Happy New Year's Eve!
I thought I would review the year, reprising my favourite photos from this blog, one for each month of the year. Sometimes it was quite hard to select one, but I was hard hearted, particularly about stripy piglets! So here goes.
In January, the trail camera was well placed by the ponds to track the activities of the animals that use the back path, as well as the hunters who seem to think it is their god given right to go through there as well. Daylight photos were better, and this one picked up wonderful detail of the young stag's face.
Our annual truffle fest was a bit later than usual, in February, but we made the most of the 100g of black gold that John ordered up from further south. While I photographed every dish I made with it, this one reminded me the most of the wonderful flavours.
By March, the trail camera had been moved to The Garden, as we had spotted some rather large holes and wanted to know what was doing the rounds. This was important as it is where we have our kitchen garden area, and we don't need badgers digging up our prized potatoes or deer sampling tomatoes or corn. The holes were down to rats - hardly surprising in farming territory - but the camera stayed for a while to enjoy the antics of Mr and Mrs Woody Woodpecker, chasing the last of the walnuts among other tasty morsels.
In April, our patience finally paid off and we were able to harvest the first of 6 cauliflowers. There is a lot of argument here in the expat community as to why cauliflowers are so expensive when they can be purchased for under a pound at Tescos (other supermarkets are available). Well, these beauties had been in the ground taking up a lot of space for 7 months, should have been fed, should have been netted against cabbage white butterflies, and are very particular about what soil they will tolerate! I think cauliflowers are cheap at 5 euros, given the required effort and investment.
By May, the trail camera had moved again, this time to a higher up path between two walnut trees. We captured images and video of a coypu, which we weren't delighted to find rambling around the area, and the back heels of deer as they passed through at speed. My favourite of the resident animals also came through quite a lot - the hare - I just love them!
After a long wait, June brought the bee orchids into flower. With a phone camera, it can be a bit tricky getting the flower in focus, but for once it worked.
In July, we started to get smug about the potential parsnip and carrot crop - I had sown a long row, with parsnips every 6 inches or so and then carrots quite thickly in between. My thinking was that parsnips are slow to germinate and in the ground for ages; carrots don't germinate that well either, but are eaten long before the parsnips need the space and the nutrients. Well we are still eating both in December (and frankly into January next year too), but it worked well and I've never grown such good carrots, and not grown such long parsnips for over 20 years!
August was all about the Comice in Vieil Baugé - while there had been lots of preparations since the start of the year, painting panels with music and with dancers, painting dancers on piles of hay bales and making and stringing up bunting, August was the final push and the event itself. The rain on the Friday night and early Saturday morning meant that it was an anxious time getting the podium ready for the first speeches of the day, but we did it!
And then it was all over and September had to be devoted to dealing with the mass of fruit at every turn - pears, plums, quince, apples and figs. We actually had more figs and better figs than we have ever had before. I made loads of jam, we ate loads raw, and then I also made a rather good piquant fig sauce which has been wonderful with foie gras (if you like that sort of thing).
An experiment that dominated the year, was growing the tropical fruit cristophine. Although a fruit and looking a bit like a bumpy, prickly pear, it is actually used as a vegetable, and grows from a ripe fruit. You can't actually take out the pip and expect it to grow, you have to sacrifice a whole fruit so it has nutrients to get it going. If it is happy, and ours was very happy, it grows enormous! Ours was perhaps 20 feet in every direction from the growing point, at its height in October. It is also very productive and I think we eventually got nearly 50 viable fruits off it, weighing roughly 400 grammes each.
In November, we added to our cat family. It wasn't intentional, but when a small and rather cute little fellow bounces around the garden, and then looks very sorry for itself when wind and rain come in, I can't really turn my back. Facebook searches and a vet check didn't produce a registered owner, so we adopted young Rebus, who is really rather a sweet little boy, albeit with some very pointy bits (teeth and claws).
He is a lot bigger now!
So December is nearly out. Christmas Eve was notable for magnificent sunsets all across north west France at the very least. As much of the month has been dull, grey and wet, this was a wonderful moment to cherish and record. Earlier in the day, we had been able to fly one of our kites and enjoy blue skies, but the display at teatime was more impressive.
Tomorrow is a new year, and for me something of a change, as I become a pensioner and will have to use my time constructively. I don't believe in New Year resolutions as I believe they are mostly borne of self-loathing (get fit, get thin, stop this, stop that) and set you up to fail. Instead I hope to have targets to achieve in the year, but they still need a bit of refinement to make sure they are S M A R T!
A very Happy 2024 to you, with hopes of peace, prosperity, love and freedom.
Comments