Snap-shot of a May Day

Posted by Rosie

 

Outside my window - I can see things all over the place after today's wind and very yellow looking grass despite today's sporadic rain showers.

I am thinking - that I really must stop harping on about the lack of rain.

From my kitchen - I can see elderflower "champagne" which I am determined will not explode this year.  It's in plastic fizzy drinks bottles and I'm releasing the gas every day.

I am wearing - Trousers and an old sweatshirt from the days when I worked at Gravesham County Council.  It sports the logo "Going for Green".

 

I am going - to bake some spuds for dinner in a minute, with turkey livers and home-grown peas.

I am reading - various cookbooks looking for inspiration.

I am hearing - nothing except a snoring cat.

Around the house - it's still messy.

 

One of my favourite things is - my bag.  My sister-in-law brought it back from Nepal; it's worn so well despite being many years old and is just the right size for all the things I need without all sorts of clutter I don't need.

 

And here is my picture for thought - How could anyone not enjoy living here when this is the valley just yards from our house?

 

 

 

Silver linings and all that.

Posted by Rosie

I'm sure it can't have escaped the notice of anyone following this blog (or Twitter/Facebook) that along with much of Northern Europe and Southern England we are suffering the beginnings of a drought.  Last summer was dry, the winter was relatively dry and this spring has seen almost no rain here.  The well is below the pump level, the water butts are all dry and nothing much is growing.  Farmers are really worried.  We are worried.  We have unsown grass and sugar beet seeds, insufficient grass for the pigs and veggies that are not growing.

BUT - "Every cloud has a silver lining" (although as a small child looking up at one of those totally monotone grey clouds I did doubt this pearl of wisdom).  Anyway, every cloud ...... so here are the good reasons I have come up with for having another dry summer:

In the garden:

• I am having a bumper and early strawberry harvest and the other soft fruits are looking good.  About once a week I give the fruit bushes a good soaking and have mulched them well to retain this moisture.  So, plenty of fruit leather, jam, crumbles etc this year.
• There are far fewer weeds
• There are far fewer diseases - my spud and tomato crops may not turn out to be the largest but hopefully they will be blight free.

Around the house:

• Talk about speed drying especially with the wind of the last few days - so much so that I have switched the spin speed on my machine to minimum and still have no problems getting everything dry.
• No wet dogs lounging round the house making it smell horrible and no muddy paw prints everywhere.

The animals:

• Now the pigs may be a little fed up at not being able to rootle through lovely wet soil but I am sure if asked, they would prefer a hot, dry summer complete with regular hosepipe showers rather than cool, wet weather for weeks on end.
• Dry poo is a lot easier to deal with than wet stuff!

Out and about:

• The path I regularly walk the dogs along is usually chest high in wet grass at this time of year and so virtually impassable.  This year, 10cm of dry grass is not stopping us using this route.

For tourists:

• What holiday maker wants a week of wet and miserable weather?  With that in mind dear guests, Normandy has warm sunshine to offer at the moment and no immediate risk of rain.

So as I said, every cloud does have a silver lining ....

Plodding On

Well I'm slowly getting on with the Old Bakery roof.  Slow progress but it is getting there.  What takes the time is 'hoicking' everything up when I'm on my own, but I have developed some interesting techniques to get the sheets up and into place.  Not orthodox, but it works for me.  Also not helped by some, strongish, gusts of wind today (well it felt strongish from where I was sitting!)

One thing that cheered me up was that I managed to get the roofing sheets much cheaper than originally quoted.  Whilst chatting to a friend he reminded me of a place that sells seconds and they had exactly what I needed and at over 5 Euros a squared metre less I was very happy - considering I got 40m² worth.  And the ridge pieces were half the price (20€ instead of €40). And what is second about them I don't know.

Anyway, hopefully, tomorrow we can have the topping out celebrations - wind permitting.

A Good Reason to keep those Weeds

Posted by Rosie

I just happened to look out of the kitchen window this morning and spotted these 2 goldfinches feeding on the groundsel plants that have gone to seed.

It's not the best photo I'm afraid but there was no way I could get any closer.

Golfinches are one of my favourite birds and quite common around here.  They love seeds of plants such as groundsel and thistle so if you can leave  patch of these "weeds" somewhere for them they'd be most grateful.  (It's the perfect excuse not to do all the weeding!)

Roofs and Rugby

I know my last post was not one of my best but I didn't think it was that bad that 'Blogger' had to remove it!!!! Well in fact 'Blogger' had a breakdown and posts disappeared, including mine. Apparently it is all up and running again and posts that flew of into the 'ether-net' have been restored - I think not in my case.

Outbuilding Roof

Anyway, what I had been posting about - until I was rudely interrupted - was that I have, at long, last recommenced work on the old bakery outbuilding.  This meant removing the temporary roofing I had put up and putting the timbers in place for the new sheeting.  This has not gone too badly, so far, but does mean that the freezers are now not covered (well except for some old tarpaulins) - so we did wonder if this will make it rain.  We need the rain but I am hoping it will stay off so I can get this building back to a usable state as we, believe it or not, need that space back for storage.

La Crunch Rugby Tournament

 At the moment the weekends seem to be taken up with a number of Rugby Tournaments. So I have been taxi-ing the boys round to various parts of the area for matches.  The club does have a bus to take the boys to the various tournaments but usually by the time I've driven them to the club and then have to pick them up later it is quicker to take them direct.

Today was an exception and I went, with Tom and Ben, on the club bus to Argentan.   Going was quite pleasant and an enjoyable afternoons rugby was had.  Then the return trip. Yes, the joys of 30 young lads singing  rugby songs. Singing maybe too kind a word to use, to which my ears will testify to.  They are still ringing from the assault they received.   And it was probably lucky I couldn't understand the words - although the tunes sounded vaguely familiar!                                            

Porcine Fun

Posted by Rosie

Charlotte the Pig regularly comes out and about for a wander and generally she is a very well behaved young lady.  OK, so occasionally she has a dip in the duck paddling pool and sometimes she needs rescuing from the farmer's field next door:

and sometimes she thinks she is a dog and should be taken for a walk:

and sometimes she thinks she is a chef.  "Mmmmm, what's cooking then?"  

Actually thinking about it, she's not that well behaved is she?

Stuck Duck

Well I got through the other way!

Yesterday whilst checking the ducks water I noticed that Hilda's eggs had hatched.  We were not really expecting anything until the middle of next week so it was a bit of a surprise.  Being a protective mum it was difficult to count how many eggs had hatched (we did find one duckling dead).

Today I looked in on the ducklings to find one, well and truly, stuck in the fencing.  It had got it's wings through but it's bottom was too big - so NO going forward or back!  I tried to help but with mum pecking my fingers it was an impossible task.  Help was needed.

So aided with gloves and wire cutters and a gite guest (Rosie was out) armed with a stick a renewed rescue attempt was made. Mum still managed to get me a couple of times but with a stick as an added distraction I was able to cut the duckling out and reunite it with it's mother.  I think that was a hiss of appreciation she gave me!

Whilst Hilda was 'assisting' me, we had a chance to count the ducklings and we are pretty certain there are eleven. Hopefully we can get a proper look tomorrow.

Old and Noisy!

A friend of ours had an old Rotavator gathering dust in his garage and said we could have it.  Having cleaned it up and carried out a basic service on it I eventually got the engine to run.  That was stage one.

Stage two was to get replacement drive belts for it which I did this week. So now the rotor blades turned.  The third stage was to fit an exhaust to it.  The one on it was completely rusted and useless.  My friend gave me an exhaust with it but not the same so I had to cobble it on to the outlet - rather makeshift and on the first attempt in shook off.  I have now managed to get it fixed on to stay (at the moment), therefore, it runs quite a bit quieter.

So yesterday afternoon and today I have been shaken around the vegetable garden and part of one of the pigs enclosure trying to get it all turned before the rain that had been forecast.  We had fenced off part of the pig enclosure thinking it would be a good idea to grow some winter feed for them and also let it weed over for them to eat through later in the year and then swap halves.  So now that is ready to plant up, but we need the rain.
 
Well it's now all turned over and the machine was definitely a bit old, noisy and hard work, especially on the upper arms and shoulders, but it's done the trick.  Now bring on the rain!

The Polytunnel in April

Posted by Rosie

Yes, I know it's May but my very last minute jolly to the UK meant I didn't have time to write this before I went.  Sorry.

April has been a month of great activity in the Polytunnel.  With the sun shining almost all month, temperatures inside have on several occasions risen up to the 50 degrees C mark - and that's WITH the doors open.  At night in contrast they have dropped as low as freezing point and early in the month I was out at 1am covering the most tender plants as there was an unexpected sharp frost.  Hopefully now the risk of frost has gone.  It is however the heat not the cold that has claimed victims this month - the early sowing of turnips, the rocket, the overwintering spinach and all the oriental vegetables except for the pak choy went to seed almost overnight as temperatures rose.  Never mind, they were whipped out and replaced with peppers, tomatoes and aubergines which are all waiting in the wings for places to go as other crops are harvested/finish.  

So what am I harvesting to give me much needed space?  Lettuces, mangetout, chard and broad beans are all giving us lovely fresh dinners - the peas are also starting to swell and we had the first new potatoes tonight (although of course that really should be in next months update!).  I reckon the first of the summer cabbages and the pak choy will be ready soon and the strawberries are beginning to redden.

It's lovely to see the polytunnel so full although this does give me a bit of a headache as I wander round with various trays of plants wondering where on earth I am going to transplant them.  It makes ultimately for a somewhat dishevelled appearance as I slot things in any available space but then who is complaining when you lunch was chard and mangetout with a home-produced poached egg and your dinner was the freshest and newest of new potatoes.

First Tasting - Nettle Beer 2011 Vintage

Nettle Beer

This evening I am having the first proper tasting of my home made nettle beer. And I can tell you it's going down a bomb!  Beautiful and clear, definitely taste the nettle.

I say proper tasting - whilst bottling there was a little left over - about half a pint.  Still cloudy and bits of sediment in it.  I used this for a taster and not too bad. I found Rosie in the garden talking to the father of our neighbouring farmer and the farmer's three sons.  So the taste test was on.  Rosie was not very keen nor was Ben.  Tom liked it.  Now we are up against the makers of cider and Calvados - the challenge was on.

Whilst the farmer's mother carried on raking, the glass was handed round. First up Maurice (farmer's father) and it's a yes, he likes it. Then the 3 sons all take a taste and it's another 3 likes, although I think one was being polite.  Farmer's mother arrives - possibly wondering why she is working whilst her husband and grandsons are not.  Is she up for a tasting - 'mai oui'.

Well luckily there wasn't anyone else for a taste - bright eyed the glass was handed back.  Empty!  I think I may be delivering a bottle to them soon.

Cheers

And pleese note any misteaks in this post could be down to the Nettle Beer 2011 Vintage

It Rained Today!

Not So Innocent

Rosie will be pleased.  It actually rained today - light but steady.  Water butts filling up nicely.  I'm pleased because it means I have to do less watering!

And even 'The Firkin Cat' has been helping with the lack of water.  There he was on the worktop next to the sink doing the washing up.  My breakfast cereal bowl was licked cleaned.  Ummm thanks Firkin!!!