Time for 'food from the wild.'

Would you believe it?   There is an upside to the pollen season....it reminds you to go and search for your 'Food from the Wild' cookery book which has a terrible winter habit of hiding...I have had to buy the Ian Burrows copy again...

No it has not been borrowed by my cleaning lady - she only reads French (reasonable as she is French and we are in France) and disapproves strongly of anything that has not grown under control of green fingers...

My two favourites from the book are the recipes for rosehip syrup - which has more vitamin C than orange juice - which I had to give up drinking because it gave me the shakes worse than real coffee - and elder flower cordial - which is a very pleasant, light drink and (I am told but have not tested) is a very pleasant addition to a G&T..

Of corse there are downsides...for the rosehip syrup the 'hips' have to come from wild roses, those on your garden prize winners will not do. They are hard to find and harder to pick - leather gloves and pocket secateurs are recommended.  

The downside of the elder flower is its pollen, plenteous and easily blown on the wind.  A nose covering mask is recommended for those with pollen allergy problems.

Extracting the essence from the hips will take time, patience and good straining clothes, a wide copper jam making pan would be good for the elder flowers..

The rest you will have to look up for yourselves....but don't forget to sterlise your re-used jam jars and their new (!) lids.

The usefulness of forgetfulness

As I was wandering around the house, looking for something, I suddenly had a brainwave!!  It stopped me right in my tracks, halfway up the stairs - a very dangerous place to stop and think.

Wanting what I have forgotten to bring to my desk makes me get OUT of my chair!!  Then I have to think where this item might actually be - which means crossing several rooms -  sometimes even going upstairs.

Forgetfulness in the aged is nature's way of compelling them to take exercise!!  The thought of 'going for a walk' is usually confined to fine weather days and often done reluctantly. But searching for something you think you need at that moment makes you forget to think of the wandering as exercise!  And yet - there you are, moving, standing, sometimes even stretching to look over, or under - whatever, a chair, a table...

A slight downside...if you pass through the kitchen in your wanderings perhaps you should discipline yourself NOT to STOP for another cup of coffee or tea - and certainly not for a glass of something...

Spring things - a little late..

 What I would really like to write about is the wonderful actions of the baby deer that has decided to live in the woods.....right next to the swimming pool. No, don't jump to conclusions - it has NOT jumped into the pool - it just jumps onto the pool cover to cross the pool.  However endearing the sight, you can well imagine my worries - suppose it shits - or pees - on the pool cover, a cover which is already laden with wet leaves - ach,  stop right there!

More encouragingly the cherries are beginning to ripen.  They are very small - despite all the rain we had recently they do not seem to swell.  If I remember correctly they are 'morello' cherries and morellos are not for eating but for cooking - actually turning into cherry liqueur.  Yes, I have done this - some years ago - but do not propose to repeat for reasons I do not need to spell...So the lucky birds will have them all.

And here they are - still yellow, not yet covered in birdshit - but there is much agressive bird noise when I get anywhere near the trees...

The first orchid has just arrived...

 It is with such joy that I greeted the first orchid of 2024.....may there be many more!   We at La Chaise are very spoiled for orchids - which occasionally spoils things for those who have to work our fields because as soon as located the plants are protected by pickets and sometimes fencing...all of which gets in the way of hay-making.   So far, so good, because so wet and hay-making is sometime off.. This orchid was in luck because it was on our lawn and so can be danced round with a small mower.....It will probably be another few weeks before further orchids show themselves - I roughly remember where to go and have sensibly kept a pair of knee high wellies.  Wish me luck.

The Hen is off the egg - at last

 Maybe the White Hen suspects that her lonely splendour is about to be invaded...Yes, in two days time, if all goes well, she will be joined by two other hens...Perhaps she is still nervous about the unexpected, unexplained disappearance of her Golden companion. A heavy gate clicked, a dog briefly barked ...after which the Golden was gone.

Oddly enough one noticed later that a few things had also strangely disappeared, random gardening equipment - shears, small pruners, marker pegs - things like that, all clobber under the small, open sided shed roof...

I discussed this sad event with some local friends - the manager of the hardware store, the dry cleaning lady, the newspaper vendor - all said 'how extraordinary' and then proffered the name of some people who visit the Dordogne at this time of year.   Part of me wants to concur with this solution, part of me says ' hold it...no group think...another explanation might be equally valid..But there were no passing buzzards who have been known to fly down over a chicken and then up and away, chicken in beak.  But this would leave a trail of feathers, as would seizure by a passing fox..and I have found no golden feathers anywhere.

Did we have a cockerel I could have entertained the explanation that she was brooding somewhere in the bushes.   But I visited all the usual spots, even used my imagination and went further into the woods...

If she is still alive somewhere, Friday's arrival of newcomers might just provoke her to rejoin us ...on verra

how to light a fire....uh - oh!!

 Right!  so this is the story of 'how to light a fire'  when you only have 3 matches, a few  commercial fire lighters, one candle and a bottle of colza oil  (courtesy of Ukraine)

Good! so first lucky you go to collect some vine prunings that have been given by a kind neighbour.   Vine prunings are very thin twigs, very breakable and very, very flammable... These, using your pruning shears, you cut into short lengths...and pile at the back of the fireplace.

Then you go and check what you have - providentially - soaking in your jar of Ukrainine oil...I say 'providentially' but perhaps I should refer to 'foresight'.. This jar, a former sterilising jar, has been filled with Ukraine's best oil into which you have put some long slivers of wood which are soaking up the oil - in other words,  home made fire lighters...

These long slivers of oily wood are then wrapped in a couple of sheets of the local newspaper with the possible addition - if you have any left - of one of the small commercial fire lighter squares per wrapping.   Wrap very tightly, place at an angle over the vine prunings, facing towards the back of the fireplace, tips touching where they rest on the cast iron back of the fireplace.  If you are feeling uncertain - sprinkle a little more colza oil on the paper wrappings.

Then, breathe deeply, light number one match and use it to light the candle - your only fire resource once the matches are finished. Use the lit candle..to light the paper wrapping of your fire starters.  Make sure the candle does NOT go out - you only have two matches left!

It was my lucky evening - I was left with two matches...

An overburdened tree...

 This is a three pear tree....Odd you may think, definitely different.  The idea, apparently, was that the then owner of our orchard either did not have enough space for three trees - or was just feeling mean.   Any how this tree does need much attention when being pruned or generally tidied - who knows you might accidentally cut away of the pear varieties...

The three different pears appear (sorry about that) at slightly different times, mostly days apart.  Some of the pears will ripen on the branch, these are usually the cooking pears, large and white and - sorry again - tasteless..For the other two varieties the orchard watcher has to be very aware.   They are small, dark skinned and seem to drop after the slightest breeze..I have never managed to collect sufficient to make anything with them for the slightest delay at collecting them and they are covered in ants, sometimes wasps - the latter are quite aggressive about their fruit rights.. 

Obviously what I need to do is to find myself a fruit tree expert but where to start? The Dordogne rather specialises in apples and grapes..  I think I shall start in the hardware store - then in our small multi-services shop in town - probably the best is to launch  the question into the air next time I am in the local cafe...

Wish me - wish US!! luck.