The English Paysanne

With  farmer J not back until Monday afternoon the morning was spent hosting a Neal Yard party, such lovely smells and products its hard to choose what is needed. Face masks and hand massages were enjoyed along with coffee and cake.  The last of last years logs have now been stacked under cover ready for next year with space now made for logs to be chopped and stacked in their place. Figs have now started to ripen as they don't last long once picked but seem to freeze well a grand picking session will have to be done as well as making jam, enjoying them fresh with granola and yogurt and baking them with cinnamon. Along with figs blackberries have started to be picked for the freezer, wine and steeping in whisky, a time consuming job completed on dog walks (although its a bit of a fight with Franklin as to who picks them first), animal care and jobs to be done. As well as blackberries sloes and rose hips need to be collected, not sure what is the...

The extension to the veggie patch was weeded with the shed emptied of mud from where piglets had lived for a short time, so much encrusted mud was inside the shed it took farmer J a morning with a crow bar and hammer chipping away as I placed it over the earth to be rotovated.(the green bit by the shed has been left due to big tree roots, this is going to be made into a refuge for us, images of seating, fridge and stove appear in my head with a house for the dogs where we can spend a little free time - bit like a holiday! I had a go at rotovating with the rotovator, which after having a life of its own farmer J had to take over. Sunflowers have been planted along the fence, its now ready to be planted before the weeds start to grow.  I have weeded a little in the veggie patch, now I can see rows of beetroot and parsnips its a little easier. We have had a bit of rain and sun so the weeds have grown a bit more - next week it will be weeded and tidied(in my dreams) ...

A moment from the week at  La Singlarie Sandy and her three day old piglets

Sandy was suppose to of given birth a month ago after a visit to champion the boar. After she came home with a smile on her face and without coming into season  plus the eating she began to gain weight, sure signs of pregnancy. As we counted the 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days no piglets came, she looked rounder but no sign.  Each day after farmer J would say "when Sandy" and she would look back, her teats began to fill another definite sign but still no babies after a month of waiting she produced milk, this we thought was not going to turn out happy, thinking they would be still born with her body going through the motions, a waiting game. Then this morning, at normal feeding time I was gobsmacked to find ten little piglets, just born feeding already. Running back to get my camera farmer J thought something awful had happened. Each time I have visited today they have been feeding with no apparent runts they are a good size and hopefully Sandy has got enough ...

 Monday at the spinning and weaving group I learnt how to ply wool using the Navajo technique, using a single thread making it into 3 ply, useful when you only have one bobbin or want lovely mixed coloured wool from blended wool batts (wool that has not been spun) Sandy it turns out is not pregnant. As she has been fed pregnant sow rations she is now just a tad over weight, back on normal pig size feeds she is being closely watched for when and if she comes into season. The first of the seasons broad beans have been eaten. Next year I think I will double the allotted broad bean patch as they seem so easy to grow here ( I probably shouldn't say that as some pest will probably enjoy munching them soon) Sadly our old mallard duck didn't come back to the barn at evening time, I like to think he flew down to the Aveyron river to find a lady friend or he made it up to the top of the hill had to have a rest after a long climb and fell asl...

 Sandy has now been moved to the birthing suite, she is due to farrow very soon although at the moment apart from a bigger tummy is showing no signs of piglets on the way, only hoping she hasn't been eating too many pies.  The day old chicks are now a month old and looking very different with their feathers. this is their panic pose when you enter the pen. Tomorrow they are going to be let outside now they are big enough not to escape through the wire fence.  The cows have moved fields a few times now, although there is plenty of grass in the rest of this field they seem to think they should stay in the mud. A ploy for a sympathy vote to be moved again to pasture new as the grass is always greener on the other side. a Another pair who are sulking due to being evicted from the poly tunnel are Vanille and Bambo, rather than sheltering under the trees they stay out looking like sad donkeys waiting for a passing carrot at pig feeding time. They are having d...

A moment from the week

Farmer J's younger brother and two boys came to stay for a stop over before heading to the Pyrenees. Tuesday afternoon a picnic was packed for a trip to the river at Garde Viaur. This is where we send our gite guests, it's a lovely spot with shallow banks for paddling and deeper parts for swimming. The water is very clean with shady spots on the green bank for relaxing. The cows finished eating down our top field and small hay field where an electric fence was rigged up for them to pass between the two, making feeding the pigs a bit of a assault course climbing under the electric fence. Now moved over the road and happy to be on new pasture. Franklin has been sleeping a lot lately as well as drinking loads of water and weeing, a trip to the vets he was diagnosed with diabetes. He spent Wednesday in a cage having his blood levels checked regularly and is now having daily injections until Monday week  when his booked in again or a re check to see if the ...

Sandy is now in her third month of pregnancy. She has been feeling the heat so her wallow has been replenished with water often. We've had a few days of tipping her water trough over and throwing the feed bucket around (with her food in it). Going off her food, a few tasty treats mixed in seems to of done the trick. Her taste buds have kicked in again now there just doesn't seem enough food in it these days, maybe a hole has appeared? Just have to eat weeds. Now at the stage of her abdomen swelling, she is starting to appear wider. With three weeks and three days to go (pregnancy lasts 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, more or less) the entrance to her hut needs to be sorted out by placing large stones, filling in with smaller ones and covering with earth. Sandy didn't think about how tiny piglets would get in and out again when doing a bit of earth excavation, a piggy past time that our pigs are so good at.