Rural Life

Chickens and sun worshipping

Apologies for the delay and also, in advance, for the somewhat light nature of this update.  They are related I guess, as yesterday there was a Birthday Event, which took some managing and also most of yesterday.  When you are 90/91, a year makes a huge difference, plus Covid makes everything so much more special.  In August 2020, you could have 10 round a dining table at a restaurant, while the Birthday Girl was also able to walk a bit.  Not a vast distance, so she was driven down to the restaurant 250m away from her front door, but she could make it the 30m to the dining table, and remembered to wear a mask on the way in (not so much on the way out).  Then it was warm and sunny enough to sit in the garden, partake of more fizz and cake and carry on having fun.

This year we have Pass Sanitaire, and I think restaurant tables are still limited to 6 places.  More importantly, home has changed and the rules around entering a nursing home are strict and include the Passe Sanitaire.  Mobility has decreased, while the capacity of my car has not increased, so a restaurant or a picnic was not possible (the latter also as it was rather cool and windy).  Instead there were four of us round a bed, slurping the finest fizzy rosé Saumur (Ackermann) can produce, while scoffing a range of patisseries and talking about old times. 

Anyway, what else has been going on?  Two different forms of sun worshipping were spotted during the week.  The pears at Chinon really are not nice, they don't cook well, they don't make good eau de vie (the distiller spotted their overtones one year and told us not to do that again), they really aren't nice raw either.  I'm guessing they might have made good pig food at one stage, as the tree is very old, and the house has outbuildings.  Their only fans this year seem to be bees - I think possibly ground dwelling solitary bees, but I may well be wrong - who love sucking out the sweet juices from where they split when they fall.

The other sun worshipper is my feral sunflower - we didn't sow it, it just started growing out of the bin of compost we had some strawberries in.  It has grown to nearly 6 foot tall, and because it is on a plinth, I can't look it in the face.  It is very well placed to worship the rising sun in the morning, while the less open faces, follow the sun during the day (tournesol or tourne au sol - clever, huh?).  I take a photo or two each day to keep a ray of sunshine for winter.

On the chicken front, Auntie Mo is settling in quite well, although we still get some aggression from Mac and Jak.  She went up in the pecking order a bit when Bridie the Freeloading Bantam started to moult.

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Sometimes I spot things out of the corner of my eye and they are interesting.  Two examples to end with.  I was at The Garden, watering some things and carrying on with the potato harvest.  As I went to get the fork from the store, I spotted some movement in the grass and closer inspection showed it to be a small frog or toad - not warty enough for a toad, but too far from water to be a frog.  Whatever, he/she is very useful and welcome.  Yesterday evening, sitting in the garden, recovering from an overdose of patisseries (helped with a gin and tonic) I spotted another crop in the overgrown border - hops!  And quite a lot of them too, some looking really beautiful at the moment.  I'm not sure there are enough for beer making, and we don't do that sort of home brew anyway, but good for hop pillows perhaps.  I'll think on it!

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I promise I will try for Sunday next week!

 

 

Comice 2021 Covid-style

What a pleasure to be back in a Comice field yesterday, and Echimiré really did do a fabulous job, with a really well laid out Comice venue and some truly excellent entertainments.  We were advised to wear face masks most of the time, apart from when in the special areas for eating and drinking, where you had to have a health pass, but rather than keep showing it, you registered it once, and were given a very hard to remove bracelet that let you into the food and drink areas.  It worked well.

You know you are at a Comice if there are decorated floats - there were only two this year and mostly static, although they were moved to the main arena at one point, but with no one on or accompanying them (didn't stop Cheviré le Rouge singing a lot).  Well done to the two teams that put them together - for many it was a step too far.

One of the highlights of the Sunday afternoon was a Regional Percheron contest - I think mainly mares, ideally with foals tagging along, but there were some without I think.  It was a painstaking process as the horses had to be shown static and moving, standing four square and ideally with ears pricked.  Well, telling one tonne of horse who wants to keep an eye on her foal and doesn't much like flies to do that isn't the easiest task, and the judging went on all afternoon.  The photos show some horses being prepared, and the entrance of a beautiful mare with two foals.

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Among the entertainments were an all girl cabaret band, a fun show and some great musicianship too.

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Animals are a key part of the Comice, as it reflects the local agricultural traditions.  There were a number of cows, donkeys and ponies in pens in the woodland surrounding the Comice site, allowing them to stay cool as the afternoon wore on.

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Continuing the animal theme, there was a local gentleman who herds geese, of course!

Among the numerous stands, there was a demonstration of carving with a chainsaw, glass blowing and the "mobile" peanut roaster.  The largest crowd around the chainsaw sculptor was when it came to moving the massive crocodile, and everyone wanted to see whether the chaps with the big green lifter were up to the job!!

The Comice is all about the rural way of life and agriculture so the purveyors of nice, big, shiny machines are out in force with some mechanical porn.  How about one of these as the new ride on lawn mower?

Such a wonderful day out - there was so much more, but you needed to be there!  After the awfulness of the Covid months, it was great to enjoy such an event.  So well done, Echimiré and I'm already looking forward to Pontigné in 2022.

A whole week of Summer!

Yes, It's true, a whole week that could be considered summery - assuming we gloss over the early morning fog that blotted out the church spire on Wednesday!  It hasn't always been particularly hot, that has only built up over the past four days or so, but the plants are certainly showing their appreciation with set fruits on the chilli plants, female flowers on the butternuts and flowers and tassels on all the sweetcorn now.  Whisper it softly, but we might actually eat some sweetcorn on Thursday if this keeps up!

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We worry about the lack of insects, other than flies, but have been entertained this week by the rather undignified arrival of a baby grasshopper and the antics of a drunken butterfly, gorging on semi-rotten pear. 

There is a particular type of fly round here, smaller than a bluebottle, not as dangerous as a horsefly and not buzzy, but unpleasant for all that.  It sits on you, then if you don't knock it off quickly, it starts to chew on you.  Evil wee so and so's!

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The cats have different ways of coping with summer.  Donald the Love Bug thinks that sharing our hammock with us is the best thing ever, until he gets it to himself and that is just paradise!  I can take it down gently and start rolling it up and only get rid of him by prodding him with the rolled chunk.  Even then he is reluctant to move.  Poirot may be older (we aren't sure), but her thing is sprawling on steps, either indoors to keep cool, or in full sun for the sheer joy of it.

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Anyway, that is enough sitting with a computer on a lovely sunny, summer afternoon/evening.  I'm off to enjoy sitting out under the gazebo with a glass of something chilled.

Next weekend is the Comice, so things might be delayed a day.

 

Apologies for the delay

Yesterday was a birthday - not mine - and meant a bit of celebrating, a bit of exercise, and by the time we were done with that, I could not face being near the computer (actually I was tied to the juice pot, as we had 4 pounds of elderberries doing their thing).

The weather has not been inspiring once again, which has resulted in two cats finding their inner kitten/getting stir crazy and needing to run around like crazy.  Normally the lizard population provides summer entertainment, but this year we have needed the help of the mouse on a long string, a piece of rolled up newspaper and the Red Dot.  "They say" that summer will restart this week, but first it was today, then tomorrow, now Wednesday seems to be Summer - we'll see!

There have been two flower events this week worthy of note.  During the week the final bud opened on the large red orchid I bought from Aldi - this is much bigger than my other orchids, so is having to live on the kitchen window sill for the moment.  I have bought another like this one, but it was half price as the flowers had finished and the shop (not Aldi) didn't want the ugly thing sitting around.  We'll see what happens with that one too.  The other flower event is the first flower on one of the many chilli plants we have knocking around the garden out of the range of chicken beaks.  What these plants really need is heat and sun, so fingers crossed from Wednesday (bit of a theme developing here).

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The potato harvest is in full swing at the plot, and as I moved the weed suppressant matting that makes potato crops possible, I found another of my little garden helpers - a rather fine baby slow worm (less scary than the sloughed snake skin I found last week).  The first sweetcorn - the six or so that came from the first sowing of 51 seeds - are starting to look promising.  I think they may be ready before the end of the month.  The second sowing are starting to show their male flowers and there are hints of the female flowers (the tassels and the cobs).  They won't be ready until September, unless the weather really bucks its ideas up.

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We have been joined by yet another chicken this week.  Following our purchase of Mac and Jak in the Spring, and being invaded by the Economic Migrant in July, we have been prevailed upon to provide shelter to an old girl who was left on her own when her chums died off (after a suitable quarantine period).  She needs company, we were told, she is pining for the company of other chickens we were told.  Meet Auntie Mo, the chicken that walks by herself.

The Birthday Weekend started with a tasting at a craft brewery in Chinon on Friday night, on Saturday we went shoe shopping and won (well, found two pairs that were considered acceptable), and Sunday was lunch at Buffalo Grill.  They are formulaic, but the meat is good quality, the chips are very nice, they have a full range of steak sauces, and the puddings are magnificent.  Of course after that lot, you then need exercise, so we walked round the wildlife sanctuary lake at la Monnerai, which was new to us.  Using the free telescopes, we could admire egrets and cormorants on an island in the middle of the lake.  The wildlife lake is also less visited, and there were mobs of people around the leisure lake, as you would expect on a Sunday afternoon in August!

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So apologies for the delay, and until next Sunday, which should be Summer!

 

 

A beano and evidence of a visitor

Now I don't mean the comic, quality as that is, I use beano in the sense of a day's outing, such as used to be taken by workers from the East End of London, because I took a rare day off - needless to say the weather was not propitious but as a couple of things had been booked, Tuesday it was. 

I went with a chum, and first of all we stopped at the lac de Rillé, an artificial lake (supposedly the largest in Touraine) which is normally about two thirds empty at this time of year.  Not in 2021!  The trees around had been damaged by the storms with strong winds in June and July and there was still some tidying up going on.  It looks a lovely place for walks later in the year and over winter, with a bird hide.  We then went to Langais for lunch and a mooch around, admiring the outside of the Chateau, the inside of the Church and a very lovely bronze sculpture on the outside of the Church.  I couldn't photograph it, but the Church had the dodgiest ever crucifix above the altar, made by a local art group.  The pose on the Cross was actually more #paintmelikethosefrenchgirls, while the back was decorated with Nespresso capsules.

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Last week I was worrying about blight.  The potatoes escaped it seems as they were second earlies and therefore pretty well over before it hit.  I've resorted to the French trick of removing leaves, growing tips and anything that displeases me, and at the moment we are under control.  Evidence that the potatoes are looking good below, as well as a view of ripening tomatoes as proof!

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The Garden and the Meadow are good for wildlife and we find lots of evidence and see lots of things.  This week's interesting finds were a large and beautiful red admiral sunning himself on a log pile, a comma butterfly (I think) gorging itself on the buddleia, and the sloughed skin of a reasonably sized grass snake under the matting that we cover the potato plot with.

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Some know of my challenges with chilli plants - the fact that chickens eat them is a particular annoyance.  The fact that my brother has a couple in a pot on his terrace and despite being planted in the same soil at the same time as mine, his always do better, is even more irritating.  So it is with great pride that I announce the first flower bud on my chilli plants this year.  Of course they need sun and heat, which is lacking this year, but it is a start!

Incidentally, if you are reading this on a computer rather than a phone, if you click/double click on the photos you get a bigger, better view of them.

Until next week!