Rural Life

Waiting for Summer, although Spring might be nice!

No lockdown title at the moment, although we do still have curfew between 9pm and 6am, and aren't really supposed to travel across international borders unless it is really important.  I said I would continue to do the odd blog - I'm going to try for Sunday afternoons, once I've done my afternoon's work.

The big news this week was of course that café, pub and restaurant terraces could open to customers outdoors - our local opened on Thursday (officially he could have opened on Wednesday, but it isn't one of his "days"), but we were tied up with work until 7:30pm, so our first indulgence was on Friday evening.  Normality was restored and beer o'clock (or wine o'clock) was back!

Of course this had to be outdoors, and while there is a high roof over the terrace, that doesn't stop wind, and when it rains and there is wind, it doesn't stop rain much either, so we had to move tables.  The showers currently are very localised, so while it was pelting it down with rain, there was also sunshine and therefore a rainbow, or even two!

This morning we spent at The Shack, hedge trimming, a bit of mowing, a lot of weeding, some potting on and some planting of seedlings, but probably the most important activity was getting the ropes installed for the hammock.  And then we had to try it out - OMG!  Really rather blissful, to lie in the hammock, swinging slightly, listening to the birds and the blasted wind in the leaves, because yes, that wind is still going.  Cats also thought that this was pretty good, as whichever of us was in the hammock was also pretty horizontal and therefore unable to do much about being laid on and licked.

I also beat the bounds and found more bee orchids coming into flower - I'm quite pleased with this photo.

Finally, a serious bit.  The past 18 months with Covid have been hard in many ways for many people.  I guess John and I have got away with it pretty well, as we are fairly antisocial, and with our outdoor lifestyle and the gardens, have been able to be out and about without too many constraints.  But we have been pretty limited in how far we can go and who we can see, and this was brought home rather brutally, with news that an old friend died during the week.  I'd seen him in September 2019, and had planned to see him again in April or May 2020, when over for work, but of course that didn't happen, and in any case I wouldn't have been welcome because of the virus.  But I have good memories of September 2019.  Worse is that he was one of a pretty tight knit bunch of us that worked closely together in the early 90s, and at this time in normal circumstances, we would be able to get together, share stories, memories and a glass or three, and that most basic of human comforts, a hug or four.  This blasted disease has deprived us of that comfort, and that is the same for so many families and groups of friends across Europe over the past months.

But looking forward, have a good week all!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - the day after

Well, I am pretty sure the vaccination yesterday is doing something as when I woke up this morning, all my joints ached and were only soothed by a hot shower and an ibuprofen.  In addition I felt tired and woolly.  None of this was worrying or unexpected really, in fact, like I say, I am sure it is doing something, so actually a bit reassuring.  (And clearly I am still a bit woolly.)

Yesterday evening I spotted a few interesting things in the garden after I had locked the chickens away for the day.  In no particular order - chive flowers, poppies that could be a bit dodgy, set raspberries and strawberries and the display from the red hot pokers getting going.

Stuff at home

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Then after lunch today, I went to The Shack to feed the boys and see what was going on there.  The vegetables are coming on OK although a bit more heat might be good for them, not least for helping the sweetcorn to germinate (now there are 4).  I did meet some butterflies trying very hard to make new butterflies, which isn't easy when you are also flying (which they did, but had stopped that for the photo).

Walking round to the wildflower meadow, I noticed a lesser spotted woodpecker in the sycamore tree, so flushed with the success of the butterfly photo, I tried to capture that too.  It is honestly in there somewhere, but I need a posh camera with a telephoto lens for that sort of thing!

Anyway, the wild flower meadow was looking fabulous as the clover and the oxeye daisies and the linseed are all going great guns, plus I did spot and photograph badly the first of the bee orchids.  Soon there should be lots more with the sun and the rain that we have at the moment.

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My favourite irises are coming out even more, and looking rather fabulous.  The irises I covet are starting to come out too, in a neighbour's garden - jet black!  I might get a photo of those tomorrow, but for today I bask in my purple and white ones!

 

Lockdown III, marginal release - flowers!

Outside of work, I managed a quick trip to The Shack to feed 3 ravenous boys and check up on the planting - so good to get a breath of fresh air and see how things are coming on, even if we also got well and truly rained on!  First stop was my gladioli experiment which is coming on nicely.  You should be able to see the progression.

Developing gladioli

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We checked over the vegetable plots - 38 out 48 seed potatoes are now up, broad beans are filling out nicely, the cabbages are getting fatter, and John's experimental seeds are coming up - lots of carrots and beetroot.  We took the weed suppressant mat off the sweetcorn bed as the shoots should appear soon and I don't want them held back by matting.  It is wet enough for the bed to not be appealing to cats either (famous last words!?).

Checking round the Orchard, the false acacia is coming into flower - about the only time that there is any real value to these trees as they grow like weeds and sucker off and away and have nasty thorns.  However the flowers are pretty and provide the wherewithal for good honey.

This time last year I bored for France with slightly out of focus pictures of bee orchids, but for the moment they are still hidden.  This spring has been vile, and they are delayed, but I did find one starting to think about flowering.  Clearly it won't be doing so for a week or so yet!

If the bee orchids are being shy, then while late, my favourite irises are starting to come good.  Given the appalling conditions, I hadn't expected to see them quite yet, but here they are!

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And on that happy note, I think it is time to close down the computer for the day and find a drink and dinner!

 

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 29 - sort of coming to an end

The President briefed the press during the week about his path out of lockdown restrictions, with the first relaxation tomorrow - I show below the actual different phases, but realistically there will be very little change tomorrow as the curfew is still there from 7pm, only essential shops are open, you are still meant to keep away from people if you can and work from home.  The only difference is that you can travel anywhere during the day (6am to 7pm) without having to have a attestation.  It really is no change for me.

May 19th will be much more interesting, while the 9th June means that we know by what date everyone will want their lawns mowed!!  

Anyway, we continue with getting the vegetable plot at The Shack developed - I think there needs to be a manual on how to garden with cats as they can be absolute vandals, while thinking that actually they are really helpful and gorgeous.  Well the latter might be true, but the former isn't!!

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Anyway, after a struggle and a lot of sweating and pulling out of roots of perennial nasties, the sweetcorn has finally been sown.  I have recovered the bed with weed suppressant mat, partly to keep the cats off, and partly to protect the seeds from the cold temperatures we are due over the next few days.  While the maize is coming up in the fields around, I suspect that sweetcorn for human consumption is a bit less robust.

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While I was doing that, John did a bit of mowing in the wildflower meadow, not least to check that the new drive belt on Ginger the ride-on lawnmower is working as expected.  Now I know people are going all goofy about No Mow May, but here things grow about a foot to 18 inches in May (assuming it ever rains again), and hay is not an easy thing to mow.  We were pretty careful to identify the area on the meadow that needed to be addressed as it was mainly shoots of bramble and old man's beard with attendant horsetail and thistle, while leaving the massed ranks of oxeye daisies, pink clover, linseed and orchids to do what they do and look lovely (but impossible to photograph to best effect).  I found two bee orchids that had been caught, but close inspection showed that as the cutters were nice and high, they should still flower.  We can also walk round the meadow without too much difficulty.

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Once all that was done, we went for a walk around the One Acre Wood.  There we have a different sort of lawn - an oak lawn!  Very pretty, but they will not all survive, because that's not nature's way.

 

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 22 - I'm not planting any more potatoes!

It being Sunday and a day of "rest", we were back at The Shack carrying on the labour of love (or greed) that is getting the crops in for this year.  The final third of the potato bed was so much harder than the previous two - I'm not sure why!  There were more roots, more bits of branch, more stones, more cat poo, less wind, less cool air and therefore more breaks for rest and water, but it is done - 16 more spuds planted, and that's it.  I have 12 good quality, chitted, seed potatoes left if anyone in the area wants them - certified stock and purchased at Jaques Briant.  I'm not saying their stuff is any better than anywhere else, just that is where we got them.  Let me know.

In one of my many moments of resting before the next bout of root extraction, I took the time to look up and found (yet) another spectacular view across the fields of Anjou, but one that will soon be gone.  The walnuts are about the last of the trees to get their leaves (along with a number of one variety of oak, possibly sisal), but I reckon that this view will be blocked by leaves in a couple of weeks time.

While I was getting the potatoes in, John was tidying, mowing, rotavating and making a nice seed bed for sowing a few carrots and beetroot.  If you don't look too closely, it all looks rather ordered and like we know what we are doing.  I can guarantee that in another 4 weeks it will be knee high in weeds again, but for the moment, we are feeling a bit smug.

Once everything was put away in an orderly fashion, we popped into the orchard to try to enthuse ourselves about getting that tidied up (fail), and on the way back to the car I noticed this little fellow sunning him/herself.  It is really good to know that we have such creatures around the place, and who will help with the inevitable plague of critters that will try to eat our fruit and vegetables before we do!  It's a slow worm by the way, for those who've not seen one before - probably about 10 inches long in total.

We treated ourselves to a trip to the One Acre Wood on the way home, partly to retrieve the ropes for the hammocks which have been tied round a few oak trees for about 10 years.  We have identified a spot in The Garden by The Shack where a hammock will fit most nicely, sadly only the one hammock, so there will clearly be a few "discussions" about who gets to loll around in it, but that is something to look forward to for May.  Anyway, the lily of the valley are finally out, which is a joy - so I leave you with flowers for today.

 

Lockdown III, Day 17 - revisiting an old haunt

While rarely mentioned at the moment, Brexit has brought a number of changes to our lives, including the fact that friends and clients are selling up and moving back to the UK.  They give a variety of reasons - grandchildren, the garden has become too much, fear of being cut off from loved ones.  Covid has helped to hasten the flow, as properties are selling quickly and sometimes for reasonable amounts of money.  Properties that would normally take between 2 and 5 years to sell are now disappearing like hot cakes, while those that have been on the market for a while are also suddenly gone.

When that happens, in many cases we are asked to help with disposing of stuff (over the years, we have increased our collection of ride on lawnmowers in this way), get given things (towels are always appreciated) and try to have a final drink/meal with those heading back.  Those that are clients tend to leave John's card with the new owner - for which many thanks, and in this way we gauge the new owners.  Those that quibble at John's prices are those who really shouldn't be affording a second home, not least if there is also a pool at the site, as they clearly don't understand the level of work entailed in maintaining a country home.

This afternoon I was "helping" at one site where John has been working for years and where there has been a change of ownership.  Already the garden is taking on a new character, but then I've not spent much time there for a good 7 years, so it is interesting to see the changes.  The woodland paths that we created years ago are being taken over by nature, but when we first cleared them, they were surrounded by early purple orchids.  This year there are some - already almost over due to the dry conditions - but not as many as I remember.

This garden also has a pond that is spring fed (I think), and I remember watching newts doing what newts do in the spring when it was very clear and with no plants.  I'm pretty sure the newts are still there, but with a certain amount of planting, there is a greater diversity of wildlife, and I met two small and very beautiful frogs.  I also met a lot of mosquitoes - today was the first day it was propitious for them to emerge, so I demanded that the frogs do their job better and walked away.

 

Lockdown III, Day 15 - preparing for summer

Sunday morning means hard work at The Shack, but only for a limited time with powered tools, the rest of it is sweat of our brows.  Yesterday I made a start on planting the potatoes that should keep us fed next autumn and winter, and today I carried on.  I thought working in the morning might be a bit easier than in the afternoon, like I did yesterday, as it wouldn't be quite so warm.  How wrong can you be?  As that bit of the garden is relatively exposed to the east/south east, I was in full sun as I picked over the soil for wood, rocks and bundles of roots.  I then retrieved a piece of weed suppressant mat with ready cut potato holes from another part of the garden, laid and stapled it, and planted another 16 seed potatoes in the holes.  Now it is nature's turn to work her magic.  There is still another chunk of plot to pick over and cover, and another 28 seed potatoes to be planted, but not for a few days, as I have clients who need me and the Azay One to visit on Friday.

While I was cleaning and picking over the potato bed, John was out with the strimmer style brushcutter, trying to clear paths round the ponds at the bottom of the orchard and the wildflower meadow.  While deer, badgers, cats and pheasants can get round there, up until today, we couldn't.  It is still a work in progress, and we look forward to the day when we break through to have a circular walk around pond 2 and actually find pond 3, but it was rather wonderful to walk around the other side of pond 2, as if I too were a wild deer.

I got back to the garden to find the most awful violation of 'elf and safety violation going on, but in a good cause.  How many unsafe working practices can be seen here?

Having said that, it was totally worth it.  One day we will have one of those picnic benches here, so we can sit with sandwiches and cats and admire this wonderful view of rolling Anjou countryside.  Today we stood and admired and watched the tanker from the dairy drive through the view to pick up milk from the farm, and thought that life is good.

Finally, to note that we are getting into wild orchid season, with the first, an overblown early purple style, coming out in the middle of the wildflower meadow.  It will be two or three weeks before the bee orchids send up their flower spikes here I think and then another couple of weeks before the lizard orchids do the same.  Nice to see the first one though.

A demain!

 

Autumn Lockdown - Day 34 - OK, some things change

It's Wednesday so it is market day in la Flèche, and finally we see that some things have changed here and for the better.  It has been a source of huge frustration that while you can sell plants (deemed essential), you cannot sell flowers (deemed non-essential) unless done by order/click and collect or some such system.  So it was lovely to see my friend Brigitte out with her stand and the glorious colours of flowers and ornamental cabbages and bouquets and cyclamen.  Brigitte raises her own cut flowers about 1.5km from us, but buys in some potted plants.  It isn't worth her while coming to the market in the hope of selling a 2€ cactus sometime in the day, but people are always after a good bouquet, and hers are some of the best!

The fripperie stands were out as well - so much acrylic and lycra and faux leather in one place!  But people were  happier, even if they weren't buying much.  It was enough that the extra colours and activity were a treat for the eyes and you could dream of wearing that pretty draped blouse, "enjoy" the accordion music from the CD stand and wonder who on earth dreamt up the plastic stuff on the "anything for 2€" stall.  Life seemed a bit more normal.

While Radio 2 and Zoe Ball were going all mushy about the Pfizer vaccine being approved for deployment next week, the feelings about vaccines against Covid here are rather different, with nearly 60% of those questioned saying they wouldn't want it.  They want to ski, to cuddle their grandchildren/grandparents, eat in restaurants and drink in bars, but they don't want to have the vaccine that will make all that possible.  Weird.  Even more weird was a promotion of the Miss France competition that runs later this week with all the 28 contestants (Miss Tahiti can't make it) posing in pretty cocktail dresses, open coats and face masks outside Versailles.  We assume they get to remove the face masks at some point, but it will ruin their make up.  Below, we have not so much Frosty the Snowman, as firewood bundle the Snowman.

Finally, walking around the wildflower meadow, I found the first hints of next spring's bee orchids.  I see at least two on this photo!

I think the damage is badger looking for roots and stuff.