Winter foraging and more making do!

You may have noticed I completely forgot to say anything about winter foraging in my last post.

Duh!

Just got carried away talking about my Mantras ...back to business!

As we all know there's not a lot around to forage in winter. So this will be short and sweet.
If you are a serious forager  then you will no doubt be able to list all the wonders of the land and sea around at this time of year......As for me..

Nettles....great for making fertiliser...not so tasty just now. Wait till Spring!

Wood....with the leaves off the trees you can see all the dead broken wood. Collect it up for kindling and you may even be lucky enough to find some bigger branches. Leave it to season and use next year. Don't try and burn it if it's wet....smoky mess and no heat!

Pine cones ....for Christmas decorations and using on the fire.

Mushrooms...there are still some to be found. As before pay attention and check out your finds.


Water....you always have plenty if it when you don't need it! Make the most of the rainfall by having lots of collection points. Buy more containers each year...it is an outlay but will pay you back if you have a lot of  produce to water in the summer. Avoid the fancy expensive containers......you can pay hundreds of pounds for these.

You will see a lot of these around France

....not the most attractive things....but if you have a small holding or a lot of land where you can keep it out of sight it does the job. Anyone with access to well or river water can pump water into these containers.

If you are looking for something to blend into the garden a bit better then I would check out the 310 litre Récupérateur d L'eau by GARANTIA at LeRoy Merlin.fr

They are only 28.90 euros ...and they are green and will blend in with the garden! Forget the stand to put them on as it costs as much as the container...just use a few breeze blocks to lift it up to the height you need.


If you dont redirect the rainwater from your pipes you can ...like me.... keep buckets and watering cans all over the garden ... It's amazing how quickly they fill up after a downpour....I then transfer them to the larger containers.

MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE LID ON YOUR CONTAINER OR YOU WILL ATTRACT LOTS  OF EGG LAYING INSECTS.....ESPECIALLY  MOZZIES


AS FOR MAKING DO......

I really missed having my shelves on the wall for my array of jars.....I tend to store most things in glass jars and then you can buy lentil;s, beans etc loose.  However..as we are in the process of relocating our kitchen I am temporarily using these old wine boxes as my shelving.

In fact...I like them so much I think I will make them a permanent feature in the new kitchen!Just need to acquire a few more as I still have lots of jars in the cupboard ... The boxes  are not easy to get hold of without having to  buy the wine. Unfortunately most of the wines that come in nice boxes tends to be the pricier wines. However a few times a year LECLERC have their buy 2 boxes get 3 free promotions. This way you can get a great deal on the nice wines and get the boxes too.

The other way is if you are lucky enough at a wine cave to catch it  when they are close to selling the last of the bottles of wine in a box. This way you can buy the last one or two bottles and get the box as well.

The boxes are also great to use for making hampers for Christmas and birthday presents.

SO THATS IT

I'm not going to ramble on too much in this post as .the weather is once again being kind ..beautiful sun and temperatures of 14 degrees so I am making the most of it and getting into the garden to begin ground preparation for this years potatoes and onions.

Also I am very excited to announce that soon I am gong to launch my very own WEBSITE

Whoooo Hoooo

You may ask "Why have a website when you have a blog?"

Reason is.....to have in order what  I am writing about and to make it easier for everyone to find something specific they may be interested in

Nothing worse than trogging through a blog just to find a recipe you saw weeks earlier.

I like order and I like ease of use . I'm a bit of an order freak with things like this.

LOOK OUT!!!!    I hope to have it up and running soon.......NO STOPPING ME THEN!!!

Speaking of being order freakish ...last week  I spent a few hours rearranging our wardrobe and drawers. Now....., Kev and I really don't have many clothes so between us ..... we only have 1 wardrobe (which is now shelved due to lack of posh hanging up stuff )...and 1 chest of drawers.  No matter how many times I tried to organise these they never stayed tidy for long.....UNTIL.....

I discovered the KON MARI method of folding clothes

Hubby was a bit sceptical but afterwards I could tell he was secretly impressed...so far so good.  We seem to get a lot more in there  and clothes are easier to find.

I like to call it Feng Shui...Kev just calls it being a neat freak.

Speak soon

A Bientot from Happy Neat Freak x

Happy New Year , New plans and Winter Foraging

Happy New Year

Bonne Année

Meilleur Voeux

Did you make any resolutions? If so.....are you sticking to them!

I don't normally make any.....simply because I know I am hopeless at sticking to them.

I did finish the year reviewing  the "dead list" from 2015..... I know I know ....bit of a morbid streak.
. For those not in the know the dead list is a  list of 50 celebrities most likely to die in the following year. The list is compiled from candidates who are famous enough that their death would be reported by the UK media. Its always interesting to see how many they get right and how many have escaped to be on the next years list.

So..what has this to do with New Years Resolutions.....

The lovely Val Doonican sadly passed away last year....yes for those from my era I can hear you singing Paddy McGintys Goat. One of the real gentlemen of his time.  His philosophy in life was
" to be the best possible Val Doonican he could be" In other words ...be the best person you can be.
I don't think you can go far wrong with that so this will be my Mantra this year rather than a resolution.

This is the saying I have above our bed. This is my next Mantra.
 Make what you do in a day worthwhile and enjoyable. Whatever goes wrong that day stays in that day!


A New Year is always a good time to put your house in order. I like to make sure...
 all my cupboards are cleared out, .......anything not needed or of use  is put in a box to sell at the next Vide Grenier, Larger items can be sold on local sites...Anglo Info or  Leboncoin

Filing and paperwork done ........receipts from previous year put in a file and start the new one. Shred anything out of date ( keep the paper to make your briquettes or bedding for the nesting box for the chucks

House has had a good clean....it's a Feng Shui thing for me

Make your plans for the following year in terms of what you hope to achieve ....learning from what you did the previous year.

As there is very little to do in the garden at this time of year it's a perfect time  to do all of this....

For 2016

I hope to.....


Be more creative....artwork, writing, craftwork. I started paper cutting last year and would like to expand this into something productive as well as a pleasure.

These are some of the cards I have been doing. I find it quite difficult with my arthriticity( Is that a word???)  hands but I just love doing home made stuff even if its not prefect!!

I am also working on a bigger paper cutting  project but that is a surprise gift for someone so no sneaky peeks I'm afraid!!! Thanks to Emma Harrison from Infinite Echoes papercutting for the amazing template she has done for me. Check out her infinite echoes papercutting page on facebook

Make Do and Mend.

It is easy to just go out and buy the new thing you need but first ask yourself

Do I need it?
Do I really want it?
Is there anything these that I can use?

Challenge yourself to make do and mend...
keep a note on how much you have saved and perhaps reward yourself at the end of the year with something that is a real treat!

I needed some new storage boxes which I was going to buy at Ikea..instead I covered these cardboard boxes with some samples of wallpaper that I got free from our local diy store.
Does the job and was free!!!







Develop a website to organise all my information , ideas and to link my blog into

Give freely my advice and time to those that need it and would like it

Spread  time more equally between work rest and play

Christmas in Verteuil sur Charente

Its Christmas eve  here in Verteuil sur Charente. The village decorations are up...a few more lights than last year. The french have a bizarre way of decorating the outside of their houses. ....

they hang bows, tinsel and ribbons from greenery outside windows and doors

even wrapped parcels hanging off branches...this is La Regie Verteuil...out weekly watering hole.

I doubt these would be around very long in the UK


HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF DECORATIONS AROUND THE VILLAGE

The big tree outside the Salle des Fetes

Decorated gardens of demeurre des roses verteuil

Robert our joli butcher..........a busy time of year for him...although he is very busy all year round. He is only closed on a Sunday afternoon............that's one hard working family

L'Atelier Vert ...............the window picture does not do this place justice...beautiful flowers and a fantastic range of gifts upstairs

Le Moulin

Eating home and away

Restaurants are getting booked up. We are dining at lunchtime Christmas Eve at le moulin de verteuil sur charente.
Not many are actually open on Christmas Day and a lot close early on Christmas Eve as many families here celebrate on Christmas Eve. This event can go on into the early hours of the morning...for this reason many older people prefer to have their "repas" on Christmas Day.

 I asked a local what the traditional fare would be here for the Christmas meal... as in the UK there are a variety of things that would be special but normally it is

Pineau...........an apertif drink which is a mixture of wine and cognac.  Usually from one of your neighbours secret distillery.
 Champagne

oysters
crevettes (large prawn)

Fois Gras..........say no more!!!

CHAPON  ........For those that don't know what a chapon is....look away now....
its a castrated cock!!!
Potatoes, marrons( chestnuts) and some of the vegetables that cost a little more and you would treat yourself to at this time

Cheese selection with bread! Always before the dessert not after

Dessert would be a Buche.  A log to you and me....no, not a wooden one...cake roll .filled with cream or ice cream

That is the basic meal but some families have several  courses and need long rests in between..hence the 2am finish...if you are dining at a restaurant or hotel that has a dance floor you will find yourself dancing off the food between courses.

There  celebrations are  among friends and family ......a celebration of being together , sharing food. drink and each others company . Family is the emphasis rather than the occasion.

Christmas is about the eve or the day........in the UK it seems to start with revelling weeks before. Massive work parties...  scantily clad women crawling along the street after heavy drinking sessions leading up to Christmas day or men fighting for no apparent reason other than alcohol fuelled aggression.
This would not happen here...perhaps in the bigger cities...I dont know but not in rural France

SHOPPING

While we read about queues to get in and out of car parks, fighting over stuff in shop aisles, people spending more on Christmas than we earn in a year... we can enjoy the more laid back approach in our little corner of France. . People buy enough food for the Christmas meal and for visitors  instead of stocking up for a local siege....shops are slightly busier but nothing claustrophobic.
People trying to outdo neighbours spending a years worth of electricity on outdoor lights.
Shops starting sales to get people to buy more and more of things they dont need.
No scantily clad women crawling along the street after heavy drinking sessions or men fighting for no apparent reason other than alcohol fuelled aggression.
All of these things have become normal practises in the Uk ...and perhaps in the larger cities you may find some evidence of it....I don't know....thankfully it's not what goes on here.

 .
A lot of things we did in the UK we did out of expectation. It felt a bit bah humbug to stop doing some of them but somehow Christmas was becoming a stress filled, money wasting expedition full of plastic throwaway stuff, wasted food and unwanted gifts.

I'd love to know what everyones opinions are on the following...

CARDS

I used to write about 100 cards every year. Having lived and worked in lots of different places we had a lot of friends and acquaintances. I would make the  effort to hand write notes to say what had been going on in our life. In return ....except for an odd one...I would receive a card saying......nothing!
We came to France in 2009... Just before Christmas.... Let's wait and buy some french cards we said. LESSON  1....the french don't do cards!LESSON 2  You will pay for one card what it costs for a pack in the UK.
We did some DIY ones...which was fun...however next obstacle we came across was the postage costs. Almost a euro per card....more if the letter that was in it was quite lengthy.
In today's technology you can send some lovely e cards free of charge. It's all the same other than the trophy lines of cards hanging up which some people like to proudly show off as a sign of popularity.
We do send some cards...older relatives who  don't use the Internet and those who just LOVE to get a card.  We often take a Christmas tree decoration instead of a card when we visit people....that's something you can keep instead of throwing away. This year we received this from our soon to be in law family....

That's an idea I will be using next year...thanks Lindsay and Richard Pooley

The money we would have spent on cards we are able to donate to a different charity each year

DECORATIONS

Not being a great fan of plastic I find a lot of the decorations tacky, cheap and nasty.
What could be nicer than filling your house with holly, laurel leaves, fir branches and cones...all available free from local forests and lanes. Baked oranges, cinnamon sticks ...natural products.
Our friend Liz Nolan

 made these for us this year.
They are the fallen oak nuts. She separated them then sprayed the nut gold. Once dry she glued the nut back in.
Great to have in your bowls with fir  cones or put on a string and hang on the trees.
I think they are gorgeous and its a great present.

on the subject of which....

PRESENTS

I love presents...who doesn't!! . There's was always something exciting about different shaped parcels and boxes..and the surprise of what inside. The thing I love about getting a present is that someone has thought of me.....and if they know me they have managed to get something they feel I would like.

Lets be honest how many presents have you opened and thought ...what on earth!!!...what a waste...

...a bit like the drivers gloves and car cleaning set once given to our 13 year old!!! Oh yes

We don't do presents at Christmas and we don't expect any....bah humbug again.

We give to our children ....its always money as that way they too can get something they need or want. We would give them this at any time of year..its not just for Christmas. Whenever they visit us we can treat them to little pressies if we see something they would like.
We have savings accounts for the grandchildren..unless there is something specific that parents would like us to get for them..we pay their money in there. Children often have far too many presents to open on Christmas day ...its too much for one day.

Surely this isn't the intention of the true  celebration of Christmas

In France there seems to be less commercialism and less overkill.
Of course children have Santa and lovely gifts ...just not so many.
For adults there are the usual gift sets of the cosmetic variety and lot of chocolate and plants in the shops.
Less of the "novelty " type gifts which you find in all the charity shops after Christmas ( at least someone will benefit from them)
As in Languedoc the folk in Charente seem to like to exchange home made stuff with their neighbours. Last year we made chocolate fudge for them. This year, as we had been to the UK for a visit, we bought some wensleydale and cranberry cheese, yorkshire blue and a box of crackers.

I will report back as to what they thought of it!!!

I have had a little setback to finishing my winter work.............

I have  broken wrist.

I would like to say it was a spectacular fall  something exciting like ski ing or snowboarding but it was just my usual walking too quickly and not paying attention to the footpath.
Luckily its the left wrist ( i am right handed) ... after the first week of pain and immobility I have been able to catch up on some of the work
 Carrots have all been dug up.....essential as the chickens who are now free ranging in the garden were attempting to dig them up for me. I never thin my carrots...too much work and attracts the carrot fly.....so I never now what t expect.

The big ones I use to make batches of carrot and coriander soup. The medium ones  chop into cubes for casseroles and the small ones I just blanch as they are to serve with  roast dinner. Of course there always the weird and wonderful odd shaped ones.
This I managed with one hand...the good one!!....not an easy task but its done!!!


We also have an excess of eggs again...the girls have all started laying every day...this them helping me do some weeding the other day

"IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL THE POT"
" I DON'T KNOW BUT I'M NOT GETTING IN JUST IN CASE"

so i made some large scotch eggs  for meals and some smaller ones to use for aperos. they freeze really well.The smaller ones I added curry spice for a change..

EASY PEASY TO MAKE BUT VERY MESSY!!!!!


SITTING ROUND THE KAGAI

 Last night we were invited to join some new holiday Verteuilaise residents. Nick and Tina have bought a beautiful Maison de Maitre house edging on to the river with a great  view of the chateau. They intend to live here one day and we welcome them heartily to the village,
We sat around a KAGAI....a very large outdoor fire pit with seating benches around it...cooking local sausages on skillets, drinking wine (of course) laughing, chatting, singing with old friends and new
Its hard to believe we were able to sit outside till  midnight on the 23 rd of December under an almost full moon and not feel cold!!!

Welcome to Nick and Tina and their very charming 4 boys.


So this is my last post of 2015 and I am already looking forward to 2016............Resolutions or not???Plans??? New ventures????? Objectives!!!

Cant wait to hear what yours are

• BONNE FETES A TOUS xxxxxxxx

garden and foraging in France in September/October

Its now almost two months since my last post. I WOULD like to say that I have been flogging myself to death working in the house and garden to create this wonderful image of "The Good Life"......
however that would be  totally against the principle of living well for less. Actually it is more a case of so many different things going on....summer gardening and produce, foraging, visitors and socializing!!!

• We also bought a rowing boat!...just for messing about on the Charente. Whilst we were buying our local organic honey from Chris Luck in Blanzay we spotted it amongst the long grass on his domain. Chris lives some way from the river so I was intrigued as to why he had one. Admitting it had lain there for years and as  he hadn't got round to getting anywhere near a river with it he was willing to sell it to us for a very reasonable price. We are looking forward to trying it out....once the cows in the meadow between us and the river move on!! Both them and the chickens seem to be very interested in our new addition!!!

Annie Sloan Paint in France

We are still in the process of trying to replace our furniture after making the decision to leave most of it behind when we sold our last house in 2014.

Point 1.....going out to buy furniture in France is not so much fun.......not a lot of choice unless you like everything lime green or purple!!

Point 2....its so much more expensive to buy good furniture

Point 3...you never seem to have the time to look properly when you are trying to renovate your house, create your veggie plot and go out to work at the same time

Point 4...you seem to run out of money before everything is replaced

As a result you tend to buy things second hand.....(Emmaus, Anglo-Info, Leboncoin Vide Greniers) In doing so, most of it needed the shabby chic treatment in an attempt to make it look anything other than shabby. I had brought a very large tin of Farrow and Ball Shaded white with us from the Uk but that didn't last long. There are outlets here that sell it but it is usually double the price!!
When I was looking at second hand furniture on ebay in the UK I noticed a lot were stating they were painted in Annie Sloane Chalk paint.
I began to look into it and discovered that this is soooo amazing. No preparation or sanding compared to other paints and usually only needs one coat. As well as that, the painted surface can then be waxed in a clear coating or with a darker one to give it a more distressed look.
I am probably already telling most of you what you already know but for me it was a great discovery.
Not only that....it was available locally and at a great price.

I tracked down Gary and Jayne who run couleursdevie.eu   This lovely couple who live in the most amazing house filled with lots of colour and character...

have put their heart and soul into their business. Their barn is filled with lots of painted pieces so that you can see how your paint will look and Gary even took the time to show us to how easy the paint and wax were to use.

I am now a total convert.

I bought these chairs from them with the intention of painting them a similar colour to our kitchen....Annie Sloanes Old White....however I quite like the different colours and will now try to incorporate those colours into my very conservative kitchen........what do you think???????

Lots of rain after the scorching weather and , lots of potatoes

The heat of the last 7 weeks has been draining.....its too hot to work but you still have to do it. The vegetables have really suffered and as my french neighbours said they are all "cuit" (cooked)
I had been hoping to leave the potatoes in the ground...the tops had just about burnt off...however on digging some up I found that some were starting to sprout.

As a result we dug them all them all up and our kitchen had a potato attack.. I dont have anywhere to store them which is cool and dark so several hours later of cooking, blanching and preparing ..on.NO FUN on a very hot day ...resulted in several bags of blanched potatoes, several bags of chips, several bags of mashed potatoes with cabbage and onion in,

Unfortunately....as I sometimes think we live in the middle of Siberia and only go shopping once a year....and my husband thinks Im planning for a siege...both of my freezers were filling up!!
Being part of the Ladies in France Network I put out a plea via our facebook site and thanks to Liz Nolan whoalso  lives in Verteuil I had a freezer on loan with two hours of asking!!! Now thats what I love about being part of this great group....there is always help at hand!!!
Now then...freezer number 3 is on its way to filling up....and hubby is saying we relly must start eating some of this food. However..., like the red squirrel who is busy digging holes ( or should i say more holes) in our lawn to bury all the nuts... I have this need to stash things away for the winter!!!!

I have used the last of the courgettes...thy reign no more in the garden!!....and made several quiches.
Tomatoes are in full flow and we are equally eating them and making  sauces for pasta.
The taste really is so much better than anything our of a jar or can!! Well worth the effort.
The aubergines have really flourished in the hot weather and in another week we will start harvesting them.

The rain has finally arrived.....plants as well as us are breathing a sigh of relief. The rain is the best excuse for not doing anything...well..in the garden at least. It has given  me a good chance to catch up on some inside work.
Ive had some material sitting about for...a while...to make some table mats for the sous sol kitchen. I thought these looked quite simple to do as, despite some of my ancestors being dressmakers, my skills in this area are something not to be talked about!!! Anyway, they do the job and look good from a distance! Much to the distaste of the hubby this kitchen is becoming a bit of a chicken shrine

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!