Rural Life

A time of decadence

The past week has been one of gluttony, sloth and the odd bit of exercise to try to make that seem less decadent, but really that is what this season is all about - recovery, putting on a bit of winter fat, reflecting on the past and looking forward to the new year.  The cold broke but it is taking a while for the warmth to build up again in the old stones of our house.  Actually it is rather nice to be curled up on a sofa in the Snug (used to be called the seating area, but now it is seriously snug), with the woodburner going, covered in fleece rugs and with a cat to provide a bit of extra snuggle - it's what winter is about!

There was also the issue of serious puddings - a fantasy of chocolate, praline, salted caramel and biscuit on the Friday before Christmas, and The Pudding on Boxing Day over in Chinon.  Between them, I think these are good for about 4 pounds on the hips!

• 
• 

Looking around when walking, either to get to the supermarket, or just for the joy of walking, there are still natural sights to delight in.  This leaf with a corolla of damp around it was rather striking at Aldi.  The old tree in an abandoned area of scrub was about 50/50 tree and mistletoe, and for those who say the quality of French mistletoe is rubbish with no berries, I beg to differ.  This is loaded!  The birds are in for a treat.

• 
• 

There is hope in the vegetable plots.  The broad beans sown in late November are now starting to show, seemingly unaffected by the serious frosts.  Looked at from a distance, it is also clear where I sowed the wheat in a vain attempt to cut down on next year's chicken feed bills.

• 
• 

While there has been no major activity on the trail camera other than foraging blackbirds - in the main due to a fogged up lens - I did spot a minor catastrophe at Badger Towers.  Whether a boar had been jumping up and down in that area too much, or whether the layer of soil became too thin, or whether frost and rain did their thing, a foot long piece of set entrance fell in during the weekend.  It was tidied up fairly quickly and doesn't seem to have had any lasting impact, but it certainly looked different - and Clause agreed with me.

So the final image of the year is of the best view in France, in my opinion anyway.  Whatever the weather, it makes my heart leap with undefined joy.  What a pity the camera on a smart phone can't really capture the true joy of it!

Enjoy however you spend the New Year cross over, and next time I will review the wildlife year  of 2022, before getting on with the excitements of 2023.

Midwinter musings

Apologies for not writing on Sunday - a mix of yuletide fun and frolics and some wretched football match meant that the weekend didn't go as planned and since then I have been running to catch up.  But yesterday, after securing a rare piece of meat for Christmas Day at the market (whole poultry is a bit rare with the avian 'flu outbreak), getting my fourth Covid jab and sending off the final version of a report I've been working on for a number of weeks, I found that I've caught up.  Actually it works well, as I don't want to blog for the next two Sundays so pushing the publications back a few days is a good thing.

The previous blog talked of the sharp frosts that had hit that weekend and the cold snap lasted another week.  While nothing compared to what the North American continent is facing, it was nasty enough for us in the west, and further east they recorded temperatures as low as -18ºC.  The sustained cold meant that buildings lost any retained heat, and we found ice in the bowl in the cats' kitchen one day!

I read today a short story about the midwinter hare, and ours is certainly out and about a lot at the moment.  There is a trail through the scrub and I guess there is a den somewhere along the run.  The trail camera is at one end of the run and so we are getting a lot of images of the hare and also some short films as it becomes more used to the strange log that has appeared.  More of those next week perhaps, as I really can't face battling YouTube today!

• 
• 

The hunters have been out and about more than once, so I am not surprised to see little evidence of boar and deer at the moment - I think they have moved to more wooded ground.  We are seeing more pheasant activity however, as they are well sheltered in the enclosed grounds and of little interest to hunters with very powerful guns.  Hares and pheasants seem appropriate for the time of year!

• 
• 

One thing I did manage to do last week was to assemble the vast piles of pillows, duvets and cushions that departing second home owners have left with us as it wasn't worth taking them back to the UK and facing paying customs duty on them.  My audit showed 6 duvets, 15 pillows, 8 cushions, a bolster and an electric blanket.  This was after a number had been donated to worthy human causes.  This carful (I couldn't see out the back, I was relying on wing mirrors) was donated to a local cat rescue, sterilisation and rehoming charity run on a shoestring but a handful of lovely ladies who work extremely hard for no reward other than cat cuddles.  The electric blanket and the bolster were particularly welcome for kittens.

There are no brussels sprouts for Christmas this year from the plot - they may bulk up in the next couple of months - but we are enjoying butternuts, potatoes and parsley and hope to have a magnificent Christmas parsnip from the garden, now the soil has defrosted!

May your midwinter festival of whatever persuasion be peaceful and mellow.

 

Frosty weather

Last week I welcomed winter and talked of purple risotto and the need for slow cooked and warming food.  The week continued cold, but no frosts until Thursday night, when it was a bit closer to zero, while Saturday morning was a nastily brisk -5.7ºC at 8am - currently the coldest time of the day.  With that harsh frost does come the recompense of sunshine, but also the inconvenience of at least two pairs of socks, wearing gloves when going shopping, not being able to sit for too long without getting cold feet and the chickens' water fountain freezing solid.

Good frost also brings beautiful ice crystals and an edging of white, and is finally knocking out those plants that really shouldn't be growing on still, such as chillies, cannas and rhubarb.  Here is a montage of frosted foliage.

• 
• 
• 
• 

As predicted, the visit from the hunting dogs last week means I've not spotted boar on the trail camera over the past week, and there isn't much new damage either, so they may have moved on through.  There wasn't really enough for them to eat here anyway, as a marauding extended family group of 15 pigs can eat an awful lot, so it was probably time they moved on elsewhere.  I have seen deer and a hare and a badger on the camera though, so it isn't the totally clean sweep we had earlier this year.

As I said, the advantage of this type of weather are lovely views.  The frost also meant that a number of trees that had been hanging on to their leaves with a steely determination, finally dropped them, very quickly too, on Saturday.  I watched the apples and the quince basically ditch everything in a quarter of an hour - it was strange to watch and made for an eerie sound.  But what is lovely at this time of year, is to see a new view or vista, a new building (actually more like a very old building, but new to us), or an old familiar but in a new way or after a few years.  Our favourite view from the Garden is over to the Chapel at Montplacé, which has been hidden by leaves for many months, but has now been revealed again.

I'm keeping this short this week - I've not had the heater on in my office since Thursday evening, and with it going solidly since this morning, the temperature has crawled up to 16ºC, which is not totally comfortable for sitting in, certainly not around the feet!  Keep warm and keep safe if you have snow!

 

Winter is here!

It's cold, it's dark, there is Christmas music on the radio and threats of snow on the weather forecasts - I think it must be winter.  We have been so lucky with temperatures from a purely selfish perspective over the past two months of autumn.  That has freaked out some plants and trees and the oaks round here still have a good covering of brown leaves, while I hear rumours of things flowering out of season, although not with us.  With high energy prices and exhortations to keep electricity use to a minimum, keeping more than one or two rooms at a comfortable temperature gets harder and that pile of fluffy fleeces is particularly welcome when sitting still.  We have also rediscovered the joys of hot water bottles (wilfully ignoring the advice that they need to be renewed every 3 years at least).  Slower cooked comfort food is also the thing, and yesterday was my first winter risotto, using the liquor from rehydrating dried cèpes as the stock, Paris mushrooms to provide the content, and purple carrots to provide a certain je ne sais quoi.  Served with fried medallions of monkfish, it was delicious.  There was a bit of rice left for the chickens (sort of resembles maggots), and I look forward to seeing if that has an impact on yolk colour, should any deign to lay an egg.

Keeping an eye on the trail camera, there has been a mixed bag of activity in the corner of the meadow.  Inevitably, but disappointingly, there was clear evidence of hunting dogs questing up and down the line of fruit trees yesterday, so I fear it will be a while before we see deer, boar and hares in that area again.  On the other hand, I can understand that farmers get a bit hacked off with boar activity, as we have plenty of evidence of their destructive tendencies and a litter can be up to a dozen piglets, with no natural predators.  The badgers aren't out at a time when the dogs are but, and I could well be wrong, are likely to hibernate for a bit soon.

I also know very little about the private life of the pine martins, so whether this chap is getting ready for a long sleep or not, I couldn't tell you, but it is always lovely to see him around the camera area.

What we are seeing a lot at the moment are standard "garden" birds enjoying turning over leaves and checking boar damage for something interesting to eat.  There has been a jay, a pair of blackbirds, a green woodpecker I think, the inevitable pheasant, and also a thrush.  It is years since I have seen a thrush in the garden, but over at The Shack, I have heard them smashing snails and have found their anvils in and around the vegetable plots, which is delightful.  Not only do they help keep pests down for me, but the broken shells add a bit of drainage to the heavy clay.  So I knew they were around but had to take it on faith in general.  I was therefore delighted to find one posing in front of the camera for me, and also very pleased with the quality of the photo, even when cropped/blown up a bit.

While I am not one of those that advocates you leave your garden covered in leaves, with long shaggy grass and weed stems, I would suggest keeping a small corner untouched to allow thrushes and blackbirds to have somewhere to rummage, because they are getting rid of the things that will eat any crops and flowers next year.

Have a good week!