The English Paysanne

 The weather turned today, wet and cold with snow forecasted tonight (we won't get it as it misses our sheltered valley) but it it chilly tonight. So with Christmas nearly here and the Grinch still being Grinchy and not paying for a tree we made a secret trip in the land rover over to the pine woods below us where Sorrel and I have a daily walk (or run depending if deer and wild boar have passed by) where I have been eyeing up a suitable tree. The Christmas ones of past years all looked a bit bare of limbs and once a few baubles are added said limbs would be dropping to the floor and each year Freya complains of have thin trees. So this year I found a spiky one (that had been planted) so sorry Mr woodmen  but I made farmer J chop one of your trees down. Hopefully you won't miss it too much as you don't really look after them, which if you did would help my walking off track so much easier than fighting through the brambles in tow of a long line with a dog o...

 Having picked and re picked blackberries along the edges of our fields we ventured further afield to the woods not that far from us. A old dog walking haunt we haven't been over here for a couple of years, the old path had grown considerably, not good for blind dogs it turned into extreme berry picking for blackberries, rose hips and sloes. All having vicious thorny plants I'm not sure which was worse to pick. With our booty home sloes for sloe gin, rose hips for syrup and blackberries for farmer J's wine. The blackberries were put in the freezer, he needs 11kg so they are frozen in dribs and drabs until the required amount is collected, however miss F and I did hide some for crumbles which he doesn't know about. With one batch of sloe gin doing its thing I started another as it does go down very nicely in the winter months and one just didn't seem enough. Whether it will last for next year we shall see, each day they are stirred with the spoon lic...

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...

 With mixed weather of sun and rain mornings have looked like this, normally Autumnal weather leaves beautiful mists in the valley but this year it has been the coolest and wettest summer since we moved here nearly ten years ago.  Wednesday morning when feeding the pigs we only had six in a enclosure when there should be seven, overnight we lost one. Normally there is evidence of an escape - digging under the electric fence, the fence out of its hooks, hoof prints and earth dug up as they forage but there was no signs at all. It's just vanished. To find a black small pig where we are surrounded by woods is a bit like searching for a needle in a hay stack, we are hoping its still near, neighbours heard pig noises yesterday evening so it may find its way back. Empty enclosures have been left open with food and bread ( the bread has gone?). Sandy our sow went missing for four days when we first got her after being scared of the other two sows she came to us with return...

We have woken up each morning to amazing coloured skies Have enjoyed amazing weather mid 20's each day and ate lunch outside all week. Enjoyed seeing changes of the season on dog walks.                                               Collected chestnuts for us and the pigs. Dug up the artichokes in the veggie patch for Gorgon to enjoy. The sheep were moved to new pasture. Saturday morning was spent moving the cattle to ear tag the new calf who turns out to be VERY lively, this involved temporary electric fencing, herding whole herd into hanger, getting them in, locked down to eat hay (especially mum) while calf was lassoed to have ear tags put in place.                                            ...

I finished my wall hanging project for my show and tell at the spinners and weavers group I belong to. I tweaked   this  pattern adding more stitches and rows and a pair of ears. The only animal eyes i could find were  €4,60, a tad expensive so I opted two black buttons. The frame was found at the recycle shop , material needs to be tweaked a bit to make it tighter but I am pretty pleased at the way he has turned out. On the farm sadly disabled chicken passed away in her sleep, she was pretty old and had a free range life so a nice way to go in the end. Three of the cattle went down with foot rot, caused by a bacteria found in the soil which enters via a cut. Makeing their feet painful to walk on and swell so a course of two antibiotic injections for each has cleared it up. Being organic antibiotics is not what we normally use, the last being back in Dec 2012 so we are pretty lucky to have a healthy herd. To stop more cases they were moved to a new field...

Our hour long french lesson went on for an extra half hour today, engrossed in the topic that is on many a locals mind at the moment the wild mushroom.                                                                      Not edible You are a cherecher des champignons when you are specifically mushroom gathering or  a ramasscer if you go out walking and so happen to find a few fungi en route. Some are 'etre doue' to be gifted in hunting. Some specimens brought in were edible some not, with 3 categories of comestible, toxique et mortel. It all depends on the shape,texture, gilles and colour. It seems the locals are only interested in the best tasting, that being ceps, girolles (chanterelles), trumpet de morte (trumpet of death) and pied du mutton (hedgehog)           ...