Spring has sprung...time to get to work!!!

I am itching to get planting in the garden but the time is not yet right. Working, as the french do, to Lunar planting, I am now waiting for the last quarter of the moon....11th April...to put in the potatoes and onions. I know its possible to plant them earlier but unless the ground is warm enough they just will not start growing until it is. There is still a risk of frost and also heavy rain. The ground is also still quite wet at the minute so not really good for planting so I am continuing digging and weeding
until the time is right.

we are hoping for a better food supply this year and have really missed the freezer full of goodies in the winter. This week we used the last of the summer berries and other than that we only have one bag of potatoes left in the freezer.

FOX ALERT

We allow our chickens to free range in the garden when we are in but always close them into their run when we are out. When they are free ranging there is always a risk against predators. Our french neighbour came to inform us that a fox had been spotted in the neighbouring gardens and to be more vigilant. The chickens are in their house at night but there is always that risk time early in the morning when we have just let them out and at dusk before they are shut in.
There have been times in the last two weeks  when the chickens have been quite vociferous and giving out warning squawks.....we are not sure if the fox was there but so far they have been safe.
To be honest the chickens would have a real problem escaping...they eat soooo much that even if their wings were not clipped they would never manage to fly very far!!!

Here they are two of them...lounging after stuffing themselves with seed I had put out for the birds as well as pinching every poor worm that appeared while I was digging!!!
All the girls are still laying...as they have done all winter...and despite giving away 3 days worth of eggs to our  neighbours per week , we find we are constantly looking for different egg recipes to use them up.
As well as the usual poached, scarambled and fried...we have had egg fried rice, frittata, egg gratin. Most people coming for aperos have egg mimosa and instead of taking chocs when we go to neighbours for a meal we always take eggs!!!
We are still on the lookout for more recipes!!!!!!

I love Spring.Spring flowers are my favourite. The lawn is filled with violets, daisies and dandelions which most people class as weeds but I love their natural splashes of colour in the greenery. Its always a shame when its grass cutting time as we lose this...I try to leave cutting as long as possible..
I love all the buds coming on the fruit trees....the raspberries, currants and blueberries are all coming to life. The hazel tree..which we didnt have a chance to cut back this year, is loaded with buds.
The chance of having any hazelnuts this year is very dependant on whether we can manage to relocate the red squirrels which use our garden as a local restaurant!!
We bought a squirrel catcher cage.....

.as advised in all the handbooks...simply put bait in the back of the catcher and relocate caught squirrel more than 12 miles away. SIMPLES!!!
1 week later......said squirrel seems able to get bait out withour triggering off the door. Not only that it is now climbing up onto the balcony and looking in the window as if to say......HA HA NO CHANCE MATEY!!!! As well as that it seems to have brought its Aunty and Uncle as well.....

Looks like we will not get any hazelnuts again this year.
As well as having spent 40 euros!!!!

Despite spring starting we are also looking to next winter! Yes...no rest...one has to plan ahead you know!
We have been pruning and cutting down several trees in the garden.They have been very neglected and all we an do is hope that we an salvage something out of them. If nothing else we have a good supply of wood for next year.....saving us at least 300 euros!!!

I am very happy to have had the garden shed installed at the bottom of the garden. Potting.... here we come!!! It will be like my little

haven... hubby has his workshop and I have my shed.
Perhaps I should put a sign on the door..... Bag Lady's shed!!!!
As well as that we laid a patio......

and then we have laid the base for an above ground pool

So the intention is  not" all work and  no play"..although it does seem that way sometimes......if we were being totally self sufficient I can honestly say I would probably buy an apartment by the sea. There is, after all a reason why our ancestors moved away from the country into the city.
Its hard work and you have to plan and prepare. You are victim to the weather and pests.There is no guarantee of a good crop and if there was no crop you had no food....Irish potato famine!!!!!
There are days you feel like a duck with feet going ten to the dozen under the water while trying to give an impression of total serene above!!!
We are lucky to have the safety net of supermarkets, take aways, restaurants....after a hard days work you can say lets put our feet up. Not so in the past...they worked from morning till night to just for basi survival.. If you didnt prepare in advance you were seriously short of food and fuel!!!
Living well for less is a choice and is enjoyable..yes its hard work and its a challenge...but some of us like that......if it stopped being so then there is no doubt we are lucky enough to say we don't want to do it anymore.
On that note...Its Friday...its the weekend...... getting  into a hot soapy bath...accompanied by pastis and coke..and hubby...sausage casserole is in slow cooker...woodburner is on.....70's music playing in the background.....heaven!!!!

Bonne weekend tout le monde xxxx

Winter garden work and egg production

Having spent most of 2014 renovating the house it's now down to work to prepare the garden.
We have a lot to consider. The house is more suburbia than country so we have a garden rather than a small holding.
We have to work within the constrains of living with neighbours. This rules out......
COCKRELS......TOO NOISY
PIG....TOO SMELLY
GOAT....LIABLE TO ESCAPE AND RUIN NEIGHBOURS GARDENS

The garden is too small to have any livestock other than chickens.

Our garden also needs to be our social area so we need to blend the working and social sections together.
We have no planting going on yet. Garlic and cabbage are the only things growing at the moment.
PREPARATION  is the" in "word!
Weeding
Digging
Making new beds
Pruning trees
The garden has been neglected so the ivy and brambles are taking over. That is going to be a long haul to try and eliminate them. Petit a Petit as the french say!

Other than that we are moving our strawberry bed to a sunnier spot. The plants were ones that I brought with us from Montbrun and they did not produce well last summer. I think they were too shaded and competing with the roots of the cherry tree. We decided to make a raised bed to give them a better chance. It is also a spot in the garden where the leylandi hedge seems to be dying off.  The bed is ready so am just waiting for some signs of growth in the strawberries so that we can move them.

The apple trees have been pruned as best as we can do it. We are no experts so haven't dared prune them back too hard. We have an excess of cider apple trees so are not too concerned if they do not fare well. As long as there is enough to attempt to make some cider I will be happy.

The fig trees we planted at the front of the house have been covered up over the winter to protect them. The weather is warming up now but as they are new trees I think I will leave them covered until all danger of frost has passed.

The chickens have fared well despite  the cold and wet. We have been allowing them to free range in the garden.....nice bit of fertilizer (just not always where you want it!)
The egg production over winter has not altered...4 eggs every day!!! We are very pleased.
The chicken pen was getting a bit boggy due to the heavy rains and .the girlies do like to dig a lot so they isnt any grass left at all. However when we bought the logs from a local woodyard to make the raised beds we noticed he had lots of bark shavings. They very kindly let us fill the trailer full...gratuite... so now the chicken pen is bog free!!!!

The black and redcurrant bushes have started budding and I am hoping that now they are more established we will get a better supply of fruit this year.
The raspberry canes produced well last year and we are still enjoying them from the freezer.

No sign of the rhubarb plant returning. Is it too early?? I didnt think so?

We have had all the usual wildlife in the garden. The girlies love chasing the squirrels around. Last year we had one red squirrel but now we have two. Not much hope for the hazelnut trees again!!!!

A hedgehog was lulled out of hibernation but the lovely sunny weather we had a couple of week ago and was feeding on the chicken pellets in the garden. The next morning Hubby found it cowering against a wall freezing! We snuggled it up warm and it seems to be pulling round. However two days later it didnt make it. It was probably too small or had some kind of illness. We had contacted the local rescuee centre here in Charente but had no reply. C'est la vie et 'est nature!

Our other visitor was a bit more of a surprise!! I pulled the shutters closed in the tv room....in order to clean them(no, I hadn't done it since we moved in!!) and discovered this.....

I'm not sure who had the biggest shock! Me...as I thought at first it was a huge spider or the bat which was suddenly exposed to the bright daylight!!! It meant I just had to shut the shutter amd not clean it...shame!!!!
Anyhow...it has now gone elsewhere...but I still haven't got round to cleaning the shutter!!!

We are fortunate to have had no visits from foxes or stoats so long may that continue.

I have joined a gardening forum here in the Charente so its great to chat about what does and doesn't work in the region.  Inspired by the blog .....Self sufficient in Suburbia.....Jonathan Wallace....I may suggest some kind of exchange day when production is in full flow!!!!

Mad chicken woman....and chicken bore!

One of the biggest delights of last year.....and there have been a few....must be the acquisition of my darling girls.
I have never had chickens before and like most people have always really wanted them. It was one of the reasons for moving to a new house to have a big enough garden to accomodate them.

Our four girls were bought as point of lay from a local market. Primarily wanting the chickens for their eggs I was advised to go for the common garden brown french hen!!! I dont have 2 turtle doves or a partridge in a pear tree...but I do have 4 french hens!!!
My OH and I have  4 children between us gave them task of naming them.. Each were to choose names that were chicken related ...so we have

Yoko
Princess Leah (Layer)
Sunny (as in sunny side up)
Drumstick

Leah was the largest and had the most beautiful dark brown and black colouring... she even laid an egg the first day. What a star! Yoko and Sunny were very similar and colour and it was difficult to tell them apart at first....and they were most certainly top of the pecking order amongst this crowd.
Drunstick....welll ...what can I say....runt of the litter, ugly duckling...you name it. Poor girl was definitely the odd one out. Within days all the chickens except her were laying...their wattles and combs were getting bigger and redder. Drumstick wasnt producing and was starting to look more like a turkey than a chicken.
We then had problems when 2 nights in a row she disappeared. Despite the run being closed, wings clipped and no chance of escape...she was not in the hen house! It was obvious she was being picked on by the others but I couldnt work out how in the evening she was missing from the coop and by morning had miracuously reappeared.
A little spying was necessary .....so as it was getting dusk I laid in hiding to watch what was going to happen. There was Drumstick...despite clipped wing,,,,flying to the  top of the coop and then up to the top of the hedge of next doors garden where she proceeded to sleep for the night!!!
Next day I took action.
1..more wing clipping. I obviously hadnt done  it short enough
2 Keep the biggest bully to one side whilst Drumstick got the feed first

That night when she tried to fly on to the hedge it was a bit of a crash landing back into  the run. She didnt try again.
After a few days the pecking order was reversed and calm prevailed. No problems at all since then.

I am happy to say all the girls are very happy, as we are also, as eggs have been in full  production every day even despite the dark days and early nights. I keep them in the run in the morning until the eggs have been laid and then they are allowed to free range round the garden ( and until we managed to block the holes in the fence they free ranged in all the neighbours gardens too!!!)

 Thia is our very posh chicken house...its called a DOODLE HOUSE. We purchased it second hand...its easy to keep clean and mite free as it comes to bits and can easily be washed down and dried in a couple of hours. Despite having 4 nesting boxes there seems to be a preference for them all to lay in one!!!

BE WARNED!!!!
KEEPING CHICKENS IS NOT COST EFFECTIVE IF YOU ARE BEING SELF SUFFICIENT

Unless you are not looking after them very well.....the cost of the chickens far outweighs any gains that you  make in eggs. Hen house, fencing, bedding, mite powder, feed...treats!!! ( they will come running when they hear the rattle of the sweetcorn tin!)

However the pleasure of keeping the chickens and the guarantee of fresh organic eggs is what makes it all worthwhile.

Please dont start to talking to me about chickens!!!!! It drives the OH crazy and he says I am becoming a chicken bore!!!!

If we were being self sufficinet in 2014 we would have starved..bring on 2015!

2015 came into our household with more of a SNORE than a bang!!! I think it must be the first year that we have slept through the bells...and my... was it agood sleep. The wine from La Regie in Verteuil certainly went down well and it was far too relaxing sitting in front of the massive log fire chatting with the host Sebastian. So relaxing that, after eating on our return ,we were so zenned out we slept till 8 the following morning!

So New Year...New start.

I love the start of a New Year...the idea of that first crisp clean page of the diary and calender waiting to be filled with all new adventures. Its like when it snows heavily for the first time and you look out the window at all the clean and white pureness...before cars and pedestrians turn it to a mucky sludge.

New years eve sees me frantically cleaning everything in sight, new bed linen and cupboards replenished. This year was no different and after our hectic year of DIY it was a pleasure to be able to have a kitchen with cupboards to replenish and even a pantry cupboard in order to set up my rows of "just in case" foods and supplies of home made goodies.

My blog this year along with all plans of being "self sufficient" somewhat went down the tube mixed in with tubs of cement, tiles and paint!! I have to admit to giving up a bit on the garden in order to concentrate on the house. Had we been reliant on what we grew to eat then I have to admit we would have been starving.
We dug the garden far too quickly thinking it would be a good idea just to get something growing! Big mistake...the soil was so neglected that very little grew. Along with the massive shadow from an overgrown apple tree the potager was looking very sorry for itself.
The only success was the beetroot..so plenty of chutney....but didnt do enough of it.
Some potatoes but not enough enough to last more than 2 months. Tomatoes were virtually non existant...so no sauces for the next year. Even the courgette plants that usually grow like Triffids faded and died with no fruit on!
The squirrel took every single hazlenut from the trees.

What we did have was lots and lots of apples!!!! There are 6 apple trees in the garden. I was really looking forward to going out every morning to collect fresh apples to make juice. Unfortunately only one of the trees is an eating variety...the rest are cider apples!

I DONT LIKE CIDER

The cows in the pasture behind us profited well from my apple crop and were waiting daily for their afternoon feed.
Next year...although I dont like cider...I will attempt to make some. So..my mission this year is to collect some demijohns and bottles in preparation. Watch this space next year for that.

Cherries Galore!!! Recipes and what to make with them

In our new garden we have lots of fruit trees, We had no idea what they were...they all looked the same to me so its going to be an interesting summer of discovery!!! The trees are quite old and neglected and there isn't a lot that we can do at this time of year in terms of pruning so we have just been removing the ivy which has been making itself at home on most of the trees.

The first tree to produce has been this one...
This is Madonna. -  .as in 'Allo Allo...the fallen one with the big.........well you know that one..



anyway....it is producing the most amazing amount of sweet cherries which has prompted me to explore the various uses.

I have come up with the following which I feel will be the most useful

If you are going to have a lot of cherries it may be wise to invest in a "denoyeur"....a little machine that takes the stones out!!! They range in price...mine was only 5 euros....but its good to get one that collects the stones. Some people freeze the cherries with the stone in but I have heard that they can be poisonous and also its much easier for use afterwards if you take them out first!!

JUST FREEZE FOR LATER USE

Open freeze immediately after picking and de-stoning and box up in the freezer to use for puddings,crumbles.scones or for popping into drinks

CHERRY VINEGAR

Mash up two cupfuls of destoned cherries and cover in a bowl with 1 bottle of cheap balsamic vinegar.

Leave for about 10 days then strain and bottle up.

CHERRY VODKA

In a large kilner jar add 360g of cherries, 1 litre of cheap vodka (no need to use anything expensive as it would be a waste) 160g sugar. Shake well to beginning the dissolving process for the sugar.

It is a bit of a labour of love as you need to shake every day for the first couple of weeks and then now and again until it is ready. This will take about 3 months so if you are making it for Christmas presents it will be ready in good time.

CHERRY CHUTNEY

There always has to be a chutney recipe on my blog!!! This is great with cooked meats and cheeses especially if you want to add a little sweet touch.

Put all these ingredients together in one big cooking pot.

325g cherries

1 apple,peeled,cored and grated

70 ml cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1 small chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

100g sugar

Bring the ingredients to the boil then simmer on a medium heat for about 45 mins

Pour into warm sterilized jars and seal.

CHERRY DROP SCONES

This recipe is great if you have unexpected visitors...as we did today...

125g sr flour

2 teaspoons sugar

100 ml milk

handful of fresh chopped cherries

1 beaten egg

mix flour,sugar and cherries together then make a well in mixture to add the egg/milk mix

Just add a little at a time and stop before it gets too sticky. If you have added too much just put in a bit more flour to bind it together,

In a large frying pan add just enough oil so that the scones do not stick....if the heat is too high they will cook too quickly and burn...drop in a tablespoon full of mixture and.cook just enough to brown on each side. Fit in a many as you can in your pan and keep flipping the scones so they don't burn!

Serve while hot and if you are feeling a bit decadent....or more like if you have any in...you can add a blob of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

JUST A LITTLE NOTE ON FRESHNESS.....CHERRIES NOT YOU!!!

You will lose 50% of the food value of cherries if they are left at room temperature for only 1 hour. If you put them straight in the fridge it would take a day to lose the same food value. Of course..like vegetables...it is best if you can freeze them straight away.

Another good solution I find is if you JUST EAT THEM STRAIGHT FROM THE TREE!!

YUM YUM....BONNE APPETITE





Planting in the mud!

Week 2 in our new home in the Charente is proving to be very busy and very interesting.
Not known to hang around when it comes to renovating the house we have been working like whirling dervishes!
All the living areas are plastered and painting has commenced. We have managed to purchase flooring for the bedroom, a shower cubicle, 2 toilets, and a sink. Also a chain saw, hedge trimmers,strimmer and a trailer! We have organised and ordered all new windows and doors.
Researched for the new kitchen,cooker , fridge and wood burner.
Our temporary kitchen has now moved into the kitchen.....which isn't temporary but the contents are...if that makes sense. The old living room door is coping very well as being the work top.....just hope it can stay the course!

I am really surprised at some of the extras that have been included in our house......in particular the monitor at the door which registers every time you go out gardening. This amazing monitor takes about 10 minutes to note  you have started gardening and then triggers a huge downpour of rain.
We are trying really hard to get the potager going....it's already late for a lot of the veg.....but the weather isn't on our side.  However we now have the next set of potatoes in, the courgettes, cucumbers, peppers and carrots. We are waiting for the ground to dry out....so that we can plant the beetroot and lettuce.
I am not expecting wonders from this years crop!..We have been assured that this rain is unusual.....I hope so!!


The cherry tree is laden with fruit and a lot are ready for picking. It's a little bit of a competition as to who will get to  the ripe fruit first....this morning the two red squirrels beat us to it.

I was very excited to discover a hazelnut tree in the garden.......well not quite discover as its so large you can't miss it.....what I mean is in my ignorance I mistook it for some wild tree that would need cutting down! Thank goodness I visited the garden of a friend  ( who was very kindly giving away lots of plants) and noticed a similar tree. Hazelnuts.....whoopee....however I expect that will be competition number 2 with Monsieur et Madame red squirrel.

All work and no play........you know the saying.....so check out this website...

www.underthelimetree.com

This is where we where we went this week for a body and soul pampering day. Even better is that it is right on our doorstep!!
Our host Nikki was a very inspiring person and we came away not only relaxed and pampered but full of new ideas for our own place.

And so.....back to the grind!!!!!

New adventures in the Charente

We have the start of a new adventure here in Verteuil sur Charente in France.

Having lived in a rustic wine growing village for almost 5 years we felt the time was right to seek new pastures.

Within 6 months our beautiful home was sold and we landed in what I would call  "Suburban" living.

We purchased a house......well.....walls and roof . The inside left a lot to be desired.......what some may call a blank canvas.

The garden and situation of said house is.........location location location!

Beautiful historic village, large enough garden to accommodate all veg growing and chickens ,mature fruit trees, quiet, river views, walking distance to local boulangerie and boucherie, good cycling roads that don't involve gasping  for breath hills and near enough to towns to buy items for the renovation on the "blank canvas"

I have to say it was hubby who chose the house....I took a bit of convincing. I still had the dream of living out in the sticks and being lost  in your hectare of land whilst living in the beautifully renovated Longere. Back in the land of the real world Hubby did inform me that I was no longer young or fit enough to take on such a mammoth task . As usual he was right and so the compromise was made.

After leaving our old renovated house in near perfect condition with wine and glasses on table  for the new owner, we arrived to our rubble strewn new home.
The builder, who was kindly fitting us in, was still plastering the walls in the lounge ........feeling very tired from all the preparations, packing and emotional parting I felt entitled to a little breakdown!
After a little weep, glass of wine and then a good nights sleep ( at least we had a bed) I was up for the new challenge.

Now....one week on....we have almost got all the electrics completed. Our open plan toilet now has a room of its own. The French plumber Vincent, who is like a whirling dervish, has almost completed the plumbing work so said open plan toilet can be replaced with one that doesn't need filled by hand and doesn't need lid lifted off to pull up the flush inside. New windows and doors are ordered.
We are camping in the lounge.....our kitchen is laid out on a trestle made with the door we took off  to join it to the kitchen. The kitchen is .....well....just a room with a sink in it...and still has all the builders materials lying around ...so is ..to be continued.....

As for the garden......that is the where the work needs to be. As we can't afford a rotovator ..even to hire one is 50 euros a day....it's digging the old fashioned way!  Years of weeds and roots are finding it hard to relinquish their comfy home....so it's slow hard work.
However if we want to carry on with our attempt at  self sufficient cheap living we must get the veg planted as soon as possible...especially as we are already late,
So....rather than digging it all ...we are digging and planting bit by bit. We brought some raspberry canes and strawberry plants from our old house and they have already settled in well. The blueberry and black currant bushes are in and one set of potatoes.
I think we have to accept that this year may not reap the crops we have had in the past but at least we will have something.
The garden being a little bit wild is at least giving us lots of dandelion leaves for salads.
Here's to what week two will bring.