Freebies and foraging

 My neighbourly gesture of sharing the garden produce has resulted in some kind returns.
So far we have been given some duck eggs, a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine and a homemade lunch and a box of chocolates.
I suppose this is a method of trading goods except you may not always get what you need .....although the above come high on the want list.

We are still collecting blackberries, rasps and strawberries...however as the foliage is starting to die back I expect the fruits will soon follow suit.

The vendange. ..grape picking ...has begun so the village is full of rambling tractors and trailers.
The vignerons are not too happy with the size of the grapes this year. Along with the hailstorms that wiped out a lot if Burgundys produce I think the rouge of 2013 may be a little expensive

I picked the last four purple figs on the tree where I was attacked by the devil brambles last time.
Ha....I was ready for them this time and came away unscathed.

We had friends for lunch yesterday.Le petit pack de Sommiel.......that is David and Helen and the two dogs..fitzy  and  hecky.  We love David and Helen and usually round off lunch with a game of belote. However as Helen is vegetarian and intolerant to wheat it is always a challenge.
My hubby made a brilliant salad using all our goodies out of the garden..topped with feta cheese.....along with home made chips ( as no bread allowed) . The dessert was a lemon posset.....totally and disgustingly fattening...made with double cream boiled with the rind of 3 lemons strained then left to cool and set. We had fresh backberries on the top and I bought some gluten free shortbread biscs to go with it. It was yummy.
Helen always apologises for being fussy......having an intolerance isn't being fussy and I love searching out something different from what we would normally serve.
Hecky. And Fitzy soon polished off the sausages we gave them.....obviously not suffering from the same problems as Helen.