The garden in France in July

So its the end of July already! The last  photo I took of the garden was when it was lush and green with the vegetables were healthily growing and I was looking forward to a good harvest.We  had a good mix of sun and rain making a gardeners life so easy.

Potatoes, onions, beetroot, celery,tomatoes, aubergines, lettuce, cucumber, peppers, strawberries, raspberries...you name it...everything was perfect!!

That was before we were hit with 6 weeks of daily temperatures over 30 and no rain! Now...I expected this when we lived in the South of France but wasn't prepared for it here. The soil was doing a good impression of the sand in the Sahara desert and the plants were just withering under the heat.
No amount of watering was helping they were just frying under the intense heat. The plants to suffer were the potatoes and onions...with the foliage dying the vegetables were just not growing below. They are now all dug up. The onions are only the size of tangerines and what were supposed to be big old potatoes are only the size of new potatoes.
Still...better than nothing.

Of course.that old favourite... the courgette...didn't seem to be affected. Even with only two plants we have had a massive crop. This year I have so far made 12 courgette lasagnes, 12 bacon and courgette gratins and 12 potato and courgette gratins.Thankfully there are a lot of good courgette recipes around...soup, fritters, quiches...you should never be at a loss of how to use them. I work on the principle of filling up the freezer first with winter supplies then use them fresh after.
Of course there is always the courgette that escapes and is hiding under a leaf....and this is what happens

Not as sweet and tasty as the small ones but good enough for making soup or marrow curd.

I  tried a new recipe this year of courgette potato and cheese bread, Its really easy although you do have to have the time to let it rise. The recipe can be found on bbcgoodfood site. It is delicious..great for cutting up into chunks and sharing.

PLUMS GALORE

We have two plum trees in our garden. One is defunct ...however as it is home to a woodpecker we are leaving it where it is....the other produced about a dozen plums last year.
This year they are arriving in their hundreds. I cannot pick them quick enough and lots have fallen through the night and fed some of the local wildlife!
The plums are the lovely dark blue variety...not sure what they are... our french neighbours just call them blue plums.
So far I have made plum chutney, plum jam and plum sauce.
The plum sauce is to freeze and serve with duck....
It is so easy to make....this is the basic recipe and just multiply it according to the number of plums you have.This amount is enough for two people.
In a pan put the following....
8 washed, destoned and chopped plums, a teaspoon of dried ginger, 2 tablespoons of honey, 2 tablespoons of soya sauce, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a tablespoon of lime juice. Let it all simmer until thick and serve or let it cool and freeze it.

Our freezer is filling up and I need to start looking at other ways to preserve our produce...watch this space!

Our apples trees are weighed down this year despite the fact we really cut them back in the spring. In fact yesterday a whole branch fell off into the chicken run...causing a lot of squawking and running around in a tizz ( the chickens not us!!!!) We have a lot of fallen apples also as we are unable to take of the excess on the higher branches....in fact I spend about half an hour every morning picking up the fallen apples. Luckily they do not go to waste.........these are our other girls who wait for their breakfast from us every morning.

Before the farmer put up the barbed wire they were actually coming into the garden...it doesn't stop them trying now however!

As we speak the heavens have opened and we have the long awaited downpour! Whoopee! The plants as well as us ar breathing a sigh of relief.

Now then.....we have visitors in a couple of weeks..it would be nice if it went away again by then!

Elderflowers...champagne, wine and cordial

May and June sees the Elder  trees around us in Charente in full blossom. The blossoms are  beautiful delicate little bunches of flowers. They are known for probably having more uses than any other single species of blossom.

Its useful that the Elder tree is very prolific so its very easy to find a plentiful supply of the blossom....the flowers are best picked on a sunny morning.
Try not to strip the tree and leave some blossom to become the elderberries...the fruits are later in July and August.

It has been said that the elderflowers can be eaten straight from the tree...mmm...not fancied or tried that one so I can't comment.

The flowers can be put in the base of a glass and pour over white wine or lemonade. The flowers will fragrance the drink.
You can also just flavour some water with them.....pour boiling water over the flowers and leave to cool. Then remove the flowers and filter the liquid. Serve cold with ice cubes.

DEEP FRIED ELDERFLOWERS

Deep fried flower bunches are delicious and easy. All that is needed is a thin batter of 4 tablespoons of plain flour, one egg and water to mix. Make sure your elderflower heads are clean of bugs....just give them a shake. Never wash them as this removes the fragrance.
Dip the flower heads by their stalks into the batter...strain off any excess ..and then plunge into the hot oil and deep fry till golden. Eat immediately! You will want to anyway!!!!


ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE

The most popular use for the flowers is to make champagne, sparkling wine or cordial.
There are may different recipes for the champagne but the one I have tried is from the Jonathan Wallace....Self sufficient in Suburbia site. This one needs to be left for ten weeks before it is ready to drink...it uses a lot more elderflowers than some and a lot less sugar.
It seems the ones that are ready to drink quicker have more sugar. I have not tried any others...and it will now be another 6 weeks before mine is ready so I can't yet comment on the quality..

I am really hoping this lives up to its reputation!!!!

you will need....

a 20 litre bucket with a lid
a carrier bag of elderflower bunches
juice and grated rind of 8 lemons
3 kgs of sugar
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

Grolsch style bottles

Fill the bucket with cold water
Add the sugar and stir till dissolved.
Add all the other ingredients.
Stir well and leave with the lid on for 2 days

Strain well through a clean  muslin cloth or jelly bag.
Pour into sterilised jars and securely cap.

You may need to release the lid every so often as the champagne fizzes up......the bottles need to be strong glass or they may explode!!!

Leave for 10 weeks......I will let you know how this works out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

you will need

1.5kg of sugar
20 elderflower heads
4 sliced lemons
1.8 litres of water
60 g of citric acid

Bring the water and sugar to boil in a large lidded pan
When it is cool add all the other ingredients and leave for 36 to 48 hours
Strain the liquid then heat it in a pan for about 5 minutes.
Pour into sterilised bottles

As this is a fresh mixture with no added preservatives it will only keep 2 to 3 weeks once the bottle is open(keep in the fridge). It may be wiser to use smaller bottles to prevent waste...depending on how quickly you think you would use it..
Some people actually put it into small plastic bottles and freeze it......however I avoid using plastic bottles wherever possible.



So that's the flowers...now we have the wait for the berries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eat weeds....free food

Its now two months since the last blog. Who said retired people twiddle their thumbs wondering what to do.
There really aren't enough hours in the day. We try and work on the principle of work rest and play....however the work bit seems to be continually poaching from the other two.
At this time of year there really isn't much choice.....miss the timing for sowing plating and picking and you have lost your future food supply.

EAT WEEDS....FREE FOOD

The only truly free food is the stuff you forage and eat raw...berries straight from the bush and leaves from weeds used in salad for example. If you have to add other ingredients to produce an edible meal then the meal isnt totally  free...only the item you have added to it. I often see quite elaborate recipes using "free food....by the time you have all these added ingredients it becomes quite an expensive dish.It may be worth noting how much it costs you to make something with your free food!!!

Back to WEEDS.....love them or hate them!!!

Weeding is the bane of the suburban gardener.Obviously in the vegetable patch you need to remove these so they are not overcrowding and taking the nutrition from whatever you are growing.  However some weeds  prove quite useful in the kitchen......its all down to taste and if you want to make the effort...and of course you can usually find a plentiful supply.
This is the first year that I have truly started looking at all the possibilities.

I have had this book a long time and used it as a reference but recently I found an amazing website called EAT WEEDS... by Robin Harford... gives lots of ideas, hints recipes and even runs foraging courses.  Recipes are current and although it is based on weeds in England....believe me most of them are the same over here in France. You can be as adventurous as you like or just take whatever is easy and available  for you and suits your lifestyle.  The advantage here in Charente is that there is less traffic pollution and greater restrictions in chemicals used in the fields as well as a lot of countryside which allows wild growth. Just remem

 DONT PICK FROM THE ROADSIDE
DONT PICK IN OBVIOUS DOG WALKING AREAS
PERMISSION IS NEEDED ON PRIVATE LAND
DONT OVERPICK....GIVE THE PLANTS AND SOMEONE ELSE A CHANCE
MOST PLANTS ARE BEST PICKED ON A SUNNY DAY AND IN THE MORNING WHEN THEY ARE FRESH

I am logging when certain weeds are at their best so therefore when to pick them, find the best area to pick them ( and not tell anyone!!!!) and try different recipes which would suit our lifestyle.

DANDELIONS

These can begin as early as March and whilst they are evident all year round they are most prolific April and May..  In french they are called PISSENLIT.  Which should warn you what it is good for!!!We know from our youth that it was called the "wet the bed" plant.due to its diuretic qualities. The Romans used them for medicinal purposes. It is of course one of the most profuse of weeds so there is a plentiful supply supply if you wish to use them.

LEAVES.....pick the smaller ones as they will not be so bitter. Use them directly in salads with a little dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. They are also nice with chopped bacon bits and roasted garlic on top.

PETALS AND FLOWER HEADS

This year I have made dandelion syrup to use as a cordial, dandelion burgers and cream of dandelion soup
I would recommend all of them...as anyone who knows me I will only make things that are quick, easy and tasty.All of the following are just that.

DANDELION SYRUP

Wash flowers and detach the petals from the leaves
put in a pan and cover with water.then  bring to the boil
Leave to infuse overnight in fridge
Filter through a fine sieve pressing with a spoon to get out all the liquid
Weight the liquid and for each gram add 0.95g of sugar. Or 1 pound of liquid equals 1 pound of sugar for the non metric of us!
Mix with a squirt of lemon juice and heat slowly until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes syrupy.
Filter again then store in sterilized bottles.
Use small bottles as once they are opened the syrup will only last a few weeks.
Dilute the syrup with water to drink.

DANDELION BURGERS

Oh yes...really....and you know what... they were brilliant. Will certainly make more of these next year to freeze.

you need...

1 cup of plain flour, 1 cup of dandelion petals, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of milk, half a cup of onions, crushed garlic salt and pepper.

Mix all the dry ingredients together then add milk until you have a firm but not too sticky consistency. Make into shape of burgers and then fry  in a pan till lightly brown.

This is the basic recipe but you can also add seasoning of your own choice depending on your taste.
Oregano
Basil
Mixed herbs
Turmeric
Cumin

I added... Ras El Hanut....which is  Morrocan mixed spices.

Easy quick and tasty

CREAM OF DANDELION SOUP

4 cups of dandelion leaves
2 cups of petals
2 cups buds
1 cup chopped onions
6 cloves of garlic

Boil the dandelion leaves in 6 cups of water....strain and repeat if leaves are large and bitter.
Saute onions and garlic
Add 4 cups of water plus leaves buds and petals
Season with salt and pepper
Simmer for about half an hour
Just before serving add some cream

This is the basic recipe but I personally found it a little bland and thin.  I added some mixed herbs. a stock cube to season it and some chucks of potato to thicken it up.
I also served it with parmesan croutons on top.
Again...I think you can add other seasonings until you find the kind of taste that you like.

We played a game with some of our guests ....guess the flavour of soup!!!! They loved the flavour and were suggesting all kinds of vegetables....mostly green ones as this soup is very green....They were really surprised when they found out it was dandelion and thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

I have since found several other recipes which I will try out next year....Blossom bread and easy wine!!! They will be on the list for next year

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.