Everyone will be delighted that this huge mistery is solved!
We have finally worked out what this is for
It is a sweetcorn/maize sheller. See a new one at the top of this page
Hurrah we can stop worrying about it day and night.
We have done a little bit of work cleaning out the upstairs as well as investigating various holes in our rodent/snake investigations. During the course of this we found a LOT of very old looking sweetcorn husks. We are not sure if they were just left up there after the corn was removed or if they were being used as insulation (the electrician suggested this when he found them in the floor cavity during the temporary wiring work).
Friday, 31 August 2012
Cool huh?
Look what Doug found when he was out walking the dog (the antler not the tikiman and doll)
It was in the middle of one of the fields. It seems a funny time of year to find one as they are shed in the spring and you would think one from the spring would be more damaged by now (eaten by foxes etc).
It was in the middle of one of the fields. It seems a funny time of year to find one as they are shed in the spring and you would think one from the spring would be more damaged by now (eaten by foxes etc).
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Too hot! Too cold!
After the heatwave last week it was 14 C today! There was a lot of rain overnight too, several centimeters if the forecast is to be believed. The amount on the lettuces would back that up
We have just got a rain meter but it wasn't out until after all that rain. It is a bit squint at the moment...
We had the fire on for a bit!
Fruit squisher
We brought an apple/grape press when we got the Destroi. We tried it out on watermelon. I love water melon juice. When I had a development team in India I went out there a number of times and had loads of it. You just don't seem to get it in the UK or here.
The press has a very cunning double ratchet which took us some time (and WD40) to get working properly. It has pointed metal pieces that let it ratchet one way or the other depending which way they are in. The idea is that you wind the mechanism down the screw thread until it touches the wooden blocks, you then ratchet to tighten until the juice is all squished out. You then reverse the direction of the metal pointy things and unscrew so you can remove the pulp and clean the press out. There were no instructions and the ratchet didn't work at all to start with so we were a bit lost... persistance paid off though.
The first half we tried with bags around the bits of water melon in the press and the remaining half without. It was easier to clean afterwards with the bags, but the juice was tastier without. We got nearly a bottle (I suppose the bottle is 75cl) from each half.
We also tried it with apples. But I think they needed to be minced smaller than shown here. But not as small as I then made them with the food blender (they just squished through the gaps). It seems there is a bit of a knack to it which we haven't fully got yet.
The press has a very cunning double ratchet which took us some time (and WD40) to get working properly. It has pointed metal pieces that let it ratchet one way or the other depending which way they are in. The idea is that you wind the mechanism down the screw thread until it touches the wooden blocks, you then ratchet to tighten until the juice is all squished out. You then reverse the direction of the metal pointy things and unscrew so you can remove the pulp and clean the press out. There were no instructions and the ratchet didn't work at all to start with so we were a bit lost... persistance paid off though.
We also tried it with apples. But I think they needed to be minced smaller than shown here. But not as small as I then made them with the food blender (they just squished through the gaps). It seems there is a bit of a knack to it which we haven't fully got yet.
Fruit Oat Crumble Recipe
This is like fruit crumble but uses an oat mixture instead of flour for the crumble.
You need to decide how much you need of the crumble and the fruit according to the size of the dish you want to cook it in.
To make the oat crumble (adjust amounts for your dish)
100g Oats
50g butter (soft or melted)
50g brown sugar (or white if you prefer)
Ginger, mixed spice or cinamon
Stew the fruit so you have a gloopy mixture
Put it in to the cooking dish
Mix together the oats and butter (if the butter is too hard this is tricky to melt it a bit in the microwave/pan/whatever) then add the sugar and stir in.
Put the oat mixture over the fruit (if the fruit is too runny some of it might sink but never mind still tastes good)
Cook in oven at 180C until the top is brown. Serve with custart or cream.
Photo didn't come out very well but it is very tasty. Will try to add better amounts but wanted to do the entry so I will remember what I did next time I try to make it.
You need to decide how much you need of the crumble and the fruit according to the size of the dish you want to cook it in.
To make the oat crumble (adjust amounts for your dish)
100g Oats
50g butter (soft or melted)
50g brown sugar (or white if you prefer)
Ginger, mixed spice or cinamon
Stew the fruit so you have a gloopy mixture
Put it in to the cooking dish
Mix together the oats and butter (if the butter is too hard this is tricky to melt it a bit in the microwave/pan/whatever) then add the sugar and stir in.
Put the oat mixture over the fruit (if the fruit is too runny some of it might sink but never mind still tastes good)
Cook in oven at 180C until the top is brown. Serve with custart or cream.
Photo didn't come out very well but it is very tasty. Will try to add better amounts but wanted to do the entry so I will remember what I did next time I try to make it.
Putting the sheep to work
The purpose of the sheep is to mow the lawn. Mainly in the orchard but elsewhere too. The orchard has been a bit overgrazed now as there are more of them than originally intended. So we extended the field a bit with some electric sheep mesh so they could get out on to part of the drive. They munched it down pretty quickly so we are going to get some more mesh and expand where they can go a bit further down the drive. They cannot have access to the drive all the time as obviously we need to be able to go up and down, but we plan to put them there when we are staying in for a few days. It won't remove the need for strimming as we cannot afford enough mesh to do the whole drive (that would be a LOT!!) but it will hopefully reduce the work quite a bit. If only they could reach up and trim the trees. Maybe giraffes should be our next purchase.
Moving time for chickens
Since Brave Chicken (we are struggling with what to call him now perhaps Rooster) decided he was a he not a she, he has been practicing his cockle doodle doo. It is not perfected yet and goes co cockle co cockle at the moment, but it is quite loud so we have had to move them from right outside the bedroom window. We haven't gone far with them, just round to the end of the house, we will have to see if that is far enough.
Before we could start moving them we needed to fix the wood pile at the end of the house. It was collapsed when we arrived in May. It has been on the backlog to have something done about it for a long time.
We wheel barrowed the fallen stuff round to the concrete behind the barn where all the wood from the outdoors kitchen went. Doing this gave horrible flashbacks to all the work involved doing that. But this only took 22 barrow loads. It is suprising how many loads it takes to move what looks like a small amount of wood.
Because we were moving the enclosure only a little bit some of the old area was going to be in the new. The plan was to round up the chickens to the end of the old enclosure that would be in the new. When we approached Big Chicken and Little Chicken paniced and busted out of the enclosure. Big Chicken seemed quite happy pecking around and little chicken hid in the bushes.
Once we moved the enclosure we herded them back in, so all ok in the end. This is a video of Big Chicken being herded, mainly so you can hear the excellent chicken noise she makes (accurately imitated by Doug I think...)
If it hadn't been Big Chicken we would have left them in the hope they would manage to bust back in again by themselves but we didn't want to lose the only egg layer!. Unfortunately the upheaval seems to have put her off laying today. Or perhaps it is unrelated, Rooster deciding he is a he seems to have put her off her stride a bit, maybe because she is the only mature female and is getting a lot of attention.
Before we could start moving them we needed to fix the wood pile at the end of the house. It was collapsed when we arrived in May. It has been on the backlog to have something done about it for a long time.
Because we were moving the enclosure only a little bit some of the old area was going to be in the new. The plan was to round up the chickens to the end of the old enclosure that would be in the new. When we approached Big Chicken and Little Chicken paniced and busted out of the enclosure. Big Chicken seemed quite happy pecking around and little chicken hid in the bushes.
If it hadn't been Big Chicken we would have left them in the hope they would manage to bust back in again by themselves but we didn't want to lose the only egg layer!. Unfortunately the upheaval seems to have put her off laying today. Or perhaps it is unrelated, Rooster deciding he is a he seems to have put her off her stride a bit, maybe because she is the only mature female and is getting a lot of attention.
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| Safe back in the enclosure |
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| Hillbilly bench |
All hail the mighty dishwasher
For something like the first month we were here we didn't have a dishwasher. Plus we had no hot water (unless the fire was on) so washing up was something of a trial. Occassionally I feel bored of filling and emptying the dishwasher, recently we seem to have been doing a lot of things that create washing up (all the bottling and jamming) and filling and emptying sometimes feels like a full time job. So I have to remind myself of the time before the dishwasher and how much more boring and painful washing up by hand was.
We brought the washing machine with us when we came so we didn't have to survive more than about a week without that before the plumber plumbed it in.
The other thing we are still missing at the moment is a freezer. We have a small fridge and it does have an ice box, but one which can only freeze condensation so it gets all frosted up but it cannot even managed icecubes with any reliability. Trusting it with food is certainly not a good idea. We have just ordered a fridge freezer and it will be exciting to have things in the freezer so trips to the supermarket can perhaps become less frequent.
We brought the washing machine with us when we came so we didn't have to survive more than about a week without that before the plumber plumbed it in.
The other thing we are still missing at the moment is a freezer. We have a small fridge and it does have an ice box, but one which can only freeze condensation so it gets all frosted up but it cannot even managed icecubes with any reliability. Trusting it with food is certainly not a good idea. We have just ordered a fridge freezer and it will be exciting to have things in the freezer so trips to the supermarket can perhaps become less frequent.
Mango Chutney Recipe
4 Mangoes (chopped in to small pieces)
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinager (malt or not)
1/2 cup sultanas
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 4 cloves, 1/2 tsp paprika (and or any other spices you fancy)
1 onion chopped finely
Crushed garlic clove
Put everything except the sugar in a pan and boil until the mango has softened and started to mush and crumble.
Add the sugar and boil until the sauce is thickening.
If you see the cloves (they tend to float to the top) remove them.
Put in to clean jars. You can now process the jars in a water bath for better sterility if you wish.
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinager (malt or not)
1/2 cup sultanas
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 4 cloves, 1/2 tsp paprika (and or any other spices you fancy)
1 onion chopped finely
Crushed garlic clove
Add the sugar and boil until the sauce is thickening.
If you see the cloves (they tend to float to the top) remove them.
Bramble Whisky Recipe
350g Brambles
1l Whisky
175g Sugar
1.5l Jar with a air tight top.
Put everything in to the jar. It should come to near the top, shake to mix.
Leave for about 3 months (shake a few times near the beginning until the sugar is dissolved) then strain off the fruit in to a bottle. Age for a further 6 months or a year. It gets better with keeping.
Cheap whisky is fine (I have never tried it with expensive - seems a waste, as although the finished product is yummy I think it might have lost some of the subtler points of a good whisky).
This year we used a v dodgy 'Blended Whisky' which says it is a blend of American and Indian Whiskys for 8 EUR!!
This is a half batch.
1l Whisky
175g Sugar
1.5l Jar with a air tight top.
Put everything in to the jar. It should come to near the top, shake to mix.
Leave for about 3 months (shake a few times near the beginning until the sugar is dissolved) then strain off the fruit in to a bottle. Age for a further 6 months or a year. It gets better with keeping.
Cheap whisky is fine (I have never tried it with expensive - seems a waste, as although the finished product is yummy I think it might have lost some of the subtler points of a good whisky).
This year we used a v dodgy 'Blended Whisky' which says it is a blend of American and Indian Whiskys for 8 EUR!!
This is a half batch.
Silly lambs
Three times we have had to free lambs from things. Once from some barbed wire and twice today from some brambles - which are more vicious than the barbed wire.
Each time the thing has become tangled in their fleece so they could still move around but only so far. The one in the barbed wire made a right racket until we went down to see what the problem was, the other times it didn't make so much fuss so we are not sure how long it had been there. Not more than a couple of hours I think. It is hard to tell they are trapped until the rest of the flock moved off somewhere else.
We took the opportunity with one to flip it over on it's back (it struggled somewhat) and inspect it. No idea what to look for really, but it had a tick on it's bum that we removed. The other times the victim escaped as soon as it was free so we are not sure if it is the same lamb each time or not, there are two that look nearly identical although one is female and one male.
Each time the thing has become tangled in their fleece so they could still move around but only so far. The one in the barbed wire made a right racket until we went down to see what the problem was, the other times it didn't make so much fuss so we are not sure how long it had been there. Not more than a couple of hours I think. It is hard to tell they are trapped until the rest of the flock moved off somewhere else.
We took the opportunity with one to flip it over on it's back (it struggled somewhat) and inspect it. No idea what to look for really, but it had a tick on it's bum that we removed. The other times the victim escaped as soon as it was free so we are not sure if it is the same lamb each time or not, there are two that look nearly identical although one is female and one male.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Another boy?
The cow farmer's father came round today to move the cows back to the other field as they have busted out in to the neighbours field. The neighbour came round yesterday to ask for our farmer's phone number, as he has cows in that field who didn't need any more friends.
M. Baute Snr took a look at our chickens and told us that brown chicken is a coq too!
We are not sure whether he is right, but he sounded pretty convinced and we had been wondering too. But we had convinced ourselves that because Big Chicken keeps Brown Chicken in line and Brave Chicken (now Brave Coq) ignores her pretty much that that was indicative of her being female (but to young to be of interest to Brave Coq). We are not sending him/her straight to the cook pot, we will wait and see if she/he produces eggs or crowing.
We have decided to get a few more chickens (and hope are female) as one egg a day isn't quite enough. Little Chicken and Chicken Five will start laying sometime soonish but we are going to see if we can get some of the same breed who are already laying. We will keep Brave Coq for a while... probably... and have some baby chickens... we will have to see just how loud the crowing gets...
M. Baute Snr took a look at our chickens and told us that brown chicken is a coq too!
We are not sure whether he is right, but he sounded pretty convinced and we had been wondering too. But we had convinced ourselves that because Big Chicken keeps Brown Chicken in line and Brave Chicken (now Brave Coq) ignores her pretty much that that was indicative of her being female (but to young to be of interest to Brave Coq). We are not sending him/her straight to the cook pot, we will wait and see if she/he produces eggs or crowing.
We have decided to get a few more chickens (and hope are female) as one egg a day isn't quite enough. Little Chicken and Chicken Five will start laying sometime soonish but we are going to see if we can get some of the same breed who are already laying. We will keep Brave Coq for a while... probably... and have some baby chickens... we will have to see just how loud the crowing gets...
Sunday, 26 August 2012
One year on
The August bank holiday weekend is when we first came and saw the farm. We put in an offer for it after spending a couple of days looking round the area. Rash perhaps but we love it even more now than we did then. Perhaps we are aware of more issues as well now but that is to be expected (we kind of ignored the issues with the barn I suppose)
We celebrated with a curry and some 'Vin Sauvage' aka champagne not from the champagne region.
The French aren't in to curry and we have really been missing it, as there aren't restaurants and you can't buy the ingredients in the supermarket. Ruth, Huw and Christopher kindly brought us a number of jars of Madras curry paste, we cooked up the first one making egg, chicken and beef (not to eat all together but to last a few days). Variety being the spice of life. They also brought some mango chutney. We made naan to go with it all and had some of our home brew... yummy!
We celebrated with a curry and some 'Vin Sauvage' aka champagne not from the champagne region.
The French aren't in to curry and we have really been missing it, as there aren't restaurants and you can't buy the ingredients in the supermarket. Ruth, Huw and Christopher kindly brought us a number of jars of Madras curry paste, we cooked up the first one making egg, chicken and beef (not to eat all together but to last a few days). Variety being the spice of life. They also brought some mango chutney. We made naan to go with it all and had some of our home brew... yummy!
The Destroi Excellium
Seriously! That is what our new chipper/shredder is called. Awesome huh?
It has a 4 stroke engine and starts very easily. It made short work of various bits of tree we have hanging around. After a few limbs were taken off with the new axe (thanks Lorna and Aidan)
We bought it because we need to keep the branches over the drive trimmed and we will have branches to deal with when we cut trees down for firewood. The previous owner just shoved all the branches off the paths slightly and left them but we are keen to be tidier than that and will use the chips for compost, mulch on paths in the potager and in the chicken coop.
It came from an exciting shop called Univert which had many many useful machines, most of which we cannot afford.
But we splashed out for a mini apple/grape juicer as well in the hope that a few of the apple trees will survive being attacked by the sheep and let us make apple juice and perhaps cider. It is 4 litres (this photo rather lacks scale)
We bought it because we need to keep the branches over the drive trimmed and we will have branches to deal with when we cut trees down for firewood. The previous owner just shoved all the branches off the paths slightly and left them but we are keen to be tidier than that and will use the chips for compost, mulch on paths in the potager and in the chicken coop.
It came from an exciting shop called Univert which had many many useful machines, most of which we cannot afford.
Where are our eggs??
We have been expecting Brave Chicken to start laying for weeks now. Her comb had got as red as Big Chicken's and a similar size. But day after day there was just the one egg from Big Chicken (except on Sundays when she doesn't lay!?)
A few days ago we were awakened by a strange noise, initially (still half asleep) we thought it was Poppy, but realised it came from outside and the direction of the chicken coop. We didn't manage to track down what was making it until a couple of mornings later when we realised it was Brave Chicken and the sound was starting to evolve in to 'Cockle doodle dooooooOOOOOOOooo'.
This made us wonder... maybe Brave Chicken is actually Brave Rooster. We studied her a bit closer and now her comb is much bigger than Big Chicken's and the wattle under her chin is too and actually she is too. Today when I was feeding them she tried to mount Big Chicken - who was having none of it. But still it all seems to be adding up to one thing. Brave Chicken is a a boy. Which would also explain why Big Chicken hen pecks the other chickens but not Brave Chicken.
Maybe we will have baby chicken to eat soon. We were just thinking we might get a rooster... although we had been worrying about the noise a bit. We will certainly have to move them from where they are now which is just outside the bedroom window.
A few days ago we were awakened by a strange noise, initially (still half asleep) we thought it was Poppy, but realised it came from outside and the direction of the chicken coop. We didn't manage to track down what was making it until a couple of mornings later when we realised it was Brave Chicken and the sound was starting to evolve in to 'Cockle doodle dooooooOOOOOOOooo'.
This made us wonder... maybe Brave Chicken is actually Brave Rooster. We studied her a bit closer and now her comb is much bigger than Big Chicken's and the wattle under her chin is too and actually she is too. Today when I was feeding them she tried to mount Big Chicken - who was having none of it. But still it all seems to be adding up to one thing. Brave Chicken is a a boy. Which would also explain why Big Chicken hen pecks the other chickens but not Brave Chicken.
Maybe we will have baby chicken to eat soon. We were just thinking we might get a rooster... although we had been worrying about the noise a bit. We will certainly have to move them from where they are now which is just outside the bedroom window.
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| Mr Brave Chicken |
Thursday, 23 August 2012
We have healthcare!
We are entitled for health care in France for a limited time because of France and the UK being in the EU. In France you have to pay the equivelent of NI (that is simplifying it) to be eligable for health care. I started off trying to explain the ins and outs of it here, but it is all very complicated. The upshot is that we are covered until the end of 2013 and will then have to sort something else out, either doing some work which pays the relevant tax or by private health care. After 5 years you are allowed to make the tax contributions even if you are not doing work which pays the relevant tax.
Strangly we pay tax on our UK rental incomve (11%) which is called a social charge and covers paying for the health service but does not actually entitle us to health care in France.
As I say it is all nearly incomprehensible, even I think by the people trying to admisiter the system and the taxes.
Anyway for now we are registered in to the system and have got social numbers which means the UK will pay for any health care (visits to doctor, perscriptions, hospital stays) we need until the end of 2013. Actually this is not quite true - they only pay what a French person would be covered for which is around 70% of the cost, so we also need some insurance which covers us if we have a long hospital stay where the costs rapidly mount up. Apparently this is not too expensive though.
Strangly we pay tax on our UK rental incomve (11%) which is called a social charge and covers paying for the health service but does not actually entitle us to health care in France.
As I say it is all nearly incomprehensible, even I think by the people trying to admisiter the system and the taxes.
Anyway for now we are registered in to the system and have got social numbers which means the UK will pay for any health care (visits to doctor, perscriptions, hospital stays) we need until the end of 2013. Actually this is not quite true - they only pay what a French person would be covered for which is around 70% of the cost, so we also need some insurance which covers us if we have a long hospital stay where the costs rapidly mount up. Apparently this is not too expensive though.
Cascade Magenta walk
We went for a shortish walk to a waterfall called the Cascade Magenta. We chose it as it is a bit higher than we are here and in the trees so relatively cool in the sweltering heat.
Setting off
Getting close to the waterfall
View down the waterfall
The stream
View from the path above the waterfall (the Lesponne valley is very scenic)
It was nice and quiet so we were able to let Poppy of the lead for most
the walk which is nice for her (and us). At the moment she loves
everyone and thinks they all need jumping enthusiastically over so if
there are people around she really needs to be on the lead as
suprisingly not everyone likes being molested by an enthusiastic and
dirty big puppy!
At heel despite no lead
Nice light
Come here!!
In the stream
Setting off
Bramble Sorbet Recipe
250g Brambles
200ml Water
100g Sugar (bit more or less depending on ripeness and sweetness of fruit)
Juice of half a lemon(optional)
Serves 2
Boil the brambles in the water until they are mushy and falling apart.
Push through a sieve to remove the seeds
Put back in the pan and add the sugar
Bring to the boil
Take off the heat and add the lemon (you can leave out if the brambles are sharp flavoured)
Cool and put in to icecream maker
Yummy
200ml Water
100g Sugar (bit more or less depending on ripeness and sweetness of fruit)
Juice of half a lemon(optional)
Serves 2
Boil the brambles in the water until they are mushy and falling apart.
Push through a sieve to remove the seeds
Put back in the pan and add the sugar
Bring to the boil
Take off the heat and add the lemon (you can leave out if the brambles are sharp flavoured)
Cool and put in to icecream maker
Bottled Plums Recipe
With bigger plums you can bottle whole but I think our tiny little ones would then be a burdon to eat.
You need to be careful bottling things with low acidity because of danger of botulism - I am never sure how heigh the risk is. But sounds nasty and not worth taking any chances.
People around here look to be very keen on bottling things, there are plenty of jars available. I think a lot of the time they are processing meat judging by the recipe books around.
Plums are high acidity so can be processed with just boiling water rather than using a pressure cooker (with kills the botulinum toxin)
550g Plums
450g Sugar
Some bottling/canning jars, I use quite small ones for fruit, just enough for a crumble or stewed fruit for two.
Remove the stones from the plums
Put the plums and sugar in to a pan and heat gently until the sugar melts in the plum juice (a few minutes)
Increase heat and bring to the boil
Turn off the heat and pour the mixture in to jars, try to distribute the fruit bits evenly. Put the lids on the jars (read the instructions for how your jars work and adjust accordingly)
Put the jars in to a pan with about 2 inches of water (or about 2/3rds of the way up the jars). You need to put something in the bottom of the pan so the bottoms of the jar do not over heat. I use some metal coasters but a cloth will do.
Boil the jars in the pan for 15 mins (for small jars or longer for larger jars - read the instructions with the jars or there are various internet sites suggesting bottling/canning times for different fruit) and allow to cool. Most jars have a metal top that should pop in as the jars cool
Keep somewhere dark and cool.
You need to be careful bottling things with low acidity because of danger of botulism - I am never sure how heigh the risk is. But sounds nasty and not worth taking any chances.
People around here look to be very keen on bottling things, there are plenty of jars available. I think a lot of the time they are processing meat judging by the recipe books around.
Plums are high acidity so can be processed with just boiling water rather than using a pressure cooker (with kills the botulinum toxin)
550g Plums
450g Sugar
Some bottling/canning jars, I use quite small ones for fruit, just enough for a crumble or stewed fruit for two.
Remove the stones from the plums
Put the plums and sugar in to a pan and heat gently until the sugar melts in the plum juice (a few minutes)
Increase heat and bring to the boil
Turn off the heat and pour the mixture in to jars, try to distribute the fruit bits evenly. Put the lids on the jars (read the instructions for how your jars work and adjust accordingly)
Put the jars in to a pan with about 2 inches of water (or about 2/3rds of the way up the jars). You need to put something in the bottom of the pan so the bottoms of the jar do not over heat. I use some metal coasters but a cloth will do.
Boil the jars in the pan for 15 mins (for small jars or longer for larger jars - read the instructions with the jars or there are various internet sites suggesting bottling/canning times for different fruit) and allow to cool. Most jars have a metal top that should pop in as the jars cool
Keep somewhere dark and cool.
Too hot!
It has been too hot to blog, too hot to do anything really (although animals still need watering and feeding).
It has been up to about 32C around here, but has been much hotter away from the mountains. People who have been here about 6 years say it is the hottest they can remember. It is very hot all across France with Canicule amber warning in a lot of places. Hopefully will cool off soon as it is a bit much.
We have been inside catching up on lots of nasty paperwork that we have been putting off until the last moment (after all when would things get done if it wasn't for the last moment?)
There have been a number of dramatic storms which often seems to happen after a few days sun here. They haven't managed to cool things off much but have been good for the garden.
It has been up to about 32C around here, but has been much hotter away from the mountains. People who have been here about 6 years say it is the hottest they can remember. It is very hot all across France with Canicule amber warning in a lot of places. Hopefully will cool off soon as it is a bit much.
We have been inside catching up on lots of nasty paperwork that we have been putting off until the last moment (after all when would things get done if it wasn't for the last moment?)
Friday, 17 August 2012
Heat Wave
We had a lot of rain in June and July (tail end of the same weather systems as the UK had). There was still more rain in August but we have also had a number of sunny days. We seem to be in a bit of a heatwave now with some forecasts saying it is going to be 36C on Saturday (but most being more reasonable and saying 30 in the shade). Things still look very green though as it seems that when the sun shines for a few days we get a thunderstorm to wet things off again. It was very noticable driving away from the mountains to get the sheep that it gets much dryer as you go further away.
The house is still staying relatively cool downstairs - the benefit of 65cm thick walls. Upstairs is roasting through as there is no insulation inside the tiles yet (that is planned for the current phase of work).
With the sun the sunflowers have come out - tiny bit of planting that is not aimed at eating - although maybe we will get some seeds. Pretty and useful.
The house is still staying relatively cool downstairs - the benefit of 65cm thick walls. Upstairs is roasting through as there is no insulation inside the tiles yet (that is planned for the current phase of work).
With the sun the sunflowers have come out - tiny bit of planting that is not aimed at eating - although maybe we will get some seeds. Pretty and useful.
Bramble Jelly Recipe
Brambles ripen much earlier here than the UK (not suprising I suppose). They have just come ripe now and should last sometime. Doug went on a picking mission yesterday.
Rinse the brambles and put them in a pan with a drip of water (just to stop them burning on the bottom before the juice starts coming out).
Heat at a low temp with the lid on until the brambles are mushy and falling apart (maybe 20-30 mins)
Mush the gloop through a sieve (If you want really clear jelly you should use a jelly bag/cheese cloth and wait while the mixture drips through - don't squeeze it. But it is much quicker to do through a sieve and I think you get more of the brambly flavour out too)
Weigh the resulting liquid and add the same weight in sugar back in a pan.
Bring to the boil and boil until setting point is reached (consult internet for various ways to do this - I assess how it looks falling off a spoon)
Put in to clean jars and add a wax top.
Rinse the brambles and put them in a pan with a drip of water (just to stop them burning on the bottom before the juice starts coming out).
Heat at a low temp with the lid on until the brambles are mushy and falling apart (maybe 20-30 mins)
Mush the gloop through a sieve (If you want really clear jelly you should use a jelly bag/cheese cloth and wait while the mixture drips through - don't squeeze it. But it is much quicker to do through a sieve and I think you get more of the brambly flavour out too)
Weigh the resulting liquid and add the same weight in sugar back in a pan.
Bring to the boil and boil until setting point is reached (consult internet for various ways to do this - I assess how it looks falling off a spoon)
Put in to clean jars and add a wax top.
 |
| Bramble on left |
The Potager
We planted a random variety of stuff a while ago. It wasn't as much as we had hoped to get in because we just didn't have time with all the other things we had to do. However it was an interesting learning experience preparing the land and finding out where to source seeds (or more where not to source them, the shops locally seem very expensive for a lot of things).
Some things are now ready (we already had some lettuce and potatoes) and some are starting to look like they might one day be ready.
Miniature French Beans (the plant is miniature not the beans).
They have flowers
and beans
You can see we expected them to be bigger (having failed to see the word 'nain' meaning miniature in French in the title).
We were surprised to suddently notice fully grown beans on them yesterday. Nice surprise, we had them in salad with a home grown lettuce.
We planted 13 plants more (there are 3 at the moment) last week which should have beans in October (although they have germinated much faster than the original three now it is warmer so perhaps it will be sooner)
Tougues of Fire Beans (they will come out pink and splotchy - type of Borlotti bean)
I think we can eat these when the bean is still green as 'mange toute' or let them mature and then eat shelled. Possibly we can dry them when mature to keep over the winter or freeze if they don't dry before the damp weather. Not sure what size of crop we will get of them. They are growing fast and have some little beans. You can see they were more the size we anticipated when making the frame.
Sweetcorn
We don't have many but it looks like each plan has more than one corn on it.
The corns have appeared. Not sure how we tell when they are ready to harvest (better check the all knowing internet)
Rhubarb
Has grown massively. When we planted it it was a runty little thing which we left in the pot for ages after buying it and alternated between flood and drought. We haven't eaten any yet but plan to do so soon (but not the leaves as they are poisonous)
Onions
We bought them as seedlings, all 30 (or maybe it was 40) came in a single pot. They suffered somewhat like the Rhubarb from not being planted straight away and being rained on to excess and allowed to dry out in between.
They seem to be doing ok now though
Peanuts
This was a bit of an impulse by in Point Vert. We are keen to make our own peanut butter and thought it would be fun to grow the peanuts. Perhaps they are not the most high priority thing to have planted.
They are growing quite slowly and now have flowers. The peanuts will be on the roots a bit like potatoes frow when we dig them up (consultation of internet required again to tell when they are ready - I think it is when the plants die back)
Asparagus
We planted these although it wasn't quite the right time of year. Perhaps we will see some action from them next spring... or perhaps not. We plan on planting some more somewhere anyway to increase chances of a crop at some point. It takes them some years to get established.
New plantings
We have just planted some carrots, some chard and some more of the miniature french beans. We plan on doing some kale for over the winter and some broad beans and peas for harvest in the spring. They will go in on the current pig plot once we either move the pigs or they go to the abatoir (hopefully we will get it together to move them but where we want them to go it is harder to get water too...)
Some things are now ready (we already had some lettuce and potatoes) and some are starting to look like they might one day be ready.
Miniature French Beans (the plant is miniature not the beans).
They have flowers
We planted 13 plants more (there are 3 at the moment) last week which should have beans in October (although they have germinated much faster than the original three now it is warmer so perhaps it will be sooner)
Tougues of Fire Beans (they will come out pink and splotchy - type of Borlotti bean)
I think we can eat these when the bean is still green as 'mange toute' or let them mature and then eat shelled. Possibly we can dry them when mature to keep over the winter or freeze if they don't dry before the damp weather. Not sure what size of crop we will get of them. They are growing fast and have some little beans. You can see they were more the size we anticipated when making the frame.
Sweetcorn
We don't have many but it looks like each plan has more than one corn on it.
Has grown massively. When we planted it it was a runty little thing which we left in the pot for ages after buying it and alternated between flood and drought. We haven't eaten any yet but plan to do so soon (but not the leaves as they are poisonous)
Onions
We bought them as seedlings, all 30 (or maybe it was 40) came in a single pot. They suffered somewhat like the Rhubarb from not being planted straight away and being rained on to excess and allowed to dry out in between.
This was a bit of an impulse by in Point Vert. We are keen to make our own peanut butter and thought it would be fun to grow the peanuts. Perhaps they are not the most high priority thing to have planted.
They are growing quite slowly and now have flowers. The peanuts will be on the roots a bit like potatoes frow when we dig them up (consultation of internet required again to tell when they are ready - I think it is when the plants die back)
Asparagus
We planted these although it wasn't quite the right time of year. Perhaps we will see some action from them next spring... or perhaps not. We plan on planting some more somewhere anyway to increase chances of a crop at some point. It takes them some years to get established.
New plantings
We have just planted some carrots, some chard and some more of the miniature french beans. We plan on doing some kale for over the winter and some broad beans and peas for harvest in the spring. They will go in on the current pig plot once we either move the pigs or they go to the abatoir (hopefully we will get it together to move them but where we want them to go it is harder to get water too...)