The Pig in the Pond

The weather here is still dry and although there was thunder lurking around earlier today it came to nothing.  Rain seems to be falling all around us but not here.  Rosie said she drove through heavy rain driving to the port, yesterday, and at the same time I drove in the other direction - around Mont St Michel and had some showers.  The ground is very dry now - not good for the vegetables.

The Pig in the Pond

I was reminded of a book the boys had 'The Pig in the Pond' (Martin Waddell) - read many times to them.  A great story about Neligan's pig who on a very hot day eventually jumps in the pond.  Never thought I'd actually see it happen though but the other day Charlotte, one of our two sows, decided that the duck bath was a good place to cool her trotters in - so in she went.  She had a happy few minutes paddling and blowing bubbles in the water.  And Harold and Matilda watched on with extremely unimpressed expressions.  You could almost hear them saying 'oy pig that's our pond'.

We Are Not Amused!

Whilst on the subject of  the ducks, Matilda is now sitting on twenty eggs, joining Hilda who has been sitting on her clutch of eggs for a couple of weeks now.  I cannot remember how many she is sitting on - around 16 I think.  So in a few weeks time we'll be hearing the patter, of around, 36 pairs of little webbed feet.

I'm off to the UK

Posted by Rosie

I'm taking the boys to the UK for a bit of a whirlwind visit, catching up with friends and family on both Exmoor and in Kent.  I'm sort of packed, lunch is half cooked and I keep popping in and out to see the wedding. I just hope I don't get asked by customs/security at Le Havre to open the boot as it has a fault on it.  The only way it can be done is to scramble over the back seat and use a special stick and nail whatsit Simon has made to release the boot from the inside.  It is not an elegant operation but I suppose it might provide a bit of entertainment at the port (for security/customs if not me!!)

Snap-shot of a April Day

Posted by Rosie

Outside my window - I can see washing blowing on the line - dry and windy weather (again) may not be good for the garden but it is great for getting the washing dry.

I am thinking - Will it rain this month or not?

From my kitchen - I can see the first mange-tout I have picked from the polytunnel.

I am wearing - 3/4 length trousers and a vest top - my standard uniform for hot weather.

I am going - to England soon.

I am reading -Albion by Peter Ackroyd

I am hearing -Slight discord from the bathroom - Simon is cutting the boys' nails and it is something they dislike passionately.

Around the house - there are 4 large dogs flopped on the floor after their walk.

One of my favourite things is - the game banangrams, given to us by a friend ages ago (thanks Dragos), finally played last week and totally addictive. "Just one more go" is our favourite line at the moment.

And here is my picture for thought - will the apples taste as good as the blossom looks?

Boot Fair

Posted by Rosie

Every Easter Sunday there is a Boot Fair is St Vigor des Mezerets, the next village to us.  I had a stall 2 years ago and did well enough selling general junk items surplus to requirement, plants and cakes.  Last year it was wet so I didn't go but after 2 years without a Boot Fair the junk items surplus to requirement were building up again so I booked a stall.  I didn't do cakes this year (no time) but I did have enough junk items surplus to requirement to fill my 6m slot.

My stall

So how did I do?  Very slowly to begin with but sales did pick up later until the lunchtime lull. I did better in the afternoon than I had expected but as time drew on there was still al lot of unsold items and Simon and I were rather dreading having to repack everything.  Enter the gentleman who looked at our cans of paint.  "1€," we said.  His ears perked up and there then followed 10 minutes of mad selling of boxes of stuff that were otherwise going to the tip.  In the end he and his brother took all the things we had left over (other than a few bits and bobs we will sell online) for the stately sum of 12€ ...... and we had much less to pack.

So the grand total of my day?  A very acceptable 95€ ....... and a much clearer loft this evening.  I call that a result!

Not quite the greeting we had in mind for our guests

Posted by Rosie

About an hour after guests arrived for an Easter break in the gite there was a shout from outside.  "There's a swarm of wasps!"

Bee swarm on a fence post

"In April," I thought, "surely not?"  I was right - there wasn't a swarm of wasps there was a swarm of BEES enveloping a huge area in front of the barn and play area.  Children and dogs were hurriedly sent to the safety of indoors before Chris and I (from a very safe distance) watched to see what they'd do.  They seemed to be homing in on the old cherry tree but eventually swarmed down onto a fence post below it, in a large rugby ball-sized mass.  Apparently the swarm would be out looking for a new place to nest but if the queen gets tired before then she will look what somewhere to rest, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a couple of days.  I have also since learnt that swarming bees rarely sting as they feed well before swarming and find it difficult to sting.  I didn't know this when I went to take this photo so you'll understand why I didn't hang around too long to get it fully in focus.

I have contacted a bee keeper to see if he'll try and take them to his hives but he may be too far away.  Otherwise I will just let them do their thing and head off to find a suitable nest site.  Bee keeping is something Simon and I would like to do but following a forum where the subject is discussed (Downsizer) I know I have a lot to learn before getting  hives and bees.  Let's hope another swarm settles here when we are ready.

Buff Orpington Chicks

Posted by Rosie  
 
Ever since I saw Buff Orpington chicks that my friend had, I have had Buffie Envy.  I wanted some.  Some-one must have heard my plea, because only a few weeks later I had a chicken go broody and found some-one locally who was selling fertile Buff Orpington eggs.  The broody was moved to separate quarters, the eggs were exchanged for some of our pork and my fingers were well and truly crosed for a successful hatch.  21 days later, 6 of the nine eggs hatched, just in time for guests arriving in the gite this afternoon :-)

(Sorry the pictures aren't too good - Mum is very protective and the run is not camera friendly.)

Who Stole our April Showers?

Posted by Rosie

"April showers bring forth May flowers" - or so says the rhyme.  However, the last 2 Aprils here have been incredibly dry with just one small shower last year and, to date, an even smaller bit of drizzle this year. Compound that with the driest March on record and things are not looking good for gardeners and owners of grazing livestock. And it gets worse, not only no rain but also we are having quite high temperatures and/or strong winds thus further drying out the soil.  At the moment the grass is still growing (and the shady lanes are full of earlier than usual wild flowers) but wondering how long this dry weather could go on for is very worrying. Last year I made hard decisions about which vegetables to water and which should wither on what turned out to then be a very hot, dry summer.  I really do not want to have to make those decisions again this year and have another year with no vegetables to sell.  We also want to reseed the front grass area and sow sugarbeet for the pigs, neither is which is worth doing in dust dry soil.

So whilst it is lovely to see the sunshine and feel the warmth on your back and whilst it is great for tourists visiting Calvados, spare a thought for those of us who rely on the rain to water our vegetables and help the grass to grow.  A few decent rain showers would help no end in the veg patch and refill the empty water butts.

'Strange Brew'......

hopefully not .......'killin' what's inside of you'.


The lyrics of Cream sprung to mind when I decided I'd give Nettle Beer a go.  So having picked 3 large carrier bags full of young nettle tops and boiled these up, added sugar and later the yeast, the strange brew is on it's way.  This concoction is now residing in a brewing bucket and appears to be bubbling nicely.  Hopefully in a few days time we (sorry I) will be sampling this brew.

Fermenting Strange Brew

Nettle Brew

And I was so keen on picking more nettles that this evening we have dined on Nettle Soup.

Wallowing Pigs

Snuffling Sow

Today was hot for April and we were concerned about the pigs - water buckets were forever being flipped over and pigs rolling and resting in the damp soil or they were using the bucket as a foot spa!

Happy as piglets in....

So this afternoon the digger was put into use and wallowing pools were dug out in the pig fields then soaked with water.  And we had some very happy pigs.  They snuffled around in the wet ground and Isadora spent a good ten minutes redesigning the hole and when happy with her work, very happily settled down for a damp and restful afternoon nap. The piglets carried on around her and given the occasional telling off grunt when Isadora's personal space was encroached.

We were also aware that there was a lack of shade in the field and, after various ideas were thrown out, we came up with the idea of using one of my old windsurfing sails to make a piggy shady corner. So hopefully some cool contented pigs now.

And I don't think we're spoiling them!!

How to turn a bluebell pink

Use Ants. 

If you dangle a bluebell over the entrance to a Wood Ant nest, the ants will see it as a threat to the colony and attack it, biting into the flower and injecting formic acid into the petals.  The effect of this is to turn the bluebell from blue to pink (something along the lines of acid turning blue litmus paper pink I think - but don't take my word for it, I failed chemistry).  This is what I did with the bluebell in the picture and the effect took only a few minutes.  Take care, though, if you do this because if the ants decide to bite you it really hurts.  Also, please only pick one bluebell and only then if they are very abundant.  Mind you, I assume this would work with any blue flower; perhaps some-one could report back.

My now pinkbell

Dinner is Served!

Well I did ask for meat and veg for dinner!

Escape Artists

Posted by Rosie

Dumpling and Jacob

It's a bit noisy at Eco-Gites this evening - our 2 lambs have arrived and are bleating loudly having just been separated from their Mum's.  However, they are currently in with the chickens and when they are not bleating they are either chasing the chickens or trying (and succeeding) at getting through the chicken pop-hole into the nesting area.  Well Dumpling was able to fit through where-as his half brother, Jacob, was too big!!

Adventure Pig .... on an adventure

Some of the pigs have also been getting to places they should not have been.  Simon took the digger into Boris and Charlotte's pen and whilst Boris scarpered to the far end of the enclosure in fear and trepidation of the big, scary machine, Charlotte hatched a quick escape plan, squeezed through a very small gap between the gate and the digger and headed off to pastures greener.  And she wasn't the only porcine escapee this afternoon - that piglet in the picture is on the wrong side of the fence.  That piglet, not unsurprisingly, is called Adventure Pig.  He may be the biggest of our piglets but he has inherited his Mum's ability to squeeze through small spaces.  His Mum is Charlotte!

Spring Has Definitely Sprung

Spring Flowers

Out walking the dogs this afternoon and I heard the cuckoo for the first time this year.  Rosie saw swallows a couple of weeks ago and the wild flowers, after a short poor flowering last year, are giving us a glorious show now.

I have just been looking through old the photos and discovered that the Early Purple Orchids are out about 2 weeks earlier this year compared to Spring 2008.  The blue bells are on their way and we have had a lovely display of primroses and cow slips for a good two to three weeks now.

And even the worms do it!

On Wednesday night Rosie was shutting in the hens when she noticed the field was covered in worms.  As soon as she shone the light on them they rapidly shot back down their hole.  This happened for the next two nights - and spring was definitely in the air for the worms - there were hundreds of them.  I was really pleased to get the photo as any form of light or a heavy putting down of the foot sent them off, with a parting of ways, underground again.  It was amazing to see and both Rosie and I don't think we have seen this before. Did feel a bit mean ruining the worms fun though!

Walking Charlotte

One of our sows, Charlotte, had been a bit stiff legged and we were a little concern it maybe a touch arthritis (not good in pigs apparently).  Anyway we moved her in to the field with the piglets and her condition improved. So, after some debate, we have put in her with Boris the Boar. And she seems much improved and, definitely, has a spring in her step now - and earlier this evening I found Rosie was taking her for a walk. Ahhhhhhhh!