The English Paysanne

We're on a short break in Mazamet so text will follow shortly as my samsung 7 inch is :(too small for my chubby fingers to hit the right keys. We saw a few rocks today.... We also picked up a hunting dog lost on the road, who is now back home with her hunter

Minervois today                                                                The drive back to Mazamet 

A moment from the week at La Singlarie New students learning car mechanics.

Emilie, our first calf to born at La Singlarie back in September 2005, just over a year after we brought the farm gave birth to her calf of 2014 this afternoon.  She is a gentle cow and a wonderful mother. The calf half Limousin like its mum and half Charolais is, farmer J thinks a female. Emilie was calm enough for us to take photos from a short distance as the calf was up and has suckled they have been left to bond together. This evening all the herd welcomed the new member who is already walking and prancing around. Farmer J's going to have to get those ear tags in very soon over the next couple of days as this looks a lively calf who may just give him the run around.

A moment from the week at La Singlarie I didn't make him.

Last January for farmer J's birthday I brought him a home brewing kit , firstly because in his dreams he wants a micro brewery and secondly there is only one type of British beer, Spitfire sold at the supermarket and a little expensive it is.  Yes there are many Belgium and French beers but there alcohol content is far higher (and they are not quiet like an English beer on a Sunday, apparently) plus brewing your own works out far cheaper although don't take into account the number of bottles of beer needed to be drunk in order to be able to reuse them! In order to make the beer it has to be kept at a constant temperature while it is fermenting so its had to wait a while as only the past fortnight has it been keeping at 19 degrees in the bathroom, the heater was on for a few days when temperature got down a bit and a beery smell started to take over the bathroom but today it was bottled. Lots of washing, sterilising, rinsing and draining bottles later and...

This weekend we had both master C and miss F and her partner Flo back for the weekend, Master C left Sunday afternoon and Miss F and Flo this morning but before they did a bit of work was completed. All over the farm we have brambles growing, some are good that give us blackberries, although these  are now beginning to get a bit out of hand and are in need of a harsh cut back the other brambles we have do no give fruit only hard work and torn arms from removing them. They grow to a certain point when we can stand them no longer or they get in the way and look unsightly this is the time we say enough and start to cut them back. Monday morning farmer J started to hack away with his machete the brambles along the road side near our barn to recover an electric cable which they had grown over. In doing so he unearthed old metal farm machinery. Bearing in mind we have now been here ten years this is the first time it had been seen buried under earth (there is a lot...

A moment from the week at La Singlarie Not a domestic goddess bake, maybe a bit of icing sugar will hide the Crater?

One plant that does grow well around the gites and garden and that I don't seem to be able to kill is lavender. In the summer the bushes are swarming with bees, hummingbird moths, butterflies and other flying insects, lot of holiday photos have been taken by keen photographers, some setting up chairs and waiting for ages with big cameras and lenses waiting for the right moment and right insect to land. It does give a lovely show and smell as well, its picked and placed in vases in the gites by guests. Its very tactile and difficult to pass without a rub of a flower that's if you like the smell. I think its very much like marmite you either love it or hate it, a smell of memories of grans and old aunts who use to get given Yardley's old lavender smellies for presents. I like the smell but it can be quiet overpowering, especially when this year I have finally been able to save the dried flowers. Previous years other things have got in the way and its bee...