The English Paysanne

It wasn't me, I wasn't there, she (Sorrel) egged me on, how can you tell ? Franklin has been back to his old ways of counter surfing,well not so much counter although he was caught lifting a half bag of sugar of the side -not good if your diabetic. It has been more like surfing around the kitchen looking in open cupboards and under worktop storage. Yesterday he had a packet of beetroot half eaten by the time I got to him, he didn't realise there would be tell tell signs of pink juice on his paws - caught you in the act Franklin. Today I came into the kitchen to find the big bag of flour which sits at the end of the isle counter had been attacked, bits of torn off brown paper around it. Now I would of blamed Sorrel and Franklin would of let her be blamed if it wasn't for the white tell tell signs. now when you add flour and saliva you get a kind of glue like substance which requires lots of licking, the photos show as his head kept moving. better luck next...

The weekend was spent dismantling the 25 meter poly tunnel which we erected around 9 years ago. The past couple of years it hasn't been used, apart from shelter for the donkeys and keeping the pigs cereal dry. It was just to much work to keep growing veg in it and in summer too hot as the only free time to work in there was in the mid day heat - not good for an  English rose. So plastic was dug out from one half and kept for the other as part of it was to remain. When it was erected there was six of us bringing it down there was two, with the metal frame wobbling at times it finally came down leaving the four wooden poles of the end where a wooden frame was once attached with metal poles tied on. The frame has been moved to the silage pit to make a 20 meter tunnel to house the machinery. Metal posts are being cut to size ready for collection on Wednesday. Farmer J has driven to local garages collecting oil drums which will be filled with concrete (I spoke to ...

A moment from the week at La Singlarie Walking the cattle to their next field.Thankfully they were very well behaved as eight leads would of got into a terrible tangle. (Three with the dogs is bad enough)

I can thankfully say i had nothing to do with this part of extending the hanger. The whole concrete making of shovelling gravel, adding cement and water, mixing which I equate to making a cake and emptying it into a barrow (putting the mixture in a large tin) has passed me by and what a relief it was.  luckily our neighbour who has the digger is incredibly adept as picking up the gravel with his bucket placing it in his huge cement mixer. I was made redundant and so happy with the decision. For I would like to think my heavy building work days are finished. After making so many barrows of concrete for the gites and later the bases for the sows cabins I am hanging up my apron. The only part i did take at the end was clearing up the empty cement bags and praying that a certain cute kitten didn't end up getting stuck in the wet concrete. While it hardens off we have moved onto the next stage (in between other jobs) of dismantling the poly tunnel ready for i...

Tempete may of used one of his nine lives up after finding a container used by farmer J when working on the tractor with the remnants of old diesel in it. His now beginning to explore his new base in the hanger, which is getting him into trouble. Two washes later and a wet kitten he was more or less good as new but didn't thin much of water and soap - not so cute now Tempete !

A moment from the week at La Singlarie Kitten attack

This concrete structure was used to store silage made on the farm for the dairy cows. The last time it was full of wet grass was twelve years ago. We do not make silage, it is very time consuming and needs lots of man power to work as quickly as you can cutting collecting and preparing the grass in the pit by compressing it with a tractor. It is then covered with black plastic and tyres, lots of tyres. The whole lot can be ruined if it's not properly stored making it unpalatable for the cows to eat. It is also not very organic with the amount of plastic and tyres used and as our cows are outside on grass all year with hay fed  in the winter they thrive without it. So for the past years the pit has been used for storing stone and rubble from when the building work started, so much stone and concrete that was removed from inside the barn and around it. Over the years some stones and rubble of various size has been used for structural flooring of the sows cabins, holes...