stand squarely on both feet and I do not cross my legs when sitting. To be honest until he told me these I had not realised how often I did both. Typing now, I really want to cross my legs, but with the threat of more pain and another 100 euro bill I might just manage to both do my exercises and not cross my legs.

Believe it or not...........

Posted by Simon

.....and at long last I have started building the boy's play tower today. It is going quite well although I need to get more timber now. This is because since getting the timber in for the tower I have been 'borrowing' it for other projects. So tomorrow morning it will be off to the builders merchants to get some more.

The boys were back at school today and on their return both were really pleased that the long promised play tower is now under construction.

And the sunset? Well it was a photo of the end of one of the lovely April days we've been having of late.

Easter, Fish and Foraging

Posted by Simon

Sally (my sister) came to see us over the Easter period and the boys had a very busy time. Apart from playing with friends, going to boot fairs, and a trip with me to Brittany to see some old friends (who have a holiday home there), they had a day out to the zoo and we also took them swimming and cycling. Although one ride ended up for a walk for me as I got a puncture, fortunately not too far from home.

We now have two very tired boys and we are making them have a calm(ish) weekend before they return to school on Monday. A few weeks of school before the two month long summer holidays. They do not have a summer half term here as there are so many French bank holidays which makes up for it.

Whilst Sally and I were out walking the dogs the other day, we got chatting to some neighbours. We had often said hello and briefly chatted but, unfortunately, had never had the time to stop. So, this time, in a typically French manner we were invited in for coffee and cake. They have lived in the village for 22 years but we had not realised this because when we moved here their house was being built and we assumed they moved in when it was finished. In fact their old house had be badly damaged in the 'tempest' of 1999. Although the house had to be demolished and a new one built they were extremely lucky. Three large trees fell on three sides of the house but the main trunks missed it and it was the branches that did the damage. In the interim time they lived on the site in a caravan and we hadn't realised.

Anyway, we found out they did a lot of fishing and lo and behold out of the freezer a lovely trout arrives which is presented to us. We were told the best method to cook it and for how long and to have it with a form of Hollandaise sauce, which again we were told how to prepare. So the next day we cooked ourselves a fish feast, as instructed, and it was delicious - five clean plates. For dessert I decided it needed something a little special and made creme caramels (in the pressure cooker) and these, also went down a treat.

They are keen to swap some of our meat and eggs for some of their freshly caught fish. This will give us another form of food supply as well as it being a lovely neighbourly thing to do. They also forage for wild mushrooms and Rosie is hoping to go with them to find out the best one's for supper.

Now it's a bird in the dining room

Posted by Simon

I have decided to finish the projects that I have been doing outside before I start the building works. This includes the boules area and the ongoing saga of the boys play tower. The boules area is nearing completion and now needs the final top surface. And I am going to start the play tower very soon - I promise - if only to keep the boys out of my hair when I'm doing the building works!

Of course all this has to be done between everyday chores. Grass cutting is back and it's growing with a vengeance. Plus we got 8 new small chickens this morning (eventually for the pot) and these needed a separate area fenced. We already had a house for them and it made sense to use this and fence around that. Easy? Well first I had to move the sheep. Usually not a problem but the ram is starting to live up to his name and a butt up the bottom is not much fun. And I know, the bugger got me yesterday. Then I had to move tons of old stone which, I would think, has been piled up over a period of many years. All this done I could get round to the fencing. No, the lorry arrived from the quarry with the stone for the boules area and that had to be unloaded. Well I did get the fencing done to keep the chicks in, but I've still got to make it to keep the sheep out. Anyway the chicks are settling in now.

Whilst levelling out the sub-surface on the boules area this afternoon the boys called over and said did I mind a bird being in the house? What! Feeling that a wind-up was in progress I went up the house to find a swallow perched on the clothes airer. Sorry swallow you need the barn next door! We opened all the windows for it and off it flew. I don't know how long it had been there because the boys had got it a bowl of water for it and another bowl full of grass, sheep's wool and hay for a nest. Aah, bless! Well it kept them amused for a while.

And it reminded me off the time when I came home (still living at my parents house then) from the pub one evening and found a sparrow in my bedroom. I asked my dad for some help getting it out. It wasn't until the next day when dad was talking to a friend that it clicked why he was so amused as I heard him say "Simon came in last night and said he had a bird in his room and could he have some help!"

The Boot Fair was....

Posted by Rosie

.... really tiring but excellent fun :-))

It was supposed to start at 9am but I was told I would need to get there at 6.30 in order to get to my pitch - but it was DARK at 6.30 so I delayed until 7am ....... and got stuck in a massive french traffic jam. Now the French cannot park or squeeze though small gaps in their cars at the best of times and they certainly cannot reverse, leading to the inevitable gridlock. But it did somehow clear and I managed to get to my nicely placed pitch right in the middle of the village.

Then came the fun task of trying to get an awful lot of "stuff" on a 3m pitch - plants, cakes, preserves, my general "tut", the general "tut" of my friend, and some other bits of "tut" another friend had given me - oh and a rather large brush cutter!! But my friend, J and I managed it and settled down to the next 9 hours of high commerce.

Well lemon curd and dandelion jam were very popular as were small iced cakes and fruit cakes. Plants, especially herbs went well as did veggie seedlings and when I totted up at the end of the day I had a taken a very acceptable 140€.

But it was J who made the best sale of the day. Remember that brushcutter? There was a lot of interest in it and as she wanted 100€ we started by asking for 120€. Initially everyone walked away until a man and his 2 sons arrived. "Oooh - c'est cher" he said. We both did a Gaelic shrug and he wandered off - but not without several backward glances at the brushcutter. He wanted that brushcutter. Half an hour later he was back asking if he could start it. Would it start? Would it 'eck? The man rang his friend. Both continued to try and start it whilst J and I stood there, backs to them praying for the engine to fire up. Our prayers were eventually answered and a huge cloud of smoke drifted over us and the neighbouring stalls as it spluttered into life (They had obviously flooded it, but it was going). I looked at J - she looked at me. "It'll never sell" we muttered. The men continued to fiddle then came over and much to our astonishment offered 80€. But J's husband wanted 100€. We stood our ground because we knew he really wanted it and brushcutters are very expensive here to buy new. He huffed and puffed. "100€" I said. He wavered. "80€" he said. "100€" I said "and I'll throw in half a dozen eggs and pack of scones". SOLD!!!

Yes, we have no potatoes.

Posted by Rosie

Sung to the tune of a slightly more famous banana song!

I have just fed the last of my home-grown potatoes to Pignatius as they really had gone a bit too soft for us. He still thoroughly enjoyed them but we will have to wait a couple months now before we have any more of our own to eat. That said, the earlies planted in buckets in the polytunnel are doing very well and those planted in the garden have just broken through the soil.

I think now, we are officially in "The Hungry Gap" - the period when the winter veg has all but finished, stores are running very low and the spring/summer stuff has yet to reach fruition, even in the polytunnel. Thank goodness for the freezer containing last years excesses and a very good crop of purple sprouting broccoli in the veg patch. This year, to further reduce the need to buy fresh produce I am planning to do more fruit bottling (I bought a lot of kilner jars at a Boot Fair last week) as well as drying in Simon's lovely drying box (which has doubled up beautifully as a seed propagator over the last few weeks).

I have just made this years first batch of dandelion jam and I am adding wild garlic leaves to many a meal at the moment. Wild garlic leaves are also infusing in olive oil for a lovely garlicky oil and, if the rain stops, I might go and pick the first unforced rhubarb today. Sally, Simon's sister, is coming over for Easter with supplies of cheddar so all in all I don't think we'll starve just yet!

That was lucky.....

Posted by Rosie

Yesterday the boys had friends over to play and I baked some traditional English goodies for them and their Mum to try - this time it was a batch of scones and a gingerbread. Both, I have to say went down very well with everyone. And I mean EVERYONE.........

When the earlier rain cleared, the boys went out to play and we went outside to look at the pig and have a tour of the garden, carefully making sure the dogs came with us and the front door was firmly shut. The rain didn't stay away for long and whilst Mum and I were sheltering in the polytunnel I saw the front door was open. We made a dash for it but it was too late and came back to one "licking-her-lips-that-was-a-nice-cake-thank-you" dog.

And the lucky bit? Thieving dog, whilst enjoying the spoils of half a gingerbread and several scones and had neither eaten the butter nor broken any of the plates the cakes were on!! Phew.

Old Mother Hen

Posted by Simon

The last few days here have been lovely especially with the longer evenings (even though I dislike the hour change). The trees are budding and slowly coming into leaf, which I love to see. The surrounding fields and hedgerows are covered in primroses, cowslips and other yellow things - the name eluding me at present - with the next wildflowers pushing their way up. Spring is truly upon us now.

Yesterday evening the sun was setting and the mist was coming up through the valley so armed with camera I decided to try and get some photos. Although these were not too successful as I turned round to go back indoors I quickly snapped Rosie walking back from the vegetable patch with her entourage of hens. I didn't know she had such a following! Must be the 'old mother hen instinct in her'!

Actually these hens have given us, apart from eggs, a lot of amusement. As soon as you start digging they are there. Round your feet arguing for worms and other bugs. We're convinced that one day a poor hen will get speared with a fork or something. And if I start the digger up, it's hen heaven. Nine of them race over to the digger with the bottom wobble dash and explore the turned over soil. They seem to have a knack of getting out of the way of the tracks or bucket - just in time. But I must admit it's none too good for me nerves!

Short post - Big message

Posted by Rosie

Just a very short post to say the Mayor popped up today with a piece of paper for us. Namely:

Planning Permission for the gites and our house conversion!!!

It takes us one giant step closer to realising our dream of living a much greener life. Let the construction work begin.