La Chaise's strangest pest?

 This is a slug - anyone can see that it is a slug.....but Stephanie knew its proper name - it is a 'Leopard Slug'  and she said it is cannibal - somewhere there is a picture of one slug eating another - but I think that is too horrible to publish

Pine trees - the new crop for savy landowners...

 When called to attend an Annual General Meeting most people, I suspect will think various thoughts - starting with 'Oh Gawd, no' then conscience kicking in and saying ' you really should attend..after all, who knows what stupidities might be decided/executed that affect you..??

My decision to attend the AGM of  the Syndicat des Proprietaires Forestiers Sylviculteurs de la Dordogne was rather more I dignified I like to think.  There is a new inhabitant at La Chaise, one who is beginning to be particularly interested in wood, woodlands and woodland management generally.  Martin had just recently cut down an oak much higher than the house because I wanted to decide where it should come to land rather than wait for a random wind to drop it just anywhere...

In order to encourage his interest I had entered him for a course run by the SPFS especially for young woodmen.  It pleased him and furthered his interest - he also met other youngsters looking for these skills. The Dordogne is one of the most densely forest covered of the French provinces, mostly oak and chestnut according to local information.

Also I have vague ideas about tidying some scrubby woodlands on the edges of my valley and replanting with oak and chestnut - and perhaps some other species - I was thinking of elms in particular. (As a Dutchwoman I feel somehow responsible for 'Dutch Elm Disease' but why, i do not know). There is a France wide national plan for re-wooding and some 800 hectares could possibly be involved in the Dordogne.  Doubtless there will be some form of financial aid.

In the very beginning of our ownership of La Chaise , well over 40 years ago, we cleared a scruffy valley and planted all pines - which particular type of pine I cannot remember, there are, after all, over 170 different types of pine.    These pines had to be kept standing for 30 years according to some agreement details of which I do not remember - but some costs were tax deductible. They were duly cut and sold to a wood mill to be turned into paper or slats for crates.

In the years we had to keep this pinery, it had to be kept clear of invader greenery especially whilst it was still short.  There are quite a few wild animals that like pines - rabbits will eat the new growth, deer will feast on the higher, tougher branches, wild boar will trample them and turn them into mush....This is where the local 'chasse' comes in and we make a bargain.   The chasseurs will keep the destructive wild animals and so keep the woodland clear and they will be allowed to keep the game.  I do occasionally get a sizeable joint of wild boar but it is not easy to cook - in fact is probably an acquired taste.

The meeting was quite well attended with quite a noticeable number of women - so I did not feel conspicuous.  There was the usual interchange of opinions - during which neither speaker listened to what the other had said - and the solitary voice of a 'chasseur' drew attention to their contribution to woodland management.

Somehow the general tone began to unsettle me, nobody said anything disagreable but the general attitude to tree planting seemed somehow wrong.    It was the discussion as to when best to cut down the pines and how to market them - I heard that the cut could be done as early as 14 years after plantation.....

Only last year we were obliged to cut down a centennial oak because of a malady that made it unstable and likely to fall - some of the smaller branches had already fallen.  I organised an evening farewell party for the tree to which our closest friends had been invited.   The following day the professionals would come - the elegantly named 'elageurs-grimpeurs'...who with terrifying skill took the tree down bit by bit as you can see below...

All right, I am being overly sentimental....I remember as a very young girl putting a long veil on my head and, leaning out of my bedroom window, giving an emotional speech to an enormous Lebanon Cedar, subject not remembered...but there was quite an audiance of red squirrels...

But I cannot get my head round the idea of getting trees to grow - then cutting them down before their maturity - to me they are not like vegetables, not maize or sweet corn - there is still a link to the gods of old.