Rural Life

Still not a hint of summer!

Meteorological summer starts on the 1st June - next Saturday in fact - but you wouldn't really know it yet.  The key summer crops of maize and sunflowers are either very short or not even sown yet, we still have sweatshirts ready to wear morning and evening, shorts rarely make an appearance and there is no cover on the gazebo yet.  With the long evenings, I am doing my walk to the top of the hill after closing up the chicken run, and on Tuesday, this was the inspiring sight that I was greeted with - standing water and maize just about 3 inches tall.  It's not right!

I did get the cover off the area of soil where I wanted to sow carrots, parsnips and salsify.  It had been providing shelter to a number of baby slowworms, one of which is pictured below, while keeping the worst of the weeds at bay.  I think the slowworms and toads are one of the reasons that we don't get too much slug and snail damage on that particular area, and they are supported by thrushes and other birds of that broad family.  The soil was very wet, very heavy and claggy, but somehow I got the seeds sown - how successful they will be, I am not sure.

While we are not hosting the Comice in Vieil Baugé this year, we have a relatively prestigious place in the parade of decorated floats, so we have to take it seriously.  Flowers have been made (possibly not enough green ones) and now we are starting to stick them onto the cardboard frames that get attached to the float.  That is something we can do in the rain as we have a nice dry barn to do it in, and it makes for a nice, convivial afternoon.  One thing I need to remember for the next session, is to sit down for part of the time - standing and leaning at a bad angle did nothing for either my feet or my back!

Today we went out for Sunday lunch, to Chinon.  Now this was a daring move as today is Mother's Day in France so there was a danger of too many people and not enough restaurant tables, but we know people, therefore it was not an issue for us at all.  We started out by visiting the amazing British craft brewer in Chinon, Simon at Brassefort.  He is a charming character, and has worked as a stone mason, as well as now being a brewer, so has lots of stories to tell and wisdom to impart, and the beer is jolly good too!  Lunch was taken at the Lion d'Or on the Place Jeanne d'Arc, where the food is always good (they also do an excellent café gourmand - a small coffee with half a dozen mini desserts), the wine in pichers is of a high standard and everyone is very friendly.

Now I must go to the kitchen and wrestle with the mangos we were given by our neighbour - someone had given him a case, and while he had eaten most of them, he was now fed up with mango, so would we like them?  Yes please!  Except they aren't the easiest to peel and eat - my godmother used to sit in the bath to eat them and then wash herself down afterwards.

Have a good week!

 

Boring weather

Last Saturday, when I wrote my last piece a day early, the weather was glorious!  Hot sunshine, hardly a cloud in the sky, just a gentle breeze to stop it getting too hot, but a lovely 25ºC in the shade.  That changed on Sunday, just in time for the trout fishing day, to what we have now.  Nice mornings that fool you, afternoons that don't get much over 20ºC with thunderstorms rumbling around and unpredictably dumping rain and hail on me every time I put my nose out of the back door, while the evenings are cool but calmer after about 9pm.  It is great growing weather for weeds and wild plants, not great for setting off seeds of courgette and butternut squash and impossible to get the thyme seedlings to do anything more than pout.  But it has brought out the bee orchids, and this year, I've managed a couple of cracking photos of them too!

The various alliums we have growing are putting on a lot of green growth, although rather floppy.  At least the onions are mostly growing under frames to keep the worst ravages of cat bottom under control, so they are supported, while the growing habit of shallots is such that they are quite perky.  The garlic have lovely strong stems and leaves, but when I lifted one today to go with broad beans, it looked like a very healthy leek underground.  I think they need a bit of sunshine and heat to bulk out.  Not that the forecasts are promising any of that for the moment.

The Fergus Memorial Rose (aka Orange King) is now out and looking magnificent!  I could go a bundle on roses if they put on displays like this all the time!  Actually I am fond of roses, but I like them to have perfume - this one doesn't seem to, but with this, the colour was the important aspect.

The electrical activity is making writing this very challenging - it is taking about 8 goes to get a photo loaded up and inserted which is not doing my blood pressure any favours, so I think I will finish with a short word about the trout fishing day, and go and do something else.

The trout fishing day is run by the fishing club la Gaule Baugeoise, who stock the lake with trout of the right size, manage the fishing tickets and provide snack food at lunchtime.  The Comité des Fêtes du Vieil Baugé, of which I am a member, provide a drinks stand all day long - coffee, wine, beer and soft drinks, served with a smile.  Very successful events in past years have seen over a hundred rods, and a three hour long. lunchtime rush for drinks from 11:30am.  This year was more sedate, in part due to the weather, in part due to a very long holiday weekend (known in the media as a viaduct holiday weekend), and in part due to people feeling less like splashing the cash than they used to.  Even so, there were perhaps 70 rods and a continuous stream of drinkers and we didn't get too wet, and my feet stopped hurting about 2 hours after I got home.  A success overall I think!

So I'm now going to quit while I'm ahead, and wish you a very good week!

 

Time for flowers

While the wisteria (which we don't have any of) is now over and the roses are getting ready to explode, the range of flowers out there at the moment is quite stunning.  For lovers of a light, fragrant honey, now is the season of the (false) acacia flowers that provide the nectar for honey.  The trees themselves are a pain - they have many, very sharp thorns and they spread rapidly by suckering.  They are regarded by many environmental groups in France as an invasive, non-native species and you can get help to get rid of them, if you weren't responsible for planting them in the first place.  The flowering season doesn't last long, but while it does, there are huge bundles of these lovely white flowers to be see all over the place, and they smell nice too.

A more traditional flower, and one familiar to everyone is the elderflower - beloved of cordial makers and an essential ingredient for elderflower champagne.  I've made it a few times over here, but the pressure in the bottles needs to be released at least twice a day as it is warmer than the UK at brewing time, and then you wonder, what's the point?  With good Saumur fizz easily available and local, why bother to make a substitute? Of course if you are partial to a Gloucester gin (one part gin to 3 to 4 parts elderflower champagne), then you have to make your own.  We wait for the berries and make a rich and healthy berry cordial that keeps colds, 'flu and Covid symptoms under control.

The wildflower meadow is near its best at the moment and humming with insects - in fact insect noise is louder than birdsong at times!  The oxeye daisies are coming out, the pink clover is at its best, the yellow trefoil is vibrant and there are also pockets of knapweed.  In a week or two, the bee orchids should also make an appearance, and there may be a blush of blue linseed too.  It isn't easy to photograph but here is a best attempt.

At the top of the wildflower meadow and underneath a walnut tree, there is a patch of posh irises.  They are always the last of this type to flower, probably because of being under the walnut tree, and are dramatic with white tops and nearly black bottoms.  I keep meaning to transplant a few to somewhere a bit less hidden away, perhaps I will remember to this summer!

When we had to let Fergus the ginger cat go, we went looking for a ginger coloured flowering shrub to remember him by.  At the time we were looking, the only thing that was really available was a rather splendid rose called Orange King.  The first year it had a couple of magnificent flowers, but since then it hasn't done as well as I would have hoped.  Probably as I don't keep the weeds down around it as much as I should.  This year it looks like we are going to get a splendid display in about 5 days time!

Another promise of things to come, is my flowering turmeric.  For the last couple of years, Aldi (other discount stores are available) has sold pots of flowering turmeric as an ornamental flower in around June or July.  Last year I succumbed to a pot as it was discounted, and had it on the outside dining table under the awning as a talking point.  It did extremely well too, with lots of growth and flowers.  When we took the awning down and there were threats of frost, I brought it indoors and put it in the bathroom, giving it a bit of water now and then.  Everything died down in the winter, and by mid-April I was seriously considering doing a forensic search of the contents of the pot before ditching it.  I'm glad I didn't, as during the week, first one, then a second and now four shoots are coming up in total.  Once the awning is back on the pergola, it can go outside again, and we can talk about it and hope for as many flowers as last year!

The computer has vetoed the photo of the flower pot, so I leave you with a photo of bunting, as everything is better with bunting.  This is for the Olympic Flame which arrives in Baugé on the 28th May, and we are getting very excited about that!

As Sunday is Trout Fishing Day here in Vieil Baugé, I am having another go at delayed posting.  Let's see if it works!

 

There's lots around if you know where to look!

We might have had a log fire going last night, resorted to a local discount warehouse yesterday afternoon due to the rain, and be working on our tax returns today, again because of the weather, but actually nature is out there doing what she does and getting on with Spring.  Beating the bounds today before giving up due to the rain (have I mentioned it is a wet weekend?), we spotted a new orchid plant and location.  Because they have tuber-like roots, for many orchids, once you have seen them flower in a location, you know to look in the same place the following year, particularly if that location isn't subject to local authority or local authority contractor "maintenance".  So spotting this new flower on the opposite side of the meadow to its usual haunts was really pleasing.  I imagine the seed was moved around by badger paw.

Thursday was a rare fine day, although not particularly warm.  I was able to take advantage and plant more of the well chitted seed potatoes, so now there is just a final row of 8 or 9 to go in during the week.  Each time I passed a particular tree where we had put up a nest box, I was aware of a lot of chattering noise, so I decided to pause, lean on my metaphorical spade and watch.  Sure enough, after a couple of minutes a Great Tit went to the nest box opening to be greeted by a lot of squeaking and then silence as goodies were shared out.  Once one parent had gone, there was a short pause, then the other parent turned up and the noises repeated themselves.  Today when I walked past the box, all was silent.  I hope the babies were tucked up warm and safe.

On Thursday, the Meadow was humming with insects: it was so loud, it was hard to distinguish the different birds that were also singing.  I'm sure it made finding food easier for the fraught parents from the birdbox!  At the entrance to the Meadow, I met a slow worm, basking in the sun and trying to warm itself up a bit.  We have quite a lot in the area, but it was nice to see one, although I then had to make sure my accompanying cats ignored it.

It must be nearly a year since I invested in a pond dipping kit, and early in the week, while the ground was still too wet to work, I decided to have a play.  You don't get instructions with a pond dipping kit - I guess they think it is obvious, or if you are getting a kit, you know what you are doing.  My first attempt was therefore marginally successful and with lots of learning points - take a chair and a kneeler and some spare white paper, and only source water from one pond at a time being top of the list.  I needed more time and more stable surfaces and a chair to let sediment settle properly, to focus properly and to have a chance of seeing whether the elongated fast thing had a hook on its tail or not.  A better field guide might be useful too.  I was cheered to see that there are a lot of water fleas around, as they are at the bottom of the food chain and if they are there, then other things can be too.  I don't have a clue as to what the elongated fast thing was, other than fast and about a centimetre long.

There is a parasitic plant that can be confused with a bird's nest orchid, but isn't one of those.  It grows off tree and shrub roots but at quite a distance and has no leaves.  We found a lot of them on the eastern side of the Meadow this weekend, just starting to come up, and about 2 to 3 metres away from the row of fruit trees.  I've not seen them there before, so am not sure if it is a weather related thing or a problem for the trees.  Anyway, here is a photo.

While not totally unusual, the past few Mays have been warm and sunny, so this year's wet and cold version is not going down well with humans or cats.  So far this month we have had over an inch of rain and a bit of thunder and hail, and more rain is forecast for the next couple of days before a 5 day window of warm and nice - or that is what we are promised.  I hope "they" are right, as while the rain is keeping the water level in the ponds at a useful level for wildlife, everything else is getting a bit miserable.

Have a good week!