Rural Life

Lockdown III, marginal release - seedlings and work

Finally - nearly mid-May and my chilli seeds are sprouting, along with some red basil seeds I also sowed.  The cool temperatures, the dry conditions and the really rather unpleasant April have all contributed to making this a challenging growing season.  I hope that these come to some good - they are certainly staying well away from chickens!

As we have rain today off and on, I am really trying hard not to complain about the weather, but it is hard not to.  And that is also the go to conversation topic for the British in any case - I did a phone interview for work this afternoon and we had a good 5 minutes on the difference between the weather here and the weather there.  It creates a sort of empathy.  We didn't do the new conversation starter - have you had your vaccination yet?  It wasn't appropriate, but as part of the interview we did discuss the challenges that Covid has brought to working life.

My correspondent and I compared the conditions in which we were undertaking the interview - he was sitting in his bedroom and still wasn't used to that as a workspace, even after a year.  I was in my "office", which has been my workspace at home for 16 years now, and very much my comfort zone.  What he missed was seeing people around him in the large offices of his organisation - people he didn't work with directly but would see at the water cooler, or walk past their desk and say "hi".  For those used to that volume of human interaction on a daily basis, and who liked it, this last 14 months must have been a nightmare.

For me, there has been little change to the work routine except that I used to travel and visit people and places at least once every three months.  My last such trip was the 2nd to 6th March last year, and was rounded off by visiting family.  My fake filofax (how dated am I?) bookmark is stuck at that point, as I've not needed a roaming diary since.  I can't see me doing a trip before September, which is a little sad.

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - bits and bobs

As I've been being a good girl today and working hard, and not getting distracted by "stuff", I've had to resort in the main to photos taken a while ago but not shared yet, but it's a good way of making sure I've not missed anything too important!  Curfew is at 7pm, but sunset isn't until gone 9pm so it is very difficult to get good evening photos due to the monstrous blob built in between us and our views to the west, however this evening sky was good in any direction (this one is due South), and worked well on my phone.

A few years ago, Aldi did a nice line in flower pots that are fixed to down pipes.  I've grown all sorts in them, from bulbs to lobelia (which worked really well), but following an impulse purchase at a car boot sale of a number of house leeks, they have been home to semper vivums for about 4 years now.  I took a whole load of sets off them last year, but clearly will need to do the same again this year.  But they look pretty good I think!

After yesterday's single asparagus as part of lunch (chopped up fine in baked eggs), today I went for a more classic approach as Mac and Jak are laying just the right sort of eggs at the moment.  So today's lunch was poached eggs with asparagus and mayonnaise (just a little) and jolly good it was too.  There is a mix of our home grown asparagus (fat) and the last bits from the market last week (small and weedy or in technical terms, sprue).

Finally, I was reminded yesterday by Mr S Clause that he hasn't been seen on a blog post for a while and really he is totally gorgeous and people will miss him!  So here he is.

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - weather and plants

Apologies for the lack of blog yesterday - I was going to do something about the market and raw milk, but didn't finish work until about 7pm and just couldn't face any longer in front of the computer.  I have a photo so I will do that story, but not today.

Today has also been busy, but winding down a bit now, as I tick off the urgent bits on my to do list (never shorter than 25 things at the moment).  We have finally had some rain - a gentle 8 or 9 millimetres on Tuesday which soaked in nicely but wasn't enough.  It was sufficient to push the red hot pokers into action as yesterday evening, I found these when I went to lock up the chickens!

It also brought on nicely the Dutch irises at The Shack, and helped some of the potatoes to start showing their heads!

We had more rain too today.  It started during the night and a chum said it was like someone running a hose on the roof at 6am.  I got soaked feeding the chickens this morning, by which time we had had another 10mm and more on the way.  It was a nasty run down to the Sous-Prefecture at Saumur to help someone with a Residency Permit interview, and we were pleased when he had trouble with the fingerprint machine, as it meant we could stay indoors during a particularly heavy shower.  By the time I got him home again, the sun was coming out as the depression passed on its way east and south.

It left behind a chaotic sky and a nasty wind - at the Wildflower Meadow, the roaring gusts and the noise of the wind in the poplars was almost deafening and very dramatic.  Interesting for a short while, but it can stop now!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - brief notes

Yesterday was a glorious day - sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky, and a nice temperature for doing things.  Occasionally there was a cool wind, but not too often.  The change came through overnight with wind, then cloud bringing finally some much needed rain.  Our lawn should not have yellow patches through dryness at this time of year - yellow patches where we left things on the lawn and didn't pick them up for sure, but not due to poor growth.

On Sunday evening, I stopped on the way back from closing up the chicken run to admire the song of this little fellow, serenading the beautiful sunset.  I think he was a nightingale, from the size of the bird, the volume and twiddles of the song and the time of the evening, but I could be wrong.  Whatever, it was very pleasant.

We have hardly left the house at all today, and when we did, it was the signal for rain to start - every time!!  Paranoid?  O yes!  The first time was this morning when I got the paper out of the post box, and stopped to admire the flowers on the red iris.  This year the flowers look more iris like as it has been so dry that the snails that usually munch them have been hiding - that'll stop this evening.  I can almost here them starting to eat their way through the flowers!

We needed to stop off at the One Acre Wood to get a couple of logs from a stash we have there (we shouldn't still need log fires in May for goodness' sake!).  The rain got quite intense then, but as the trees are mostly leafed up now, we were fairly sheltered.  I took the opportunity to look up an oak tree we don't often talk to, but who is really rather magnificent!

And now I am going to find a glass of wine and put supper in the oven.

 

Lockdown III, Day 28 - is my mother a weather god?

Yesterday I signed off in a slightly petulant and disgruntled way, before settling down for the evening with a mojito made with Caribbean rum.  As I sipped, the sky grew darker and the cats came charging in.  Too good an opportunity to miss, we closed the back door, to signal the end of cat external adventures for the day.  Then we heard it - hail stones!  The trusty Meteo France weather app showed us the enormity of what we had to sit through.

OK, so they called it heavy rain, but it was hail and lots of it.  After dinner, I went out to close up the chicken run and see what had happened - I think I have found a way to get the photos to show side by side, so you can see that the tree peony flower got rather slashed about.

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Similarly the snow in summer was now snow in hail!

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It was a veritable winter wonderland outside - and these photos are a good half hour after it all stopped.

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Even before yesterday evening, we knew that we had no plums, no peaches and no pears to look forward to this year.  We are still optimistic that there will be apples and quince, but the quantities remain to be seen.  The apple tree leaves have been damaged by the hail, but there are still nascent apples and a bit of blossom on the trees, so we live in hope!  There are holes in the vine leaves, but there are still bunches of flower buds on the grape vine, so that may have got through too.

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All day there has been a flow of water from the roof drain, as the drifts of hail stones slowly melt in the sheltered gap between our house and next door.  I suspect the moral of this story is to always be respectful of your mother!!

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Lockdown III, Day 24 - possible slum renovation!

It's not really rained for days, and for two weeks we have had a nasty wind from East.  It's a dry, cold wind, which assisted the frosts a while back.  Closer inspection of our garden fruit trees shows nothing on the peach, very little on the pear and heartbreakingly, very little if anything on the Victoria Plum - so much for wrapping the tree in fleece! 

Despite the wind, we could sit at the end of the garden, sheltered by the back wall, and watch the world go by as we sip our evening drinkies.  Yesterday we were treated to the delightful spectacle of the biggest chicken, Delenn, keeping Zola pinned down on a plant stand for about 10 minutes.  Apologies for the slightly hazy quality of the photo as it was on maximum telephoto.

The dry conditions aren't ideal for some of the wild flowers and the normally magnificent lady orchid in the wildflower meadow seems to be suffering.  It is fully exposed to sun and wind, as it is right in the middle, and just to one side of a badger trunk road.  Nature will do her thing, and I'm not going to interfere, as she knows best, but it is sad all the same as I was looking forward to a magnificent orchid flower this year.

A disturbing ripple is in the offing.  The traditional longère next to our house has always been a bit of a pain.  The now deceased owner was something of a slum landlord, and we have seen a trail of tenants over the time we have owned our house.  We've had a slattern who ran a dodgy childcare business from there and chucked "things" down the well, two members of a family known for being mentally challenged (not at the same time), two artists, one of whom was chased by demons (although he stayed in the house the longest), a postman who had a vast menagerie of rescued animals, a few nice people (who never stayed long) and finally an alcoholic slut who brought the place into such disrepute that the mayor and police had to intervene.  When she left, she "paid" her removal boys with the antique floor tiles in the attic (not hers to sell), and a year later, the ceiling fell in on the middle room of the building.  It has been empty for perhaps 5 years now, which has been a relief. 

But on Friday, people started to visit the property, and we fear renovations are going to happen - while eventually probably a good thing I guess, it will mean at least 12 months of dust, rubble, no parking and inconvenience.  My word I'm going to have lots to chunter about!!

Lockdown III, Day 12 - out and about

Well actually the big excitement today was going to Super U for cat food and Cheddar cheese and one or two other bits and pieces - but you have to take variety and excitement where you can at the moment!!  I also washed all my scarves as I have a nasty rash on my neck, probably due to something I brushed against yesterday while mowing, but you can't be too careful.  So clearly an incident packed day, and not photogenic.

Much more photogenic were things I saw at The Shack today, including another of my pots of experimental seed sowing.  This was an old and open packet of coriander that I really held out very little hope for, and yet look what I found today!

I was able to dig up four leeks and a spring garlic (just like a spring onion but garlic) which will go nicely in a stir fry for dinner.  The leeks are starting to run to seed - I could probably have held that back by watering them rather better all the time they have been in the ground apart from the 4 solid months of rain.  Actually they would probably have been bigger and better if I had done that, but last summer's drought meant water had to be doled out very carefully.

Spooky Cat used to be very nervous about going down the garden, even just the bit attached to The Shack.  On Tuesday he accompanied me on a circuit of the three areas - the garden, the orchard and the wild flower meadow.  I was very impressed.  I'm not sure if he is more or less secure in his world, following the demise of Fergus Sunshine Supercat, but he allows me to pick him up, cuddle and stroke him and only mildly chews me.  These vicious claws are only used to attract my attention when dishing out food!

The quince blossom at the wild flower meadow is finally out - so pretty, but so delicate!  The frosts are due to stop soon and the harsh wind (or bise) from the East is due to drop at the weekend so hopefully the bees will do their thing and there will be viable fruit in the autumn.  Unless there is a glut we are unlikely to do another quince eau de vie for a year or two, but quince jelly is fab on porridge, while stewed quince and apple makes a superior crumble.

Tomorrow I am off to visit Azay le Rideau so there may not be a blog, depending on when I get back.

 

Lockdown III, Day 9 - that orchid rant

It's been a long day and I had to be out and about rather earlier than normal so got the full benefit of the hard frost and scraping the car, but when you are faced with a view like this when you arrive where you need to be, really it's not so bad!

Back in March, I introduced Mac the Knife and Jak the Ripper - our two new chickens.  I think one was hatched a bit earlier than the other, but anyway, yesterday, finally, when I let them all out for their daily vandalism session and checked the coop, I found our first new Black Chicken egg!  Isn't it sweet?  As there was another today, I know what we are having for lunch tomorrow!!

Back in November, when we were all enjoying Confinement Lite or Lockdown II, I noticed that one of my miniature orchids was doing something interesting.  I posted a few photos of it before the end of the year - you can see a nice "branch" with lumps on it which might turn into flowers or more "branches".

Well, now we are in April, and my mother's rather larger orchid has had a whole new flower branch and two large flowers, which have been out for a number of weeks in the interim.  Yesterday, we finally have an open flower!  Talk about taking your time!  I've bought more orchid "compost" or a bag of dodgy looking bits of bark, but don't like to disturb things while they are doing their best to bloom.  On this basis, I will be repotting in October!!

O so pretty and o so tantalising!

 

Lockdown III, Day 8 - down at The Shack

Sunday morning is generally our big time for doing work at The Shack - there is a period of 2 hours between 10am and midday when we can use petrol motors, so John can play with chainsaw, rotavator, strimmer, brush-cutter and other noisy things, while I supervise cats and do "stuff".  Yesterday and overnight we had the first proper rain for ages, so the machines didn't come out to play but we did have a good check round and cuddled cats.

I sorted out my box of seeds about a month ago, throwing out most opened packets and anything over 7 years old (!).  Those between 5 and 7 years old and interesting (10 packets of seeds for kale and while it may be a super food, I'm still not going to grow it) I took to The Shack along with a stack of 6 - 8 inch pots.  A couple of weeks ago, I filled 7 pots with my miracle horse poo and leaf mould mix from the bin, and sowed the whole packet of each of cat mint, dill, coriander, basil, lettuce Webbs Wonder, chard Bright Lights and Autumn King carrots.  It felt rather good to be quite so profligate!  Anyway, despite pretty awful germinating conditions - first unseasonably hot, then unseasonably cold - today's inspection showed that so far at least the chard and the carrots are coming up!  Yes, I have spotted there is an interloper among the carrots - it has been removed.

Inspection of the bed planted with garlic, shallots and Hispi cabbage showed really good growth on the shallots, well apart from a Donald shaped gap!  I'm sure the delayed ones will catch up in due course and no one was rolling around on the wet soil today!

Things aren't so good on the fruit front.  While I have a small Victoria plum tree in the garden at home that is wrapped round with fleece at the moment to protect the fruitlets, the big tree at the end of the wildflower meadow does not have that luxury.  You can see the fruitlets are nearly black and when I picked one off and dissected it with my thumb nail, it was clearly unviable and frosted.

The cherry blossom has also been affected - I'm hoping that it is just that the petals have been fried by the frost and that the fruit will somehow survive, but with more nights of frost over the next week, I fear my ability to stand and scoff a kilo of cherries while allegedly doing something useful in the meadow will be severely curtailed this year.

Tomorrow I am likely to have a rant about orchids.  Just to warn you.

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 42 - a dank day in the country

It really has been a totally miserable day.  I did go out to see a client this morning and feed the Boys in the Country - you can see from the photo below that the sky was sitting on our very low hills, and all was ridiculously wet.  The cats were not keen on being out and about and herded me back up to shelter as soon as they could, and basically were keen to see the back of me so they could go back to sleep.  No one came with me for my walk round the boundaries of the other two plots.

This afternoon I did get to go out again, this time to the hairdresser - o the bliss of being properly coiffured once again!  Cecelia is very strict about her clients following the rules of hygiene, and is working very long hours to try to catch up with the backlog from the very tight lockdown.  She says that December is normally frantic anyway, but that this year, it is even more frantic than normal.  To ensure she can meet customer expectations, she only has Sundays off, stops at 4pm on a Monday to collect her children from school, has a two hour lunch break on a Wednesday to spend time with her children but otherwise the salon is open 9am to 9pm, and she is the only person working there.  Don't tell me the French are slackers!

I solved the problem of the Christmas card picture - I have ordered 80 photo prints of the picture I want to use, and will stick those to the stiff paper we already have, to provide a mount.  That sounds like it should be an expensive option, but the total cost is under 9 Euros including postage and packing.  The only issue is wondering when the photos will actually arrive.

Again following on from yesterday, given the level of pain and swelling from the sting, we are pretty confident it was a wasp queen that got me, having decided to overwinter in the house.  However she is history as John dealt with her with severity.

I believe Love Actually is on French TV tonight, so we will watch it all through for the first time ever (seen bits from time to time) as our nod to the festive season, and hope that tomorrow is a bit more appealing as a day.