Anniversaries

Not only was yesterday my daughter’s birthday but it also marked the start of my third year here. I can’t believe how fast time can pass, two years working on the farm I can cope with but my little girl now able to apply for a driving licence; that’s just unbelievable.

Another notable event of yesterday was that I now have for the first time since I moved in reasonable telephone and Internet connection. I’ve been more or less unable to keep an Internet connection for more than 10 minutes lately and once lost it often wouldn’t let me connect again for a few hours. I was beginning to think it was the modem playing up but telephoned France telecom anyway to report that I could barely hear people on the ‘phone line due to the crackling.

Yet again they said there was a fault and that they would have an engineer out to look at the line in the next 48 hours. The deadline passed and there was no change in the line – I didn’t really expect there to be, anyone living in France will tell you the same. But then, yesterday while I was working outside I spotted a telecom van moving post, to post towards the house. As they approached I could see they were replacing the line up to my house.

Back in the mists of time during an earlier problem with the line an engineer had been sent out and he’d told me my line needed replacing but nothing was done and I let it drop as I did get a connection again. But this time they changed it – I was really surprised as there is over half a kilometre of line that is solely used for me.

All of a sudden I have a stable Internet connection and a telephone line with practically no background noise. I’m over the moon.

A Red Letter Day

Today was the day the alpacas moved into their new paddock. Ann came over to help and see them go in – she has been wonderful in helping me to finish all the fencing; I couldn’t have got all of it fixed as tightly or as quickly without her. And I’ve not forgotten all the help G, M & C gave with the posts last summer; thanks guys.

Dragging buckets of water over there is going to be a bit of a drain so that should spur me on to finish the roofing of the shelter and install a rainwater collection system there.

Moving the alpacas was nearly thwarted by the rain; yes folks yet more rain. Nothing torrential but just a few millimetres every day or so and seven millimetres last night just for good measure. Reversing the trailer became impossible, it just skated over the mud but by going round the block I eventually got into a position where we could load them up and take them over to the field. Once there they couldn’t believe their eyes, grass and space, it was then heads down and munch away.


Having got them into the field, Ann and I decided it was time for a celebratory tea. I mentioned that since finding the nests where the chickens had laid the last lot of eggs, they’d moved and I’d not had any eggs for 3 days. While I boiled the kettle Ann went for a hunt around and finally found the last few days haul. They were hidden away in the bottom of an old straw bale. Only one of the chicken is using the nest boxes I made. I don’t think my animals appreciate my carpentry skills; the alpacas never went into the previous shelter I built them.


I now have a mini glut of eggs so I’m thinking about trying to dry some as a method of preserving them for next winter.

A Few Dry Days

The rain finally held off again – we’ve had well over last November’s rainfall already this month – and I was treated to the wonderful sunrise above the other morning.

A day and a half of dry weather meant that I could venture out to put the last panel on the new shelter. I really should read the packets better, this lambris was only 7 cm wide rather than the 15 cm of the previous I’d used. I was really thankful for the nail gun since the narrower pieces were more warped than the wider. Even so it only took an hour or so to pin and screw it together.


When G put the hay into the hayloft he brought down some roofing sheets that were there. I’d seen them from a distance but not paid them much attention but I think I’ll use them for this shelter. I need to get some smaller sheets to span the roof with an overhang but once I’ve got those it shouldn’t take to long to get the roof on.

I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the sunny weather yesterday.


I spotted this stripless tree frog by the front door, I hear him quite often but he usually is well hidden.

I also have another companion in the garden; this is the Sussex cockerel who’s decided that he’s not to enamoured with the small world of the chicken run and pops out for an hour or so each day before returning to the flock.

Tree Trouble

With all the leaves falling I was able to take a good look at the large poplar tree that’s on the edge of the chicken pen just behind my house.

This tree had partially come down during the small hurricane that went through here in 2006, in fact the day before I saw the house for the first time. It’s also the tree that had a hornets nest in it and G, after bravely spraying the nest for me had looked into the hole they were in and said that the tree was really rotten at the base as well.

What I saw this time rather worried me, a large piece of branch had broken off the top and was hanging in the tree caught on another branch. It was raining and very overcast so I didn’t bother with a photograph.

Overnight we must have had some more wind because the branch came down. I must have some guardian angels because the branch fell in such a way that it missed everything it could have hit, like my roof or my animal trailer.

To give you an idea I managed to put this composite photo together.


The fallen branch is about 5 metres long (15 ft). I’ve been debating over the future of this tree and the two other large poplars planted alongside the house and this has sealed their fate. Today I had a tree surgeon round. There was much intake of breath so I think the quote is going to be rather high but then you wouldn’t find me climbing a rotten tree to take it down piece-meal. The other two can probably be felled in one piece but there is a possibility that one of them might take out some of the new fencing posts. Needless to say I won’t be racing to put the fencing up along that stretch.

As you can see the weather yesterday was lovely and the evening sky was a treat too.

Winter Preparations

The tractor still isn’t back so I decided to make a start on some of the outdoor preparations for winter. First up was cutting back the mulberry trees. Last year I made the mistake of leaving it too late and there was a sharp frost. All the leaves dropped in one go and the rain and frost of the following couple of days turned them into a ghastly slime that coated the grass. I really didn’t want to have to deal with that again this year so out came the long handled loppers and the pruning saw and I set to work.

The trees have done what they were planted for all summer; they provided shade for the car and the washing line. Now that summer is over, the car doesn’t need the shade and the washing needs to be able to see the sun to have any chance of the washing drying. After a few hours of pruning (it always takes much longer than I think it will), voila –

One reason for the slowness today was the heat. It may be autumn, heading for winter and the overnight temperature may have been 5°C but by the afternoon the temperature in the shade was 25°C and in the sun it peaked at 44°C. Working outside requires two sets of work clothes, a winter type set for the mornings and a summer type set for the afternoons. Tomorrow however we’re forecast rain and a drop in temperature despite the lovely red sunset out there tonight.

Once I’d finished the trees and then dealt with the alpacas I turned my attention to the wooden garden furniture. A had very kindly painted it with a special hard wood oil when he was here back at the beginning of summer, looking at it after a summer in the dappled sunlight it hadn’t fared any better than the doors C and M painted with linseed oil for me and they spend a large part of the summer in direct sunlight. The special hard wood oil cost around 18€ for a litre, my linseed mix works out at about 2€30 a litre so guess what I will be using from now on.

The home-made oil is a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine (as a carrier). The book I got the recipe from states that for soft woods use 75% oil, 25% turps and for hard wood use a 50:50 mixture. Half the time I’ve no idea what sort of wood I’m treating so I make up a general mixture of two thirds linseed oil and one third turps and use it for everything. By the time the sun started to go down I managed to do the upper surface of the table and three of the five chairs.

The other two chairs will get done as and when and I will also be treating all the wooden handles of my gardening implements.

Two Steps Forward, One And Three Quarters Back

I should expect it since nothing ever seems to be straightforward. I’ve been ploughing, then ploughing and then ploughing some more. G and I managed to get about a third to half the field done before he left and I’ve been trying to get the remainder done. The field is about 5.5 hectares and is outlined in the picture below. My tractor is the tiny dot at the top of the field indicated by the arrow and probably not visible unless you enlarge the picture.


The reason my tractor is there while I am somewhere else is simple. There I am in my own little world, trundling up and down the field when I allow myself the little thought that I am nearly finished. That was the big mistake I made. Never expect to finish anything easily. I glanced up to see how close to the end of the field I was and noticed that the radiator was boiling even though the temperature gauge wasn’t in the red.

A few choice words went through my head sort of on the lines of ‘bother’ as it was late and I wouldn’t have time to get to the shops for suitable coolant and it would be dark before the tractor would be cool enough to open the radiator cap.

This morning I looked into the radiator and it was empty so having bought the recommended stuff I refilled it. So far so good, no fluid gushing out so I set off back down the field. Having got everything warm and pressurised by the time I got to the end I could see the coolant dripping out the bottom of the radiator. A trip to the repairman was in order but having got there I found out that he’s away today so poor old MF is now abandoned at the back of the house awaiting repair.

I’m beginning to think that the field will never be finished.

Digging Deep

Time is passing so quickly it’s frightening. So what have I been doing; well, digging digging, labouring and ploughing mainly.

While the tractor was on loan for a few days I continued with the pottager area. The general weeds come out quite quickly but the couch grass is another matter. It takes half a day to dig an area that would take about an hour otherwise, but the good bit is seeing the barrow full of roots ready for burning.

The cats also love it when I’m out digging and I usually have my entourage, the only one missing here is Hazel and she was watching me from the patio off to the left.


Digging also unearths scores of these, mole crickets which scamper away to find cover as soon as possible. My guess is that they don’t taste too good as Cid usually leaves them alone while he goes crazy for grasshopper snacks.



Talking of digging, a month of so back I was lifting the garlic and I unearthed this gorgeous little fellow, a baby toad. Up by the chicken house I’ve seen, but never had my camera of course, an adult that is at least the size of a saucer and possibly a bit bigger.


Monday I had the tractor back so decided to get on with ploughing the cereal field. There was the customary hour or so to fuel and check over the tractor plus hitch up the plough. Over the summer, G and I have been working out how to set up the plough so it does actually plough and not just slide over the surface.

The main problem is getting the lift arm short enough; it’s a chicken and egg type of situation. It’s best length is the length it needs to be when it’s actually in the ground ploughing but while it’s still too long it is difficult to get it into the ground.

I read one tip somewhere about running the tractor up onto blocks on one side to mimic the working position of one set of wheels in the rut which I might try next time, this time though I could put the tractor into the last ploughed rut and adjust it there. Still it takes time as it’s all larger than me and being large lumps of iron, rather heavy. It’s working pretty well now, the only slight problem being that the short lift arm means that the leaver to turn the shears now hits the back of the tractor and unless the plough is downhill from the tractor I have to get out and release the locking mechanism and manually swing the plough over. But it keeps me fit. I’ve about a third of the field still to do so it’s looking like the weekend before that will be finished assuming the weather holds.

Part of the reason for it taking so long is that other things need to be done as well; shopping for instance as I hadn’t been for a couple of weeks and I wanted to restock my basics stockpile. Then yesterday it was time to help Ann and Regis. They were stripping the tiles off the roof of Ann’s garage/barn and wanted an extra pair of hands to stack all the handmade terracotta tiles. With three pairs of hands it was done in the morning with the tiles all stacked in known amounts in fruit storage boxes ready for sale.

Ann produced a wonderful lunch and then I crawled home – nothing to do with moving the tiles but I’ve gone down with a head cold. At first I thought I’d managed to give myself another asthma like attack, as the last bale of hay I opened was full of mildew but as yesterday morning passed and no breathing problems had developed overnight as last time I realised it was just a cold. I put it down to the rapid drop in temperature over the last week or so plus the differences between the night and day temperatures too.

So the rest of the week is down to ploughing, the pottager if time and the weather holds, chopping wood if the weather doesn’t. I’ve also a trip to the dentist today – yes another but I hope this will be the last – and then a trip to Deb’s from Lehners in France as she has a Sussex hen and cock along with a Sussex-cross cock for me to add to the hen collection. It will be the final get together before she returns to the UK at the end of the month. Then over the weekend I’ve spotted a local agricultural fair which might produce some more point of lay hens.

It’s Autumn!

Another season is officially here and the last of my summer visitors has departed for the UK so it’s time to play catch-up with the blog.

Last Thursday was celebration day, it was Snowy’s 12^th birthday and while Sue and I has a glass of wine, the cats celebrated with some tuna.

And talking of pets that brings me round to Cheep Cheep; he’s been growing fast. This photo was taken around the time G made the outside run for him.

About a week later he was too big for the box we were keeping him in and we moved him to the segregated area in the hen house. After a week there we let him mix with the other hens but put him in the separate run in the chicken enclosure. Eventually he was getting a bit big for that and had learnt to keep out of the way of the other chickens really well so he is now running round on the edge of the flock – being the smallest he is at the bottom of the pecking order.

This photo was taken a short while before G and M left and you can see just how much Cheep Cheep has grown.

Looking at his feathers we think Cheep Cheep is a male. He’s still very tame and will sit on my arm to eat the wheat when I feed the chickens. His friendliness is a good thing on his part, he is now in line for reserve cockerel while the cockerel from the earlier hatching has therefore been renamed Coq au Vin.

Many thanks to M for the pictures of Cheep Cheep.

I Am Still Here!

I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by. Days have been filled with repetitive work such as feeding the alpacas and the chickens, days of hard work such as getting in the hay and days out. Sadly though G and M are due to leave at the end of the week, the 10 weeks they have been here has sped by and I will be really sorry to see them go.

I won’t be on my own though, the plane that is taking G and M back to the UK is bringing my good friend Sue for a return visit which I’m looking forward to very much. Hopefully she can have more of a rest this time as I don’t have 200 trees that need planting although she has volunteered to help me tamp in some of the remaining 400 fence posts.

With luck, over the next few weeks, I’ll get round to posting some of the things I’ve just been too tired to post over the last weeks

Another Day, Another Fête

We had a day off last week and managed to fit 3 engagements into one day. In the morning G, M and I went to Eymet, renown for being the most ‘English’ town in France, or so the local TV station says every time England plays France at anything. They were holding an oyster and wine festival. Sadly there were no Arcachon oysters as their sales had been halted due to an infection scare but there were some from northern France. There were also many local wine growers eager to promote their bottles too.

We started off at the tourist information booth that was selling glasses for wine tasting and I also bought some raffle tickets. We then did a tour of the town square to examine all the stalls. There were stalls selling all sorts of seafood (as in the picture above), stalls with moules/frites and stalls with wine. Once we’d decided at which stall we’d purchase our moules the only problem was to get a seat. Whole tables were being reserved by the gathering groups of French who were far better prepared than we were. They turned up with the covertures, aperitifs, coffee and picnic boxes crammed full of salad and other delights to accompany the oysters or mussels.

We eventually settled ourselves on the end of a table near the corner of the square where we could people watch and then set off in relays to purchase lunch while leaving at least one person to guard our places. Having really little idea of which wines to try our decided plan was to get three different rosés and have a joint tasting. Wine, mussels and frites and a plate of oysters were soon purchased and very quickly consumed with much enjoyment.

From there we travelled to Monflanquin where the medieval fair that progresses through the bastide villages in the area was currently installed. The atmosphere in the encampments is always fun and the visiting children and sometimes adults, join in, arriving in their own costumes to be entertained by the re-enactors. One of the highlights of the Monflanquin stage was a display of raptors and along with a wonderful eagle our hearts were taken by this eagle owl.

We didn’t stay too long there as I started to feel decidedly unwell. This was not a good sign as at Christmas I had been very ill after eating oysters. Yes, I was decidedly unwell again which was strange as I’d quite happily wolfed my way through a box of two dozen oysters soon after I’d arrived in France. Having thought about it I’ve finally concluded it is the salt levels of the oysters that I can no longer tolerate. The ones I’d had when I’d first arrived I’d kept in cold water in the house as at that time I didn’t have a refrigerator. The two lots that had made me ill were both fresh and au naturel. So I think I’d better give oysters a miss when I out from now on.

Thankfully the illness was short lived for that evening we were off to the local salle de fete for a village meal.

My village/commune although very small, around 200 inhabitants, is twinned with two other places in France that share the same name. one of the twinned towns was visiting our village for a four day visit and the paella meal was part of the celebrations – a bit more of this in the next post.

As is almost statutory at these village meals there was far more food than anyone, even G, could eat and of course because this is the prune (plum) growing area of France it was washed down with the plum eau de vie. We did well and managed a few mouthfuls each of the fire water and then decided that we’d bring it home to drink the rest later. I only had to drive about half a mile but that stuff is potent.

The wonderful day was given and even better feeling the following day when I received a telephone call from Eymet tourist office. One of my raffle tickets had been drawn and I am to receive a basket of preserves from one of the town shops, exactly what I won’t know until I finally get it but I am thoroughly looking forward to that.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It’s been lots of work here on the farm. The ploughing is slowly progressing. On the whole it looks good but there are large patches where the plough just skims the surface, which roughly corresponds to the damp/clay areas.

The weekend was forecast dry with Sunday being 30°C, ideal for haymaking now that the hay cutter had been repaired. So Saturday dawned and I waited for the dew to dry and went to set up the cutter. It wouldn’t lift the cutters plus the hydraulic connection was leaking. G came out to have a look and see if anything was moving at all when I operated the hydraulics. The ram had opened to the full extent but the chain was still loose – not right as the repaired chain had only had a link changed. While looking at the cutter G said, “what’s that for’? He was pointing at pulley, a pulley that really should have had a chain wrapped round it but didn’t.

We then proceeded to spend the next few hours taking the mechanism apart, and putting it back together correctly. It took a couple of goes, partially because we didn’t have the right tools and partly because it was trial and error until we got the adjustment right.

Eventually we were successful. I stood in awe of G’s strength when he heaved the cutters off the floor so we could get some working slack in the chain; something I would never have been able to do by myself.

It was now well into the afternoon so I didn’t finish cutting until after it was dark.

Sunday was warm and bright and I was able to set down the hay cutter without breaking the chain this time. I then filled the tractor with fuel and went to hitch on the tedder. It didn’t take too long to attach the side arms and adjust the lift arm and attach it so all that was left was the drive shaft to the PTO. Would it go on, would it h**k; I squeezed the release catch, I pushed the universal joint but it just wouldn’t lock on. Eventually I got G out – his treat for the week was a lie-in, but even he couldn’t’ get it on. Eventually I got the lump hammer and a piece of wood; G held the release catch and I applied the persuasion – it worked.

OK so I was running about an hour late but I thought there would still be time so I started on turning the grass. What I was expecting to take about an hour took nearly 4.

I remember the neighbour who cut the hay last year mention something about it being ‘mur’ (better). Turns out it was my lack of understanding his accent; he was talking about ‘mure’ (blackberries). There were long strands of blackberries running through the grass and these tendrils wound themselves tightly round the tedder until it was completely jammed. This of course happened when I was as far away from the house as I can be on the farm and no I didn’t have my knife.

This happened a couple more times although I stopped before the tedder was anywhere as completely jammed as the first time.

I didn’t have my camera during the first pass but took this picture when I went down to do the second pass. It shows a bit of the problem although this was nowhere near enough to jam the machine and only took a few minutes to pull clear.

I finally finished the first pass with the tedder around the time I was expecting to start the second pass after leaving the grass for an hour or so to dry.

I did get another pass in but the grass still has some wet leaves in it so baling wasn’t possible. I now have to hope that the forecast for tomorrow is wrong and that we don’t have rain but I think I will be drying the grass starting Wednesday and hopefully baling by Friday.

One hay field.

Chick Update 2

Cheep Cheep, short for Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, - well it was either that or Kiev and we though the chick might have a bit of problem with the though of being chicken Kiev, - is doing well. He’s now regained complete use of his leg and foot and is scratching around happily on the grass in the run that G made for him.

Cheep Cheep has adopted G as his surrogate mum, calling out whenever he hears G’s voice and jumping onto G’s lap if given a chance. We now have the challenge of integrating Cheep Cheep back into the flock. Cheep Cheep knows he’s a chicken and runs up and down his enclosure chirping madly if the other hens walk past. At least one of them has been up and wondered what to do as though some memory is kicking back in that the chick needs looking after but it’s nothing to do with her.

Since Cheep Cheep is getting a bit big for the box that’s his current home I think he will have to go into the segregated area of the chicken shed. Although he can get out of that area, the other hens and chick are all too big to get in so he will have some security, but I am worried about how well they will accept him.

Has anyone else had experience of integrating one chick back into a flock?

Ploughing Time

It doesn’t take long to say, “Just got to plough the 5.5 hectare field’, but it takes ages to do, so that’s my excuse today for the lack of blogs.

I had one of those revelation moments the other day, it’s August and I’ve promised Regis the loan of my tractor for 4-6 weeks for the duration of the harvest. If the tractor is away for that long then I have to get all the tractor work done before it goes so I have a maximum of 2 weeks to plough the wheat field, top the new alpaca fields to cut down the thistles and give the grass a chance to grow and to cut my hay. Yes, the chain on the hay cutter has finally been fixed so hay is again a priority.

It doesn’t help that the temperature is in the high thirties and sitting in a glass cab tractor, even with the doors open is rather hot. G and I are ploughing in shifts; G is coping far worse with the heat than I am, (legacy of too many days spent in front of his computer screen barely seeing the light of day :-)), so he’s taking the cooler shifts. Each time we change over we take water from the fridge, the water we bring back isn’t warm, it’s hot, but we are both making sure we keep drinking.

I’ve been trying night ploughing, not too successfully, I now know which of the tractor lights work and which don’t. Needless to say, enough don’t, to make it difficult. The headlights are working interminably, a problem with connections I think. There is no lighting at the back but I think that’s because the wire to the rear spots has been cut. There is rather a lot of ‘odd’ wiring round the cab where things have been added and removed by previous owners so sorting that is another thing to add to the To Do list. The main problem with the night ploughing is the mosquitoes, midges, moths and beetles that swarm around the tractor once the lights are on. They make it really difficult to concentrate on watching where you are going despite covering myself with mossie repellent and shutting the door isn’t an option even at 10 pm. The spider in the top right hand corner of the cab is having a wonderful time and races round frantically repairing its web after all the insects have flown into it.

Picture below is the start of the ploughing; the field is an odd shape with a triangular piece at one side. Ploughing here entails a lot of turning the tractor round. I think we’re getting the hang of it, the field is looking good where we’ve ploughed and we are even getting the tractor up the field without it grinding to a halt too often. The soil across the field is very changeable, from shallow on top of clay to sandy. The weed/grass growth also stops the plough but we are learning very quickly to change the tractor speed, draft pressure and lift to get through the difficult bits. Still it takes time, as my plough is only 2 shears wide so really only ploughs a metre wide strip at a time.

Endless Days that Pass to Fast

The last three weeks has had some long hot summer days that feel endless but at the same time the three weeks that my daughter spent here have passed in the blink of an eye. We had a wonderful time and I can’t wait for her return.
My elder son is here with his girlfriend for another 5 weeks which sounds ages now but I guess will pass far too quickly as well.

As well as days out to places like Rocamadour – my daughter needed to get some more of the room spray that she got there last year! We had time for a visit to the Gouffre de Padirac, which I love, that provided a lovely cool interlude to a hot day– there were frequent shopping trips with a very successful clothing trip to Sarlat market. We’ve also got nearly one field of posts in. The heat has not only made it very difficult for us to be out in the field for long periods but has also made the clay/soil too hard to ram in successfully so we need a decent shower of rain to wet the ground again.

Another highlight of her stay was the water pump failing again leaving us without water for a week. The probable cause of the failure was the pump being partially submerged every time it deluged with rain. Over the next few weeks, while it’s still dry, I have to figure a way to raise the pump; the hose from the well stops about 15 cm (6 inches) above ground level and the pump house is a tight fit around the pressure vessel with the pump situated near the back, requiring anyone trying to work on the pump to be a contortionist. So the hunt is now on for suitable above ground, drinking water grade, rainwater tanks here in France. The below ground ones are easy to find but not the above ground ones of reasonable size – I’m thinking of around 15 000 – 20 000 litres split between 2 or 3 tanks. The lack of water had one positive benefit as it meant a trip to the local swimming lake happened, we meant to do it last year but never got round to it and as well as a small monitored beach and snack bar there were also showers.

The latest batch of chicks has not been very successful with only one chick remaining from the 8 eggs. The two broody hens fought over the eggs and I think that resulted in eggs being left uncovered as well as one of the eggs being crushed and one of the chicks being squashed. I tried separating the hens, there is a divider in the hen house, once I realised they were stealing the eggs from each others nest and also both trying to nest in the same place but the hen that was moved abandoned her eggs and spent all her time trying to get back to the other nest site. Next time I’ll move the hen as soon as one gets broody.

The first set of chicks are doing well and now about half the size of mum and are now out and about with mum leading them round the garden. Two of them are the same size while the third is noticeably smaller. I’ve seen the two larger ones chest up against each other so I guess that they are likely to be males (chicken dinner) while the smaller one may be female. Whist the silver laced Wyandottes are very pretty I’m not so convinced about their egg production, I’ve had no eggs for around 5 weeks now. Mum number one was my best layer so I’m hoping she will start again soon and then the next two to go broody were my intermittent layers. The remaining hen doesn’t lay at all so I think I will have to get some different hens, but not the bare necked variety, in order to ensure a good egg supply.

Edit: When I went up to feed the hens the remaining chick could barely walk and I thought it had a broken leg. The poor thing was being trodden on by it's two mums, which left me with the dilemma - do I take it away from the other chickens and risk it dying because it hasn't got other hens around it or do I leave it and risk it being killed by the hens. One of them was taking the occasionally peck at the chick if it was in the way. In the end I've brought it into the house and have rigged up a small box with a light over it for warmth, and am hoping it will survive the night.

Fireworks and Edith Piaf

Yesterday was Bastille Day, France’s National day. We treated ourselves to a day of doing nothing but relaxing. In the evening we set off for Villeneuve as we’d been told there was a free firework display.

We got to Villeneuve for about 8.15 pm and headed for the river where the display was happening. Thankfully we’d heeded the instruction to go early and found a place to park relatively easily. The town centre was heaving with people, roads had been closed, café seating spilt out onto the pavements and roads and live music was on offer at many of the cafes.

Not knowing where to go, we wended our way over the river to where the boats moor and struck lucky. We were on the other side from the entertainment – a band that played well-known middle of the road 70’s and 80’s pop music for the two hours that we were there. Although we’d come totally unprepared we managed to find some firewood logs to sit on right next to the place serving hot dogs, frites and drinks. Next year I now know to take a picnic and chairs, as did many of the people round us.

The sun finally set and the swallows darting up and down the river gave way to bats swooping and diving above our heads for the midges. We must have smelt wonderful to anyone standing near us having all covered ourselves in the various anti-mosquito sprays and lotions we had. It worked though as no one was bitten The band sang their encore at around 10.15 and we all waited in anticipation.

One rocket took to the sky, then nothing for a while, and then it was followed by a second one. Again a pause, we wondered what was meant to happen and then the music started and the bridge to our left erupted in fountains of fireworks. The musical accompaniment was Edith Piaf, which I loved, and the firework display was breathtaking. We watched, entranced, to a display of about an hour, the colours exploding over us, and the explosions echoing off the buildings that line the riverbank.

Then it was over; the explosions gave way to applause and then the murmur of hundreds of people wending their way back to the narrow steps leading up from the riverbank. It had been a delightful evening, one to be thoroughly recommended to anyone in France on Bastille night.

No Posts Doesn't Mean No Work

I've not posted for a while for a few reasons. The main one being that most of the work has been 'more of the same'. It's also been hot, 35°C and humid so working through the day has been impossible. As a result of this I've changed my routine; I get up early (well for me) and start work outside at 7:30 - I'm not a morning person so this is at least 3 hours ahead of my normal. I then work until 12 to 12:30 by which time it is getting too hot for me. Lunch and siesta follow followed by some housework until the temperature drops enough for me to carry on outside. My farm is in a shallow south facing valley and it seems to collect the heat from the sun. I then work until 9:30 or until it's either getting dark or I'm getting too bitten by mosquitoes. By then I'm far to tired to post.

Also Blogger has started giving me HTML errors if I try to cut and paste from Word; I usually write the post in a Word document that I add to and edit during the day. And I've noticed while writing this post it doesn't seem to be spotting all the spelling errors

So just what have I been doing? Well there's always the animals; the alpacas are still loving their new hay and devouring a bale a day. The chickens have stopped laying - the best layer is the one with the chicks so I'm wondering when she will start laying again. My second best layer has just gone broody as well and the other two, well who knows. I did wonder if they were laying alsewhere in the paddock but I've yet to find any eggs if they are.

I've been collecting the eggs daily from the new broody, she lays 2 eggs every 3 days and one of the other hens has I think laid twice in the nest in the last 8 days. When we finally got to 5 eggs I put the 4 I'd removed back under her and this morning she'd laid another one, so we now start the 21 day wait to see if they are going to hatch.

The 3 chicks are growing well although they are still far too small to be allowed out in the paddock. I have at least one pair of small birds of prey nesting in a tree adjoining the chicken paddock and the buzzards are always around too.

This week also sees my children coming over for their holidays and I'm trying to create 3 bedrooms for them. While I'm not quite there yet it's getting pretty close so they will have somewhere to sleep although they may prefer to be outside in the tent if it stays this hot.

The highlight for the week has been a visit from Debs of Lehners in France. She came over today to meet the alpacas and was due here at 2 pm. When it got to half past and she wasn't here I began to get a bit concerned. It turned out that despite reading and re-reading my direction to her on how to get to my place I'd managed to write a right when I should have written left - hang my head in shame. Debs being Debs wasn't too phased by it. She did a tour of my neighbours got an introduction to the mayor and got the correct directions from him. It was really lovely meeting up with Debs again and before we knew it the time had flown past and she had to race back to feed her animals.

I've been attacking the weed patch jokingly known as the veg plot and fruit area. The weeds around the fruit trees were getting on for as tall as me so thank goodness for the scythe. I've also had a go at rotavating a bit more of the area but the soil is now so baked that the rotavator just bounces over the surface. So I've had a re-think on weeding and am now scything down the large weeds and then hoeing what I can and trying to either fork out or pull out anything else. While it's not perfect it's quite fast and will stop the weeds from seeding.

Where I used the straw mulch it has been moderately successful. It has suppressed a lot of the weeds but has been colonised by the bindweed so I see a session of pulling that and burning it.

So while I may not have been posting I haven't been slacking. I still find the heat a bit hard to work in but it is easier than last year so I may be acclimatising at least a bit. It's so good to have the sunshine again after nearly half a year of grey weather.

Another Rainy Day

Well it’s not rained for the whole day but we had 13 mm over yesterday so the ground didn’t really have much of a chance of drying out today and then there has been a little light rain this evening too. It began to look like it was 10 pm not 8 pm, so no late night working tonight.

I did manage to get half the alpine strawberries picked though, nearly a pound/450 g of them. It will be another race against slugs and rain to get the rest picked tomorrow. Today’s batch is on a tray in the freezer as I want to see how well they freeze and more importantly defrost.

It’s also been a quiet day cherry wise too, the cherries in vodka have been shaken and are just beginning to give the vodka a pink hue while the glace cherries are on a day of rest. I may even have them ready for drying tomorrow evening, if not then in a couple of days. They are looking really red and close to what I think glacé cherries should look like. So I’ll get round to posting pictures of the results of the cherry haul when the glacé cherries are done.

Every cloud has a silver lining so the saying goes and the silver lining of the last couple of days is that I’ve been inside and have finally got round to clearing space for my children to stay. They will be here in a couple of weeks and I’m so excited but I’m sure they will appreciate somewhere to lay their heads and put their suitcases. So lots more boxes emptied and homes found for most of the stuff.

Next up will be tackling the loft. It needs all the old insulation removed and then a good sweep and hopefully all the rafters sprayed with anti-woodworm and termite stuff.

On the downside, the vacuum cleaner broke today; well it isn’t actually broken, rather the on switch doesn’t switch. As long as you press the switch it will work so I envisage me hopping round the room trying to vacuum with one foot firmly on top of the cleaner. Since I don’t have carpets I’m wondering if I really need to replace it; it’s about 6 years old now so well into its area of built in obsolescence. The only reasons I might are the cats, I really like to be able to vacuum where they sleep and I like to go over my mattress at least a couple of times a year too.

The ride-on mower has broken as well this week so I’m now wondering what the third thing will be. The car has taken to juddering/pulling back until the turbo kicks in; I think that’s what’s happening it’s at a bit over 2000 revs. I do hope it’s not the car, I was hoping that after 4 new tyres and the timing belt change I wouldn’t have any more major expense on it this year. To be honest I hope it’s nothing else either, so we’ll wait and see.

Tomorrow is dentist day, part of me is happy as I’m hoping that my teeth will be fixed but part of me is worrying whether it’s going to hurt. I think the root is finally dead as it doesn’t ache any more, so with luck all will be OK

Rain – Again

It started raining around midday and hasn’t stopped and we’ve already had 30 mm of rain. Still I should count myself lucky as in the south of Aquitaine there has been a hailstorm that left up to 30 cm of hailstones. It’s totally annihilated some of the vineyards in the area and washed out fields of maize.

Today’s rain has come after yesterdays 14 mm that saturated the ground so sadly my new vegetable area has been inundated again.

The ditch can’t cope so has overflowed.

And the field is flooded.

The bottom of the field.

A picture for ‘G’, your hard work last year is holding up well, the ditch is full but it’s still not flooding over the top as last year.

And this says it all; this was taken at the bottom of the new wood field, thank goodness both skin and the plastic clogs are waterproof.