How to have an Eco-Friendly Autumn

Leaves, the temperature and rain are falling. Summer has gone and autumn is here. As the season changes read on to find out how you can make your autumn Eco-friendly.

How to have an Eco-Friendly Autumn

1. Clothes

It can be all too easy to buy new clothes for the new season but even sustainable fashion items come with a cost to the environment, especially if you don't actually need any new items.  First of all head to your wardrobe and see what you already have.

• Get out your sewing machine and re-purpose existing clothes into new ones.
• Make your own clothes - learn to knot, sew or crochet.
• Get together with a group of friends and have a clothes swap party.
• If you do need new clothes then buy "new to you" from second hand stores and online.
• If buying totally new go for quality clothes made from natural materials in a timeless style that will last the test of time.
• If you have clothes you really don't want and can't give to friends downgrade them to something else such as cleaning cloths. T-Shirt bags or use them in the garden to protect plants.  This post has 7 ideas to keep clothes out of landfill.

What fruit and veg is in season when

I am sure a lot of you may well have made eating more fruit and veg one of your goals for 2018.  I wonder, though, if you have thought about how it is best for you (and the environment) if you are eating fresh seasonal produce.

What is seasonal produce? 

If you are eating "Seasonal Produce" it means you will be eating fruit and veg that is naturally at its best.   It will have grown outside and generally not too far from where you live.  For this reason it will taste great and have the highest possible nutritional value.  Also, if you are eating out of season produce it will have either been grown abroad (racking up food miles) or in heated greenhouses (racking up energy costs).

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in March

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in February

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in January

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

Weekly Green Tips #31 - 7 ways to tempt you outside in winter

Week 31 - Tempting you outside in winter

As the seasons move forwards it can be harder to get outside once winter arrives along with its often miserable weather and short daylight hours.  However it is well known that getting outside has many positive benefits such as reducing stress and combating illness, creating a positive outlook on life and helping us to think clearly.  And all these have advantages for our environment.  Not being ill means we are not pulling on medical resources, having  a positive outlook on life and good thought processing capabilities helps us to make the right decisions which will help the environment.

But what if you are not an outdoor person.  How can you be temped to step outside when your urge is to hide under the duvet and watch the latest box set on TV?  Here are some ideas that might help.

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in October

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in June

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in May

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sale outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

• It will have the best and freshest taste.
• It will have a higher nutritional value.
• It is good for the environment as it will have low food low miles and less energy will have been used than glass-grown plants to produce it.
• As a result it will be cheaper.
• Finally, as a consumer, you will get seasonal variety and the excitement of the first taste of a just in-season food is hard to beat.  A strawberry in winter may look appetising but it has minimal taste compared to a summer one.

Veg, Fruit and Foraged Foods in Season in April

What is seasonal food? 

If you grow your own vegetables the packet will tell you when you can expect to harvest the crop and this is when it is in season.  If you see vegetables for sales outside of this time then they are not in season and may well have been imported or grown under heat in a greenhouse.

Why eat seasonal food?

Food that is in season has many advantages over imported food or that grown under cover:

Polytunnel Progress

Since writing about coming out of hibernation last week I could quite easily have headed back to bed this last week and not surfaced.  The temperature dropped below freezing and we woke to a light covering of snow on 2 mornings and frozen hail on a third, none of which puts me in the mood to garden.  BUT, having posted my polytunnel to do list last week and concious that time waits for no man or woman, I ignored the call of the warmth and got on with that list.  "How did you get on?" I hear you ask.  Well ... 

• Clear dead plants - YES
• Weed through onions and other crops -YES
• Water sparingly as necessary- YES
• Manure cleared areas, dig in and water- YES
• Tidy up cold frame- YES
• Tidy work station- YES
• Set up my new min-max thermometer - NOT YET
• Clear the central path - NO
• Wash the polytunnel plastic - NO
• If the weather permits sow mangetout, spring lettuce, broad beans - TOO COLD
• Keep harvesting what's in there - calvolo nero, chard, parsley, oriental greens - YES

Most of that "stuff" is now out away in my working station

A much tidier polytunnel than I had last week!

Weeded onions behind cleared and manured soil

A tidy work station next to my broad beans

You know what, I'm pretty pleased with what I've achieved and as the weather is set to be less cold over the next few days I may well get those seeds sown.  I also went through my seed stash, chucking out those which don't keep well and starting to decide what to grow this year.

Seeds

I still have no idea what was munching my chard except to say, it is now us (very yummy it was too) and it looks like very soon we will be eating one of my all time favourite vegetables - Purple Sprouting Broccoli.  Usually this is ready much later as I don't plant a very early variety, preferring to have it crop in March when other winter veg is finishing.  Looks like Mother Nature has different ideas this year.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Despite the frost and snow my brave English marigold is still flowering and there is even a new flower bud.  I'd like to think I've managed to grow the first frost-hardy, winter flowering marigold that will make me my fortune but as I have seen others around locally, I suspect it is more to do with the overall mild weather than a freak of genetics.  Oh well, back to the drawing board then!

English Marigold - Calendula vulgaris

Other signs of Spring are out there too.  Catkins are dancing in the breeze, reminding me of lamb's tails and bluebells and orchid leaves are peeping through the cold soil.  The snowdrops are in flower under the hedge and those daffodils I planted so late last year are just peeping through.  Winter may yet bring us his worst weather but Spring is stirring.

Leaf whorls of Early Purple Orchids - Orchis mascula

How has your gardening week been or are you still hibernating?   Annie from Mammasaurus was in Poland so I am hopeful for garden pictures from there this week on How Does Your Garden Grow. 

Sunrise in Normandy - Dec 20th 2105

In Normandy, the later part of 2015 has seen some fabulous sunsets to the point that with another fantastic evening light show the boys may just have yelled "Not MORE photos, Mum?!"

The mornings have not been without their moments too,  but often I have been in the car or feeding animals and I have not been able to snap the dawn glory.  Yesterday, however I was both up early (on a Saturday!) and had my camera to hand - there was no school run and the animals could wait as this sunset that was brightening up the sky needed photographing.

More orange and purple than red I am hoping it is not a portent to bad weather ... the forecast would seem to think not with the mild and dry spell set to continue and shepherds need not worry.

How is your December weather and have you had some sunrises worth getting up for?  Do tell.

A Normandy Garden - 4 seasons in one day

Today's garden pictures are from a cottage in Lenault which belongs to friends and where Simon and I have been working today.  We were busy chipping branches that had been cut from overgrown trees and as I dragged them to Simon and the chipper I was amazed to see how much colour was still in the garden was and how each season seemed to be present.

Summer was there in these geraniums still in flower and still putting our new leaves and buds:

For autumn a whole wall of hydrangeas was there to cheer my aching limbs (who knew how heavy tree branches can get after a few hours!) ...

 

Winter would not be winter without holly, although sadly this one did not have any berries:

Oh and logs for a winter fire:

And with the amazingly mild weather we are still having (14ºC yesterday) some spring flowers are a bit ahead of themselves:

Greater Perwinkle - Vinca major

Elephant Ears - Bergenia

Primroses - Primula spp

How is your garden growing - how many seasons can you find out there?  As many as we have here in Normandy?

18 December Gardening Tips

Hello December!

Officially December marks the start of winter and the time possibly, of least work for the gardener.  Don't think, though, that you can totally give up on your garden and if, like me, you grow fruit and veg there is still plenty you can do in the garden this month.  And hopefully still lots to harvest.

December jobs in the Vegetable and Fruit Garden

Vegetables and Fruit

• If your soil is not frozen or waterlogged you can dig over areas adding manure.  Covering the soil with mulch or weed suppressing fabric will stop any weeds growing in mild weather. 

Manure added and waiting to be covered with fabric

• Check stored vegetables and fruit for signs of rot
• Create trenches where you want to sow beans and add kitchen compost and/or well rotted manure
• Plant garlic and shallots if your soil is not waterlogged or frozen/covered in snow
• Keep harvesting but if heavy frost or snow is forecast then dig up a supply of winter veg (parsnips, leeks etc) for continuity of supply.
• Prune fruit trees
• Take hardwood cuttings of fruit bushes such as redcurrants and gooseberries
• Split rhubarb crowns  

Leeks, re-sprouted cabbage tops and brussels

Winter cabbage

Chard and self seeded parsley

Polytunnel

• Clean the polytunnel plastic
• Check for overwintering pests and outbreaks of mould on plants
• Ventilate on sunny days
• Sow broad beans, mangetout, oriental vegetables and winter lettuce.

Generally

• Have a good tidy up but remember to leave some wood piles etc for wildlife to shelter under
• Feed the birds - they are one of your best allies when it comes to eating garden pests later in the growing year
• Pack away hose pipes and lag taps to prevent frost damage
• Keep off the grass when it is frozen
• Repair any fences and vegetable supports
• Get in seed catalogues and start planning what you're going to grow next year.

And finally

Even if you can't do much by way of gardening, try and get outside and enjoy the winter garden.  Take some frosty photos, draw up plans for any garden changes and enjoy what winter has to offer at a time when the gardening pressure is off a bit.  Visit open gardens those that are not closed and you may well find you have the place to yourself.

Oh and smell the flowers ... 

There may not be the abundance of floral offerings that comes with summer's warmth but there are flowers out there.  And don't be fooled, they may not be as showy as their summer cousins but what they lack in looks they sure make up for with scent.  All these plants are in flower in winter and all have a scent that is sure to lift your spirits, what-ever the weather: 

Viburnum × bodnantense - arrowwood
Vivurnum tinus - laurustinus 
Hamamelis × intermedia - witch hazel

Sarcococca x confusa

Sarcococca x confusa

Sarcococca x confusa

Daphne bholua -Nepalese paper plant or Daphne

Chimonanthus praecox - wintersweet
Sarcococca confusa - Sweet box

Viburnun tinus (picture from Wikiperdia because mine was out of focus!)

Oh and a few sneaky flowers are still being very showy like here, on the gite windowsill, with these lovely winter flowering violas.

 

Have you plans to get out in the garden this month and have you any more jobs I could add to my list?  Why not wander on over to the How Does Your Garden Grow link up and see what other hardy gardeners are up to this December. 

November is still blooming in Normandy

Autumn's colourful mantle is fast falling from tree to ground but close your eyes and the warmth on your face this week could easily trick you into thinking it was September or May.  Autumn has been very kind to to the flowers this year and there are still plenty to be seen here in Normandy, despite the fact it is now November.

Pink geranium - Pelagonium spp

English marigolds - Calendula officinalis

French marigolds - Tagetes patula

Fuchsia - Fuchsia magellanica

Sweet marjoram - Origanum majorana

White dead nettle - Lamiun album

There are still vegetables to be harvested, the weeds they are a-growing and I'll need to get the mower out again very soon.  18ºC in November is so warm.  Will we pay for nature's clemency later on?  Interestingly, (well I think so) when we moved here in 2007 we had a very mild, first winter.  All through that autumn and winter a few primroses were in flower down the valley and there were plenty of leaves to be seen.  This year there are none.  No leaves and certainly no flowers.  Does our friend Primula vulgaris know something we don't?  Are we in for a hard winter?  What do you think?

8 reasons to visit Normandy in Winter

I may have said this before but a holiday is not just for summer.  Winter breaks, and I am not talking skiing, can be just as fun and give you a real boost in the darker time of year.  If you are wondering where to go, then might I suggest Normandy?  Come and stay in our gite - Eco-Gites of Lenault.

8 Reasons to Visit Normandy in Winter

Winter walks

Wrap up warm, done your wellies or walking boots and head out for a winter walk.  A huge network of paths start right from the gite's back gate taking you through stunning countryside whatever the season.  With no leaves on the trees the wildlife can be easier to spot and you may be lucky to catch sight of red squirrels, deer, hares as well as birds a plenty.

Eco-Gites of Lenault is also only an hour from the beach if you fancy a seaside stroll to blow away the cobwebs ... maybe you'd even be as brave as the boys and go for a winter dip.  Would you?

Less crowded tourist sites

Many of Normandy's main tourist sites are open virtually all year including Mont St Michel, The Bayeux Tapestry, Falaise Castle (closed Jan) and towns such as Honfleur, Deauville and Caen will all be much quieter with fewer tourists around.  I have been to the Tapestry in Bayeux in summer when I queued for a hour to get in and was pushed round at quite a speed by the crowds and then in winter when I walked straight in and could admire the Tapestry at my leisure.  I know which visit I preferred.

Do always check opening times, though, as a few places close for winter maintenance and many have shorter opening hours.

Shopping

Why not visit Normandy for a pre-Christmas break and stock up on French Christmas presents?  You will find delightful markets where you can buy from local artisans and in towns the shops windows are beautifully decorated.  You could take home local cider or Calvados, French cheeses to adorn your festive cheese board and any number of other local food delicacies.

 
After Christmas you have the winter sales (soldes d’hiver).  In France shops are legally obliged to runs sales from a specific dates starting in January for 6 weeks.  You'll find some fabulous bargains with much stock reduced by 30-50% and often as much as 70%.  Stores are not allowed to bring specific stock on for the sales and so the reductions will be on merchandise that was already for sale in the preceding weeks/months.  It really can be a fabulous tome to pick up some fantastic bargains on everything from clothes to DIY supplies.

Food

Just because it is winter most restaurants* will still be open and you will have no difficulties getting a reservation at your favourite.  You can also treat yourself a typically French January dessert of a galette des rois.  Traditionally this desert is served on January 6th but it is available to buy all through January and consists of a double payer of buttery puff pastry with a almond paste sandwiched between the two.  

The reason it is even more special is on account of the small fève hidden inside.  A fève is a broad bean seed which used to be hidden in the galette but has been replaced by a small figurine nestled in the paste.  Who-ever gets the slice with the fève inside becomes King or Queen for the day and gets to wear the crown that is always supplied with the galette.  Whilst all supermarkets sell these desserts I would recommend paying a bit more and getting one from a local bakery as the quality will be infinitely better.  Our local bakers in the next village (Aux Delices De Saint Pierre) has recently come under new management and their bread and cakes are superb.  I know where I will be buying my galettes des rois this January coming!  Oh and if you are not keen on almonds most places also sell fruit versions.

*Our local pizzeria in Lenault (yes, we now have a pizzeria in the village called La Table des 2Ifs) is not open in the winter but book yourself a trip here from April onwards and it will be for Saturday evening and Sunday lunchtime pizzas.

Events

Normandy does not close down for winter and there are still lots of events, exhibitions and festivals taking place.   How about an evening tour of the villages and town taking part in the Christmas illuminations or The Granville Festival in February?  Many towns like Falaise also have pre-Christmas firework displays.

Cheaper Travel

If you are travelling to France from the UK then ferry and train prices will be less than in peak summer period.  Don't forget that we have a code to give you up to 20% off with Brittany Ferries and if you are bring a dog then some of their ferries into Le Havre have dog friendly cabins.  The roads will also be very quiet so you will have no queues going through the tolls. 

Warming wood burner

With night falling early and after your walk, you have the perfect excuse to curl up in front of the wood burner with your favourite drink.  You can watch a film, play a board game, read a good book (or a really trashy one!) and totally relax .... remember too that with the hour difference between France and the UK if you are used to it falling dark at 4pm, here in Normandy that won't happen until 5pm so you can make that walk a bit longer if you want.

Lambs

Our sheep are due to give birth in late winter and who can resist seeing adorable lambs when on holiday?

If you want to take advantage of a trip to Normandy in Winter, Eco-Gites of Lenault is open all year to warmly welcome guests.  A week will set you back just £360 which for 5 people works out at only £10 per person per night.   For couples we also offer a discount of 15% if only 2 people stay (which can include an infant under 12 months).

Please click here to visit our website or send us an email for more information by clicking here.