Poached Pears Recipe

We have a pear tree in the orchard which we managed to save from the ravages of the sheep. It had a lot of pears on it, however we failed to pick them early enough (it turns out you are meant to pick them and let them ripen off the tree) so only got a few. Doug isn't too keen on fresh pears (mushy texture not much taste) so I cooked them in red wine.

2 pears
1 cup red wine (cheap is fine - ours cost 0.8 EUR per liter!)
1/4 cup sugar
Spice if you wish (eg cinamon stick, couple of cloves, a star anise)

You can do the pears whole or cut in half (easier to get the core out). Either way peel and core the pear. If you are doing whole then cut the bottom so it is flat and you can serve standing up.
Put all the ingredients in a pan and simmer for about 30 mins until the pear feels soft and you can easily stick a fork in it.
Put the pears in the serving bowls (or anywhere you like) and continue to boil the liquid until it thickens at which point it starts boiling in a much more foamy way. Pour it over the pears and serve warm or cold.

'I was abducted by Aliens' by Big Chicken

Last night I was happily asleep in my house with my sisters, when bright lights were shone in my eyes and I was beamed out of the house. I was suspended upside down while strange beings probed at my bottom. This morning when I woke up I found myself back in the house with no sign of the late night visitors...
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We are still fretting about why all the chickens except Big Chicken are slackers. The two new chickens we don't expect to lay yet as their combs haven't gone red, but Little Chicken and Chicken Five have lovely red combs which apparently indicate they are laying or about to lay. They have been that way for several weeks now and every day I go in hoping for more than one egg but no luck yet. Last night I was studying the internet and there was an article saying you can feel their 'bum bones' and the distance apart they are indicates how close to laying they are. So we rushed out there and grabbed them off the roost (it is only possible to catch them at night when they seem to deactivate and only wake up enough to eyeball one not to struggle much or run away) and set about prodding their back ends. We felt Big Chicken first for reference and then either Little Chicken or Chicken Five (to be honest can't tell them apart except during the day when Little Chicken will be hanging with Big Chicken). We couldn't feel any difference. We then groped New Chicken for comparison and there was a big difference with hers being much stiffer and closer together (maybe 1 finger width apart instead of 2).
It is possible they are actually laying but are doing it outside the enclosure. So the next plan is to clean the house out (it is a bit smelly) and then stop the door opening in the morning and leave them in there for most the day (with food of course) so if they are laying they will have to do it in the house.
If it turns out they are not laying we will just have to continue waiting patiently. Patience is a strong point for both of us of course. Someone told us if it gets to a certain point in the year and they have not started then they might not bother until spring. Nnnngh.

One of the aliens with chicken

Sheep getting a bit frisky

Soon after we extended the sheeps field to give them some more grass Mrs Jacob (the brown and white one) and Mrs Suffolk (the white one) both came in to season. Possibly some of the other ewes did too although it is hard to tell.
This showed up our ignorance as we rather expected it to be later that they came in to season. Based on 5 months gestation we thought it would be November/December to have lambs April/May. We did intend to separate the sheep in to a number of flocks so we would know who the fathers of lambs were. It seems it is too late now though. Also we are not quite clear whether the lambs born at the start of this year will be fertile yet or not. Some sources suggest not, but the interest the male ones were showing in the in season ewes suggest maybe they will.
The rams did a bit of fighting but nothing too serious, perhaps because Tyson is the clear winner. Col and one of the male lambs spent a lot of time standing nose to tail and kind of licking each other which flibbling a front leg - apparently aiming at the others bollocks, but not making contact it would seem.
It doesn't come out in a photo but looked very funny. Not really sure what they were up to. Must consult the internet. Tyson was the only one we saw getting any actual action.

The ear tags have arrive also, so shortly we will have some jolly fun trying to catch the little buggers and apply the tags. The instructions with them are a bit confusing too so we will most likely end up with them in the wrong ear or wrong place on the ear. We need to go and peer at some other local sheep.

Crème de Marron Recipe

Chestnuts
Same weight of sugar (brown makes for a nicer colour - it is a bit wishy washy looking otherwise - but both brown and white taste good)
100ml of water (or a bit more) per kg
Splash of vanilla essense or a vanilla pod

Shell the chestnuts (I find the best way is to put a long slash or cross one one side with a sharp knife and boil for about 5 mins then remove skins while still hot), try to get the inner skin off too otherwise the crème can be a bit gravelly - but if you can't be arsed (as I can't) it will come out fine anyway.
Boil in the water for a few minutes more add the vanilla pod if you are using (or until cooked at which point they will crumble easily when pressed with a fork)
Add the sugar and heat up to a boil (careful it can bubble and splash)
Let it cool a little and liquidise (remove vanilla pod before blending if you are using) or push through a sieve (much more labourious although I managed to do it reasonably quickly). You can add a bit more water at this point if you want and boil a bit off after- can make it easier.
The mixture should be thick like peanut butter or nutella (perhaps a bit runnier).

You can now reheat and put in to jars or just keep in the fridge. You can also 'can' or 'bottle' to keep for longer. We haven't got a pressure canner yet but hope to get one soon (before the chestnut season is over).

Crème de Marron is lovely in cakes (makes nice moist cakes, I will be making one soon so will put up the recipe soon), mixed in to yoghurt, baked with apples, spread on toast or just eaten (guilitly) from the jar with a teaspoon. Mmmm do you think it would be nice in hot chocolate?

Lovely fat chestnutsv

After pureeing

In the jars

More work for visitors

After lulling them in the a false sense of security about how lovely and relaxing life is around here by taking them to the mountains, we put Iain and Hilary to work (no slackers on the farm - except Poppy and Pernod).
The sheep had munched through their second field full of grass

Brown field

So we set Iain and Hilary to helping put up an additional bit of fence giving them access to some lovely green lush grass. You can see them in this picture if you look really hard.

The grass IS greener on the other side of the fence

Sheep rushing in to the new pasture...

Happy in the new green grass

All the fields have brambles growing in them, and we really need to keep cutting them down so they don't get established. So once the new fence was in place and the sheep were happily munching away in their new grass Iain and Hilary set about the slightly more effortful task of hacking them down with a scythe and shears. It was pretty hot and humid so a heroic effort!!

We are looking forward to more visitors to put to work :)

Lunch and walk at the Col de Beyrede

We take most visitors to the Auberge du Col de Beyrede (if we didn't take you it is because you were here before we discovered it) as it has good food and an amazing view. It is not open in the winter unfortunately (except by arrangement for large parties). Hilary and Iain were the most recent. We went for a walk afterwards in the lovely warm sun. They have a history of only getting rainy weather in mountains across the world, so it was good to break this tradition.

Autumn is here

Lovely view in all directions

View from the col

Lots of horses up there

Taking a stroll (and some photos)

Walking through the woods

The sweet chestnut dance

There is also an apple dance, a plum dance, a green tomato dance, a grasshopper dance (really good this one), a long grass dance (looks somewhat like a pronking springbok) and the I am a tired puppy dance (often involves a 'madly jumping on people and running off before you can be caught' highly skilled manouver)