Sounds like a vaguely iffy 1980s lounge music combo, doesn't it? Raw Milk and Brooding. Fortunately those days are over. Anyway I said there had been debate on raw and farm milk with chums on the internet, so on Wednesday when I was at la Flèche market, I asked the lovely Benoit if I might photograph him, to share the glory with my blog readers. He was surprised, but happy to oblige - of course sadly you are deprived the benefit of his face as we all have to keep wearing face masks, but here is Benoit, purveyor of milk, butter, cream and cheeses.
Despite my bags being in the way, there is not actually a lot to see in his van apart from a few bottles of milk and a couple of cheeses. That's because for his regulars, their requirements are stashed under the counter. It was a great day for me when I became one of those, and a block of salted butter appeared when I arrived at his van! The milk is a more recent thing - I used to buy the odd bottle, but mainly bought from another farmer, but then I became inducted into the circle of those who provide their own bottles and again each week as well as my block of butter, I swap an empty Waitrose Orange juice bottle for one full of full fat raw milk. Bliss!
Will you note the colour of the butter and the depth of cream on that?!
In other news, while we only seem to have red currants, black currants, strawberries, raspberries and Granny Smith apples this year in the garden, that is not the case in Chinon. There the warmth and protection afforded by the tuffeau wall has meant that the black peach tree there has lots of fruit set! There will be jam of one sort this year!
And finally, I thought it was a bit quiet yesterday evening when I released the chickens for their daily vandalism spree - no Bridie to be seen. I wondered if she had been chased off by the naughty ginger boy next door. I checked the shed when I put the girls away last night, but she wasn't there so I was a bit worried. This morning she was not waiting by the run to peck me mercilessly while I put out food and water for her (she has a very sharp beak!), so I was even more worried. I went for a good check in the shed, and finally spotted her, well camouflaged by chainsaw chains. See if you can spot the freeloading wotsit, trying to hatch another batch of infertile eggs!
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