Sold Out!

Last Sunday we set up stall in Bagnoles de l'Orne. A really good day - more or less sold out. We have only a small selection of books left and when we were down to the last 4 jars of chutney we shut up shop. Several repeat customers came along, ones we had sold to at Domfront the week before and stocked up. Now just have to wait for the apples to be ready for harvesting and then it will be time to make more chutney. The blackberries have started to ripen - made the first blackberry and apple pie today with the first ripe berries and some windfall apples.

Some customers even had their dogs with them.

Aliénor, our next door neighbours dog, has given birth to her first litter of pups, nine healthy little things. When we saw them they still had their eyes closed but had already grown quite a lot.

Mother and babies doing well!

Yesterday we visited the town of Mortagne au Perche which is in the eastern partof the Department of Orne. A lovely small town with many interesting buildings and many small streets to explore, worth a visit if you are near by. http://www.ot-mortagneauperche.fr/

North of the town is the Abbaye de la Trappe (http://www.latrappe.fr/) unfortunately it is not open to the public although there is a shop selling religious books etc and a selection of food and drinks from the Abbey and other local producers.

After leaving Mortagne au Perche we stumbled on La Chapelle Montligeon when we saw the Basilique de Montligeon in the distance on a hillside backed by trees and with a chateau style building to the side. Only recently built - well 100 years ago - it towers over the very small village.

Caen, Vide Greniers, Garden Fresh Veg and 'The Big Society"

Bastille Day, 14th July, saw us up early, the alarm clock had been set and we set off too our local town to set up a stall at the 'vide greniers' basically a car boot sale. It started to drizzle with rain as we left the house but we weren't deterred. Thinking we would be there early we found the town already full of stalls and the most lively we have ever seen it. We secured a place under an archway which had the advantage that we stayed dry when it rained, however it is known as the windiest spot in Domfront. The old town is built on top of a hill and where we stood is the access through to the car park with a panoramic view over the countryside to the north, hence there is always a cold wind up there. However it was a choice get wet or get cold, we chose for cold.

We had our usual produce, jams, chutneys and lemon curd, and a box of secondhand English language paperbacks. The books always draws in the English speakers although they aren't particularly good customers for the chutneys as they tend to make their own. Despite the weather we had a good day, we had taken three boxes of books and left with one. We also sold a lot of chutneys and lemon curd to both locals and visitors.

It is also a good way to meet people, and we made contact with 'friends of some friends' who recognised the label on the Lemon Curd having been offered it to taste by one of our neighbours.
I also met a man interested in local history who made some suggestions of names to look out for in the library and I also told him about some booklets that I had read about the war time period in Domfront which he hadn't heard of. Always nice to know something that locals don't know.

Friday we had our Welsh friends over for lunch - these are the friends we meet up with here, but have only met once on the UK side of the channel. Wednesdays rain had cleared away quickly and we were back to the warmth we have been enjoying for weeks, so kept the menu light, and where possible fresh from the garden.




Salmon, with a fresh vegetable salad, our first new potatoes,and a fruit tart with raspberries, redcurrants and blueberries all picked that morning.







This year has been a particularly good year for fruit - the cherry trees around us have been full of fruit.
I have frozen quite a lot and made three different types of Cherry Jam, White Cherry, Dark Red Cherry and a light Red Cherry.







Monday we headed north to Caen to visit the summer exhibition at the Musée de Normandie. This year it is about the local Caen Stone, which has been used to build Canterbury, Chichester and Norwich Cathedrals as well as the London Bridge. As usual it was very well presented. The temporary exhibitions are held in a recently renovated part of the Castle which as been left with the stone walls exposed and a simple light wood floor. The Presentation is light and modern and with good use of multimedia. I think a few more museums could follow their example.

http://www.ville-caen.fr/mdn/expositions/index.asp

Girls lunch today - had lunch at our local restaurant with my walking mate. Perhaps we should have been walking rather than eating, but we spent 2 1/2 hours over a leisurely lunch putting the world to right. Yes, we did start at midday and I was home just before three. There was plenty to catch up on, and I am sure there are still topics we should have covered which we missed, but we caught up on friends and family, discussed the economy - volunteering 'in the big society', battered women, careers, motherhood as a career and much more.

One interesting fact - there are 204.031 volunteer firefighters in France who account for 80 % of all fire fighters nationally - I was lunching with one of them!

Drought, Cherry Ice Cream and World Cup Football

We are back in the peace and tranquillity of rural France after a few days away in the Netherlands visiting family and friends. A visit which included a party on the beach in Scheveningen where some friends were celebrating the fortieth anniversary of their meeting (I think they have been married 38 years) and the funeral of a must respected family member who had died aged 93.

While there we watched the Uruguay - Netherlands match and are now ready for this evenings match against Spain in the World Cup Final. Not having any flags or banners to decorate the house we have found a good use for some Sainsburys carrier bags, thank you Mr. Sainsbury let's just hope they win tonight! Our neighbour has just popped in to enquire about the orange carrier bags, are they for harvesting some particular fruit or veg, or as her husband thought were we celebrating a wedding here today. She didn't know that orange is the national colour of the Netherlands - the royal family is from the 'House of Orange' - now she is wiser. Once France dropped out of the World Cup that was the end of it here in France there is no interest in other nations, although I suspect the south west regions will be supporting Spain tonight.

The sun continues to shine everyday. Everywhere is yellow and very dry. No matter who you talk to all they want is rain. After many years of bad summers one would think we would be grateful for this wall to wall sunshine, but as it hasn't rained now for months it is time for some rain. Other regions of France have had severe thunderstorms but we have just missed them all.

Rob has fixed a hose pipe to give a gentle cooling mist.

The farmers were very fortunate earlier last month to have a good hay making period but since then they have had to start giving the cows supplementary feed as the grass is not growing. Our neighbours have found their milk yield down by 250l over 2 days (the milk tanker comes every 2 days) which soon adds up to a considerable loss, put that with the additional feed they are using - the economies of farming are very susceptible to the weather.

Other neighbours with a gift shop in the local town are not benefitting from the good weather either as they find tourists are seeking out cool terraces or swimming pools rather than visiting historic towns. They are due to take part in a Mediaeval Fete on Wednesday and will be in costume, they break out in a sweat just talking about their costumes.

Not all is doom and gloom in the countryside. The cherries are ripening on the trees and we are lucky to have two white cherry trees on neighbouring land and have harvested a few for our own consumption, it would be a shame to leave them for the birds, although I did see the cows nibbling at them earlier today.

I made some into ice cream yesterday a lovely way to use them, so summery, (see cookinglizzie for recipe)

We are now harvesting a variety of vegetables from the garden everyday. The heat has caused some of the lettuce to bolt, but I have cut out the tops of many of those threatening to go to seed and braised them in chicken stock adding some fresh peas just at the end - a good way to use the lettuce. The raspberries have been particularly good and as well as eating them fresh every day we also have some in the freezer for later in the year. The blueberries are ripening a few at a time and I am putting them in the freezer for use later. Everyday I get about 60g not many but the bag is filling up.

The red currents are beginning to ripen so a pavlova with a mix of raspberries, red currants and blueberries will be on the menu soon.

The courgettes are beginning to grow - I think they appreciate all the watering we have done each evening and we have had our first meal of purple sprouting broccoli. The melon and cucumber plants which I was sure were dying last week have suddenly put on a growing spurt and are producing flowers and there is evidence of small immature fruits forming. The tomatoes are also enjoying the warm weather and most of the plants have small tomatoes forming, not long now and they will be ready to eat.

The only real problem in the vegetable garden at the moment is our resident mole who is determined to work his way up and down the rows and then when I am not looking across the rows as well. Never mind it means there are lots of earth worms in the soil which is a good.

We have now had a week of hot sunshine - long may it last.

However it was just too hot when we visited an agricultural show on Saturday. Local farmers had brought along their prize beasts and very handsome they were too, when washed and scrubbed up - the cows I mean. They were judged on the shape and size of their udders, the width of their rear end, and their general appearance.

As well as the cows there were some fine 'percheron' heavy horses being exhibited.

Yesterday we visited a 'vide greniers' where we managed to find a kitchen sink for Rob's studio, and I found a le Creuset griddle pan for just €2. Often the goods on offer are either just plain rubbish or over priced, but yesterday there were a large number of stalls and most of them had some useful items which were realistically priced. The fun is to find a bargain.

The biggest news of the weekend was the Parish Walk on the Isle of Man. My sister and her husband took part, starting on Saturday morning. Margaret managed to walk a very respectable 30 miles before becoming too unwell to continue. Simon continued and finished 23 hours and 30 minutes later having completed the whole 85 miles route. They both have sore feet but they are understandably proud of their achievements. Makes the 11.2 miles I will be walking in aid of our local Hospice a mere stroll in the park in comparison. Well done them.

Our own 'spring watch' continue to keep us enthralled. Our pair of redstarts are busy feeding their young - flying in and out of the hole in the stone wall where they have built their nest. Hopefully the young will continue to thrive and we will see the young fledge their nest. The parents are very nervous and only fly in when they are sure there is no one around, but by staying some distance away and sitting very still we can observe them flying around and they darting into the hole with insects in their beaks.

The female can be just seen entering the nest hole if you look closely.

Raspberries, Music and tired feet

Isn't that a beautiful flower, our Blue Danube potatoes are in flower now and look stunning.

June 21st, the longest day, is traditionally celebrated with a 'fete de musique' here in France. All musicians are able to perform in public, in cafes, restaurants or on the streets until midnight. We went to the nearby village of Ambrières les Vallées, where one of our young friends was performing with others from her music school. It was a very pleasant evening, good music, warm and light until 11 p.m.

Yesterday we harvested our first raspberries, I picked 270g of really ripe fruits and today another 220g. As raspberries are one of my favourite fruits I am really pleased to be here when they are ripe. In previous years we have missed them coming back to find them rotten or shrivelled on the canes. Hopefully we will be able to continue to harvest for some time to come.

Today we enjoyed a long walk. We started off from home and took a route through the countryside on the other side of the river and included a stretch along the river bank. It was probably the warmest year so far this year so we were exhausted when we arrived home 13km later. Luckily we were able to sit down and watch the football, why do the english team find it so difficult to score goals, it is always a nerve racking event, 90 minutes is too long sometimes.

Cows, Raspberries and 'Les Bleues'

We have just enjoyed a visit from friends from Holland. Although it was warm and sunny on Friday when they arrived and we could enjoy the pleasures of sitting outside in the yard, the weather turned very cold and windy and only now has the weather improved a bit. Never mind, we fitted in a visit to Bagnoles de l'Orne on Saturday, spent some time in the farmers market and then a short walk around the town, before heading back here for lunch. Despite the cold wind we did sit out in the afternoon, but had to keep wrapping up and then unwrapping as the clouds blew across the sun. Anyway they discovered the pleasures of living in the country, the peace and quiet and the farm animals which follow you as you walk by, the cows have so little to distract them that 'foreigners on the hoof' are worth checking out.

Anyway it is a bit warmer today and I have got the last of the plants in the garden, there really is no more room to fit anything else in.

The raspberries are beginning to ripen and we will have our first bowl either later today or tomorrow. The look luscious, deep red and plump!

As you may already know, the French are prone to striking but it would appear that the French Football team have gone too far. Last evening TV news broadcast of 20 mins was taken up with 18 mins about the French team being on strike and refusing to train for the manager. The minister for work gave her opinion about how bad it was for the working man, particularly the young who are finding it difficult to find work to see this display of unrest amongst 'les Bleues'. The Minister for sport is in South Africa and will stay until Tuesday to help sort out the problem, maybe she will take on the position of Manager/trainer - who knows. As Rob says this world cup is the tournament for the underdog, with all the so called 'top teams' failing to win their matches. We are not keen football fans but do try and keep up with big international tournaments, this one is certainly hotting up. As for

England well we will have to wait and see if they can figure out why they are in South Africa and why they receive such large salaries. Perhaps footballers should only get paid if they win matches not just for turning up.

Lots of peas and broad beans and my 'new asparagus bed' in the foreground (see left). The plants are I admit a bit small yet but as they were grown from seed only this spring I don't think they look too bad. Another few year and we can eat them assuming nothing happens to them in the mean time.

Weeds, Weeds and more Weeds.

Why do weeds grow faster than vegetables? If only we could eat all these weeds we would never go hungry.

Coming to the conclusion I am not good at growing carrots or parsnips. Only one parsnip so far - no really worth keeping. The carrots which have come through are looking healthy now at least 20 cm tall and will lots of foliage, but still lots of gaps along the rows.

Never mind, lets look at the positive, the potatoes are looking good. Broad beans look promising, both sowings are full of flowers and one lot have actually got some small beans developing. The peas are coming on, but considering how many seeds I have sown, there should be at least three times as many.

The sprouts, sprouting broccoli, red cauliflowers and red cabbage which were planted last month have grown and are looking very healthy. The raspberries are heavy with fruits, need a little more rain and some sun and then hopefully they will ripen, they are my favourite fruits.

The two blueberry bushes are laden with fruits just need to ripen - considering the price of blueberries in the shops these are well worth growing. The red current bush is also heavy with fruit and the rhubarb has grown from strength to strength since last month and there are lots of slim tender stems just waiting to be harvested - I will use them to make a dessert this weekend when we have house guests.

Been busy planting up the veggies plants I have raised in the greenhouse today. The asparagus look really promising in their new bed, just hope they settle and then we have to wait a few years before our first harvest - but it will be worth it.

Celery, more sprouts and sprouting broccoli, cucumbers, melons and squash and lots of climbing beans. I started planting out the tomatoes until I ran out of canes, must buy some more tomorrow. Will put some more in the open ground and will also plant some up in pots. We have plenty of tomatoes last year but would be pleased to have a glut so that I can use them in the chutney and to make soups and sauces.

Must buy compost tomorrow, so that I can plant up the window boxes and tubs, I have some home grown geraniums and lots of busy lizzies just waiting to brighten up the courtyard.

Let's hope the weather improves a little more sun and just a little warmer would be nice.