Rural Life

Day 25 of lockdown - trying to do crafts with a bit of "help"

Although not a bank holiday in France, Good Friday is not a day I work.  Normally I would spend the morning at the expat Hot Cross Bun party in aid of Children in Need, but this year we are all having to do it alone in our own homes.  Nibbles would like to demonstrate good practice in social distancing and isolation.

As the weather is stunning, I thought this afternoon would be a good time to make a start on the new fabric cover for the gazebo.  I made a new cover about 4 years ago now, but sun, bird poo, rutting ladybirds and rotting peaches have all taken their toll and it is probably a greater health hazard than Covid-19.  I use the outdoor dining table as my cutting and sewing table (hence needing nice weather) but others find the area useful as well.  While I was setting up, I had to avoid this.

Surprisingly, it isn't a bad accident between bantam and cats, but a prolonged dust bath in a human trap they have constructed near the table.  Bridie was not moving, so I had to work around her. 

I bought this fabulous material last year, and the turquoise piece is the pattern I made last time round, so I was able to start to pin out the 1m by 1.6m sections.

I'd got four sections done (I need 12) and was working on the next two, when Nibbles decided to help.

I had to give up and come in when Poirot joined in and Zola was making a nest in the fabric on the floor.  I'm hoping they are getting bored while I do this blog and I will be able to another few sections before apero time.

Day 24 of lockdown - a funny thing happened on the way to work

I got stopped and my papers checked by the police today.  I was driving down a tiny back road and they were coming in the opposite direction, and probably assumed I was without the relevant attestations.  We both needed to pull over anyway, as the road was only 1.5 cars wide. 

Windows down - "Madam do you have your attestations?" 

"Yes, officer, several actually!"  So I started with the standard one, where I had ticked the work box -

"You are British Madam?" 

"Um well yes, I am." 

"And what is this work you are going to do?" 

"Well, at a second home, where there is gardening work to be done and cats to be fed, and I've got my employee attestation and a note from the owner and everything." <Gulp!> 

"A second home and cats to be fed?" 

"Yes <gabbling now a bit> and then I've got to go to another second home and mow the lawns there, and I've got the attestations for that too!"

"Ah, Madam, you are going about your professional work, that's fine, have a nice day!"

And off they went.  While I was waving all the other attestations around, they didn't want to see any of them.  Actually the younger cop was nodding happily when I said I was going to feed cats, but I think I've met that one before...  So anyway, I now have confirmation that what I do is right and legal, so that's all good.

So once the cats were fed, I beat the bounds at that property and found three nice spears of asparagus for dinner and the first of the wild orchids to show its flower spike this year.  I photographed it for you, but in a week or so it will be much more dramatic.

Then I went on to the other property and mowed.  There is a lake there, and today I noticed a rather unpleasant and worrying phenomenon on the surface of the lake - look at all that pollen!  I think it is a mix of rape and birch, but the grass won't be too far behind.

A friend shared a photo of her tree peony with me on Facebook, so I am pleased that I did finally remember today to photograph mine, which is now out in front of the house.  It might look a bit weedy, but it has been growing in a pot for about 7 years - I probably ought to repot it once the flowers are over.

And as for that watched orchid that should surely be open by now?  Well this is where we are at today!

 

Day 23 of lockdown - bits and bobs to delight and fright

A couple of days ago I mentioned my orchid that was torturing me with how slowly the flower buds develop and when would the blasted thing open.  Still not open today of course, but getting jolly close - see!

So there I was this morning, standing at a safe distance from the person in front of me and the person behind me in the queue to get into the market at la Flèche.  As I looked around, I noticed a lovely display of flowers - most likely hyacinths that have been around for a few years - on the roof of an outbuilding.  It is probably an old outside loo - my Mum has one very similar in Chinon.  It was so pretty to look at this morning though.

The apply blossom is starting to come out - this spray of flowers is from the Granny Smith tree, which is ahead of the Reine de Reinette.  There are unlikely to be any flowers at all on the Belle de Boskoop.

And finally, I present to you a bowl of eggs.  The big white one is a goose egg - geese are big.  The other three are from our chickens.  That one top left is scary.  Just think about laying that one, boys and girls.

Day 22 of lockdown - more plants

Before I get on to the nice flora related bits of this post, I need to get something off my chest.  Where do self-important Facebook know-it-alls get off and why don't they get slapped down? 

I was looking at the most recent advice from the British Embassy in France about travel documents, and while there were some interesting questions and clarifications, there was also a thread about how the current attestations aren't totally easy for the self-employed, and it can be useful to have a note from your client as well.  Some silly cow offered her opinion, finishing off the comment with "The self-employed should not be working at the moment anyway."  How wrong can you be in one simple statement?  GPs and district nurses here are self-employed in general for example, as are many farmers, lawyers, and all sorts of people who can work from home.  In addition, there are the quasi-emergency services such as electricians, plumbers, people who empty your septic tank, take you to hospital in their taxis - all of whom tend to be self-employed.  Sadly no one from the Embassy had managed to correct that statement in the hour since it was posted, but I hope they get round to it soon!

By the way, the French Government have given clarification as to what the self-employed put on their attestations - and it is perfectly OK.

And having vented and put that rant out there, I am now nicely zen again and would like to show some of the lovely and happy things in the natural world.  First off the quince is just coming out - in my opinion the most beautiful of the fruit blossom, my only worry is that it is about a month early.  But so pretty!

Close inspection of the broad beans shows that they are starting to set - four to six weeks and they will be delicious!

And a technical one.  A few years ago, I wrote this post about a nasty new invasive non-native species, a form of gall wasp that attacked the buds of new growth on sweet chestnuts, deforming leaves, destroying flowers and weakening the tree.  It was all through our One Acre Wood and a client had it on their young chestnut trees - many did not survive, but some did.  There was a quiet release of a targeted predator for the cynips chestnut gall wasp in the area, and it seems to be winning the battle.  On these twigs you can see some of last year's distorted buds which hosted wasp larvae, and you can see beautiful new buds with no galls at all.  There is hope!

Day 21 of lockdown - waiting for an orchid to bloom

First off an update on yesterday's post - we have indeed captured our first Asian hornet "reine fondatrice" or mother of queens.  I got the confirmation this morning.  So that is 10 hornets' nests less this summer, which is something to feel good about.

Anyway, that is our third week of lockdown completed.  The weather has been overcast, cool and wet, so it has felt more constraining today.  Even the baker's was closed, so no trip up for the daily baguette.

Time drags on a day like this, and so little things become important, and you reflect on silly things.  Here is one - a watched pot never boils.  Well yesterday that was certainly true with the broccoli to go with our pot roast chicken - I set it off before preparing the cheese plate, resting the chicken and making the sauce, and when that was all done and the wine opened and tasted, the broccoli still wasn't boiling!  

But more irritating than the broccoli that doesn't boil, is the orchid bud that doesn't burst!  Our first mini-orchid did so well last summer, and I nurtured it and kept it alive (normally I kill them very quickly), but then the flowers faded and died (after 4 months, so not unsurprising), and I thought that was it.  I went away for a few days in January, and when I got back I found tiny new flower buds forming and got all excited.  Then as each got to half a pea size, they turned brown and dropped off.  A new way to break my heart.  So when this lot of buds started, I wasn't convinced, but it is bigger than half pea size, it isn't turning brown - can it please hurry up and open!!??

Day 20 of lockdown - the battle with the Asian hornet

Before we get onto that - just a reminder of how on edge people are.  A banal but heated discussion between someone with a right to park in the shared courtyard, and someone else whose right is pretty well non-existent escalated into a heated exchange between four neighbours yesterday evening.  One person with nothing to do with the conversation got right in there and started hurling accusations around in a very heated manner.  Now while I admit that the person in question would beat herself up if put in a paper bag on her own, it is evidence of the short fuse people are on, and when given the opportunity to get stuck into something that is non-Covid-19 related, will do just that.  Walk away people!  It ruined a lovely evening.

But on to more interesting things - the fight against the Asian hornet.  Before anyone says anything about "nature", these are an invasive non-native species that can eat their way through a hive of honey bees in about a week.  There is no up side to them.  We were recruited in February to be part of an "observatoire", made up of 56 sites across our district, to try to trap queens in the period up to mid-May when they are laying and nurturing the queens that will create the big nests of the summer.  Stopping one queen now prevents between 10 and 20 nests of hornets later in the summer, each of which can overwinter a further 5 queens.  Think of all those social distancing tree diagrams you've seen recently.

Anyway, we are hosts to 3 traps, one at home, one where the cats are and one with a client who has had trouble with hornets in the past.  The traps are designed to entice the queens in, but not let them out again (although their efficacy in that is also part of the test). 

In the trap you put a pot of bait with a lot of pebbles or similar, so that good insects don't drown in the bait which is made up of a third dark, sweet beer, a third fruit syrup ideally blackcurrant or grenadine (in our case out of date Ribena), and a third dry white wine, to keep bees away from it.

Today, John checked the one with the cats, as they needed feeding, and we think we have caught one!  The photo below has been sent to the main man running the observatoire for his views, so I will confirm if we have been successful properly when he gets back to me.  We are ever so excited though.

 

Day 19 of lockdown - good reasons to stay "in"

For anyone worried about the visit to the vet with a cat yesterday, she is OK, the wounds were self-inflicted and have been cleaned.  She has had cortisone and anti-biotic injections and gets soothing cream rubbed in the wounds twice a day.  She has been enjoying the sun today.

Apart from a quick trip to the local market for fish (yes!), olives and tea, we have been very much in lockdown mode today, but in the garden in the main as it is warmer out than in!  John has been playing with his pressure washers to make sure they still work (they do), and then blasting the 20 year old garden bench and the garden chairs to get them ready for the new season.  Here's a thing.  Virginia creeper suckers do not come off plastic with a pressure washer or a scouring pad - you heard it here first, folks!

I've been happily sowing seeds in cheap and improvised propagators - sweet corn in the Blue Peter style propagator as I don't have root trainers.

While in the proper propagators (well Lidl, 4 for 4 euros anyway), I've got sunflowers, lettuce, coriander, chillies, cherry tomatoes and butternut squash - many butternut squash.

Finally, what do you do with goose eggs?  Well, I will probably make a quiche tomorrow with a couple, but I thought I would see if my ducks would like to try to hatch one.  They don't seem too convinced!

And on that slightly bizarre note, I'm off for drinkie-poos in the garden.  Know where you left your sanity for when this is all over!

 

Day 18 of lockdown - and all the reasons I've been out

Not every day in lockdown is extravagantly exciting, although I do try to spread out the fun through the week.  However I have four things to leave the house for today (which makes it sound not so much like lockdown actually).  In the morning, there is of course the stroll to the bakers for (today) croissants, baguette and a pizza for supper.  I was also able to properly admire the new door at the bakers!

After lunch I combined two of my trips out, in that I had to do a bit of work for John, and on the way back from that, I stopped at the local pig farm to pick up my order of pork products and an organic chicken (the lady who does those uses the pig farm as an outlet).  Jean-Yves had worked hard to get a safe and orderly process for paying for and picking up purchases in the farm yard.  There was a perspex screen to keep us separate, we all had to bring our chequebooks and own pens, only one person picking up their parcel at a time.  It worked well.  Strangely I spotted the bloke from the post office, who I had seen the morning before at the bakers, and in the afternoon at the supermarket.  We agreed we had to stop meeting like that!

My final trip out shortly is to take a cat to the vet - it looks like she has managed to slice her face and neck with her own claws, stupid creature.  I've warned her that she will probably have to wear a Cone of Shame overnight in future!

No pictures of the wounds (nasty), but instead a catch up on photos from earlier this week.  This is what was left of the banana bread yesterday.

This is a close up of the forsythia, which will probably be over by next week.

And here is a cat in a tree - not the one going to the vet I hasten to add.

Day 17 of lockdown - supermarket hell?

I've fought off the temptation for over two weeks now, but with 7 hungry mouths to feed and a husband without beer, I had to do it, I had to go to the supermarket today.  I tried to find out when the quiet time might be but all I could find on social media locally was a lot of complaints about the owner of our local store, so I just guessed that 3pm on a Thursday might be a good time.  I also put a small bottle of hand sanitizer in the door of the car.

I gather there was a pretty nasty article in The Times today about how French society is about to collapse and has sunk to the low of the Vichy regime.  As I don't have a subscription, I can't comment one way or another, other than to say that the friend who told me about it was steaming angry and showed me her response, which seemed to imply that there is open war in your average French supermarket.

Ours is a distinctly average French supermarket, and wasn't busy when I was there.  People behaved well.  Where were the gaps in the shelves?  Cat food, chicken food, rabbit food (really - rabbit food not salads), beer in the meths drinkers category, some of the cheaper types of rice, and chocolate.

On the way home, I was stopped by the Gendarmes and my attestation was checked, and I was told fine but go straight home, which I said I would.

It was a lot better than it might have been and very civilised.

There is nothing interesting to photograph in and around a supermarket, so another picture of cherry blossom to close.

Day 16 of lockdown - time for me

So, the report has gone and no reaction from the client - I took that as a sign that today was me time!  Actually that started yesterday with a profligate glass of sherry (it will be months until I can get my hands on another bottle) and trying out a new recipe - banana bread.  Excellent recipe and it turned out well - sorry, no photos, so you'll just have to imagine it!

This morning was market day at la Flèche, and as word had got out that it was going ahead, there were more stalls and more punters.  Don't believe the French don't know how to queue - if it is something they want (fresh vegetables, fish, cheese etc), they will queue and they will behave.  Well outside Paris anyway!  See!

This afternoon I was able to take time to look closely at cherry blossom and admire the bee going about her business.  It was wonderful to watch, but she didn't have many colleagues.  The tree should have been alive with bees, not like a social distancing market!

I'm not convinced how well the garlic is going to do this year - it keeps getting squished by a silly cat!

After that, I thought I would try the first of my yoga teacher's videos.  I do yoga for seniors, but after a gentle start, she moved on to stuff I'd not done before plus I had cat help.  As I now ache rather a lot, I'm calling it a day!