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!
Comments