Kindle garden

Well the weather has been fine all week, and so I have been cracking on with getting the garden ready for planting. But first of all I got my little Kindle garden sorted.

New posts and wire netting, the table and chairs Brendan got me last year, and my Christmas pressie - the Kindle.

It may seem a little wasteful to partition off a bit of the veggie plot just for my Kindle, but it seems highly appropriate to use the bit of shade under the apple tree to shelter under in the summer - it is not as though anything can grow there.

And the netting is for growing my peas and beans up, a living hedge in order to create a private space away from everyone to sit and read - aperos and drinks to be served at 6pm. Not so much Cider with Rosie, but G&Ts with Kindle. (And yes those are carrots - and no they are not for the chickens - I am trying to develop a taste for crudites but without the mayo).

home made poly tunnels from water pipe and plastic

Lots has been done this week, the whole plot has been rotovated, poly tunnels and cold frames are up, and first seeds have been started in the greenhouse. 

Come on Spring - we are ready for you.

The chickens have really been entering into the spirit too and feeding us well, from left to right - normal chicken egg, double yolker Orpington egg, Goose egg - omlette anyone?

First day of sun screen

Amazingly enough I had to use some sun screen today while out rotovating the garden.

I was doing my best Barbara Good impersonation today - or rather Tom because he got to play with all the good toys.  But my garden is now fully rotovated ready for planting.  And picked clean by the chickens, I had a full complement in tow around the garden but hopefully as I ploughed through several ant nests and they got all excited picking them clean that should mean less to worry about later.

 

In the background you can just see my new bit of fencing.  

This is for my Kindle garden.  

Yes that's right, I have devoted a part of my garden to the hedonistic pleasures of my Kindle.

I intend to grow beans and peas along the mesh fencing and create a private space where I can relax in the shade of the apple trees in summer to read my Kindle, hopefully out of sight of the neighbours and therefore unlikely to be disturbed.

The unseasonably warm weather continues....

The warm weather continues and it feels like spring.  In fact half the garden is confused and has started to sprout.  Parsley, dill, strawberries, ginger and chives have started to grow and my apple trees are budding.

I would love to believe that this really is the start of spring but generally we have snow until the end of February, so this year is very weird and the delay to winter concerns me.  I don't want anything to start to growing and then end up buried under a metre of snow and being killed off by -16°c nights.

But it is so balmy at the moment that even the chickens have taken to sunbathing.

 

And those that aren't sunbathing are in the house stealing the cat food.

Ellen I hope that you are paying attention - because the main culprits are your Orpingtons!

Another Olympic entry

" - what on earth do you think you are doing now?"

Chicken tickling.

Take one leafy branch - not easy to come by in the middle of winter but I found one.

Then with branch in left hand and right arm outstretched attempt to round up eleven stubborn chickens into their new coop.

Fingers of right hand must continue wriggling throughout the manoeuvre and "tickle tickle tickle" must be recited in high pitched tone.

Branch is not allowed to touch the ground nor any chicken.

Picking up of chickens means instant disqualification.

Event is timed.

"- come near me with that stick - I dare you!"

Just enough light this evening to finish my crochet shawl, photos to be posted tomorrow hopefully.

I also managed to get the first stage of the costumes for Friday's murder mystery party sorted out. For everyone but myself. My wardrobe currently consists of two red feather boas. I think I need to add something else to that.

snow snow snow snow - I dream of being snowed in

The French farmers are far too practical here, so no doubt I will be able to get to work tomorrow as normal. In the meantime I get to keep cooking all the leftovers from the chest freezer - tonight spicy meatballs.

With the chickens wandering around, wading through the snow, I also took the opportunity to take a few photos and intend to get them loaded onto flickr tonight.

Have to make the most of the internet connection while we still have it - photos uploaded to flickr and redbubble.

But I did manage to take the dog for a walk today - our tracks through the snow were the only signs of life on the lanes.

My not so secret, secret addiction. (updated)

My name is Monika and I am a Rayburn-a-holic.

It started when we were in the process of talking ourselves into buying a permanent home in rural France as opposed to a fixer-upper to use in our summer holidays, in amongst all the mental bargaining and deal making we had decided on wood fired heating incorporating a stove and a means of meeting our hot water requirements.  The perfect solution was a Rayburn (ours is a no.3 built in 1953), with an integral back boiler, multi fuel so coal as well as wood, and a kitchen classic from the 1950s, right in keeping with a stone rustic farmhouse from the 1850s.

We bought the carcass of a Rayburn from ebay for 99p.  I still remember clearly the guy's face when we turned up with the Land Rover and trailer and he asked us how we thought we were going to lift three quarters of a tonne of cast iron onto a trailer and we replied that we were going to dismantle the Rayburn first!

The Rayburn we bought had excellent enamelling however it was pretty rotten on the sides and back, but the back boiler was in good order and it had all of its door handles, hinges, plate rack and stove tops.

So started the restoration.

We had the good fortune to be living about 50 miles from the home of Aga and Rayburn (a Rayburn being the solid fuel incarnation of the more well known Aga), so finding replacement firebricks was a doddle, then the rotten sides and back were replaced by shiny stainless steel, the gaps filled with Rockwool, a few screws and some fire cement and my beautiful stove was reborn.

This is the point at which some photos are called for but the battery is on charge again.

My beautiful Rayburn now runs two bedroom radiators, provides our winter hot water, kitchen heating and I do the majority of my cooking in it.

So why am I telling you all this? -  because I was going to light it today to get started on my beetroot pickles and marrow jams, and then went and got all distracted tidying up my greenhouse instead - it was a bit Day of the Triffids in there.

 Having cut back all the tomatoes, weeded and harvested those lovely little cherry tomatoes ready for cooking I then came back inside and tackled all those housework things that Brendan had been blind to whilst I was away, hence the stairs got swept, dusting got done, floors got mopped and bathroom had a proper clean round.

If this wet weather that I have bought back from the UK persists I may light the Rayburn tomorrow and start pickling then.



So - updated - Saturday afternoon while I was busy hacking away in the greeenhouse it started to persist it down, coupled with Brendan declaring all the plums being ripe, I decided to light the Rayburn and get on with the first lot of autumn harvests - feels a little odd to be doing this in August but hey ho - funny old weather.

We picked a row of beetroots and set them to boiling for the pickled beetroots.  I always scrub mine very clean before boiling because I preserve the water afterwards to make Barszcz for Christmas.  This beetroot soup is a good old fashioned Polish addition to our menu.

To preserve the juice, once I had claimed all the beets out of the water, I simply poured it into a freezer bag held upright in a measuring jug and put it in the freezer, then I can remove the jug and just have a solid block of purple-y beetroot stock ready for use.

 With 7 jars of beetroots pickled, I also managed to bottle up 9 jars of plum and elderberry jam, delicious.

This is only the second year that our plum tree has fruited, they are small dark purple plums but so juicy and tasty.  I have no idea what variety they are as the tree was already here in the garden when we arrived, and even our neighbour does not know what sort it is - although he has told me on several occasions that the tree won't fruit.

It overlooks the chicken pound and as they get ripe and fall the chickens fight over them.  They wolf them down to the point that they end up with discoloured poops everywhere - today all the poops are a virulent shade of red due to them eating beetroot peelings and drinking the last of the beetroot water, then scoffing elderberries and plum skins.

We also had a go at pickling some of our quail eggs - but in red wine vinegar to stain them pink - no I don't know why it just seemed a good idea at the time.

And of course in the background you can see some plum syrup heavily doused with vodka ready for autumnal cocktails!

Yesterday's chick project stands up to foxy scrutiny.

Yesterday you may have noticed that I moved the chicks from their rabbit hutch home into their own space, namely a piglet rearing room as was, now pretty derelict and unused, the sow's section is the feeding room with several large bins of wheat and barley for the animals.

Being the overly cautious and undeniable Virgo that I am, I gave the chicks the large dog cage to sleep in, as I can close them up in there securely for the night, then added a couple of surplus wire cages on top to block the doorway in fully.

Then because I am a real Virgo through and through, I also added a spare rabbit hutch door, which I wedged in against the hinges of the wooden door to the room, effectively blocking off all the gaps above the cage and the gap under the door too.

Feeling that they were locked in pretty tightly I went off to bed quite happy.

At 1.30am this morning I was rudely awakened by the cries of a fox, and our numpty dog barking his little empty head off.  I released said numpty into the night, and he actually ran in the right direction and managed to chase the fox off.  I checked on all our birdies and bunnies and they were all in one piece but by the door of the piglet room I could see that the rabbit hutch door wedged in place had been disturbed, but unbreached.  Score one for the Virgo traits within.

Speaking of our numpty dog, he will be 4 tomorrow.  He is a Border Collie who appears not to have inherited any of the intelligent traits common in collies but all of the bouncy energetic nature.

I know Borders can be difficult dogs to own, hard to train and control and they do have several down sides to their intelligence, but we have been very fortunate in our dog's temperament, and he makes a wonderful pet.  He has never worked as a herd dog, his natural inclination is to be herdee not herder, he has a small repetoire of tricks, and he is very conscious of his territory but not a guard dog as such, being more inclined to run back to you barking rather than seeing anything off his patch.

Anyway last night at 1.30 we were wandering around with a torch listening to the fox shouting at us from various fields.  One of Arthur's tricks is to bark, run a tight circle and return on command, so we were wandering the lanes and I was sending him into fields randomly with him barking his happy little head off then coming back and being sent off again.  I think he thought his birthday had come early.

Needless to say he is doing the sleep of the dead now, taking on the appearance of a great big smelly rug across the front door.  May have to consider some form of fox chasing reward for his birthday treat tomorrow.

Today's gardening projects already completed, garden weeded, potatoes treated, colorado beetles squished, tomatoes transplanted, next lot of peas collected and frozen, poppy and sweet william seeds collected and redistributed throughout  the flower beds ready for next year.  Time for breakfast now.

Reasons to be cheerful - 1.. 2.. 3..

1. Another bright and sunny day, at 25°c by 10.00 am this morning, washing on the line, greenhouse watered, freshly cut wild flowers and mint decorating the house in huge fragrant bunches.

2. Garden finally growing well - stopped worrying about the things that are obviously not going to germinate and grow, just going to sit back and relax and enjoy what we have, and today looks like a harvest of radish seed pods, the first courgettes are ready to eat too and an abundance of coriander in bloom.

3. Chicks have grown up well, all 10 have survived and have just moved into their new home this morning (what used to be the piglet rearing room, now with the door blocked off with a big dog cage), and in full view of the rest of the chickens so should be able to integrate them soon.

Here is Mama Hog paying the first visit just to see what food they may have, they are about the size of our bantam cockerel now, but I will feel happier letting them out when I think they can stand up to the other larger cockerel and not get bossed about too much by the Queen of the yard, Edith.

Saturday's child has far to go .........

...........I don't think that is right but it certainly fitted today.

Today's project was a bit different from studio or gardening time.  Today I went hunting eggs with a friend.

Orpington eggs to be exact. 

My friend likes Orpington chickens, has done for several years, and is now ready to become a chicken mama.  So having found an Orpington breeder on line with eggs and chicks for sale, we drove 180 kms across France today in hot sunny weather to collect some eggs ready to go in the incubator.  I had my first introduction to this breed first hand, and, wow, they are big birds.  Looking forward to the hatching to see what we get.

It has been a glorious day today, 27 celcius this afternoon, and this evening is still very mild, at fast approaching midnight, I have only just closed the front door against the dropping temperatures. 

With Mr Pink happily curled on my lap after an impressive afternoon when he caught 3 mice, following the two he had this morning before we went out, we are both agreed that it is now bed time.

Early start tomorrow for the car boot sale, our favourite of the year - perhaps I'll even get to replace my broken crockery from the other day.

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (and a fat free cake recipe)

A bunch of new arrivals, 10 lovely little yellow chicks.

Yum yum for my tum - new arrivals means a cull of the older birds - the current count is 6 rabbits, 4 ducks, 4 chickens due to go in the freezer - just waiting for the rain to ease off.

With an early start this morning, I though I would get ahead of the game and have another go at making a cake for us to munch for elevenses.

This time I managed to remember not to try to turn it out before it had cooled and so managed to successfully keep the centre in the cake.

Citrus Fat Free Cake

150g of natural yoghurt
2 beaten eggs
225g caster sugar
orange zest and freshly squeezed juice from one half - or lemon or satsuma or grapefruit or whatever you have - a squeeze of prepared lemon juice in one of those plastic things will do at a push
225g self raising flour - if baking in France I use the Farine Fluide with a sachet of baking powder (leveur chimique - I don't use the Gateaux flour as I find this makes a heavier cake albeit that it is more crumbly)

As I make mine in the bread machine and mine has a cake setting it is very easy, throw in the wet ingredients, then the dry with the raising agent if using it last of all, then let it bake for the preset time.

If making in a conventional oven preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, butter then flour a bread tin, combine the wet ingredients with sifted flour until you have a wet runny lump free mix, pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Just what we needed with a cup of coffee when we got back in this morning.

Thank you TV chef - polenta muffins

Today's TV chef to thank is Ainsley Harriot on GMTV.

With Brendan now entering the third week of his supermarket ban I was feeling the pressure. The shopping list pressure that is. The shopping list that he spent an hour compiling last night with glee in the anticipation that I would be going to do some shopping today.

While he has been on his ban I reduced my trip to the supermarket to once a week, which still sounds like a lot but is a real improvement on once every other day.

The major problem with not shopping so frequently is thinking up things to cook and serve - we all get fed up of constantly eating the same things over and over and over again.

While watching TV first thing this morning over my cup of coffee with knitting in hand, I caught with half an ear Ainsley extolling the virtues of cornmeal muffins - cornmeal being polenta.

Now it just so happens that in amongst all the bits and bobs that were carried back and forth from the pantry to the barn and back to the pantry was a bag of polenta. Obviously something I bought in a fit of creative cuisinery inspiration (or madness) then realised that I had no idea what to do with it so relegated it to the box of assorted flours.

One quick search on the internet revealed the recipe and so for lunch (early lunch today due to work commitments) we had Polenta muffins with chorizo scrambled egg.

Muffin recipe:

225g self raising flour (or farine fluide in France)
100g yellow polenta
1½ tsp baking powder - I used one sachet of levure chemique here in France
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch salt
75g Melted butter
1 beaten egg
175ml milk

Preheat oven to 180°
In a food processor (I know I know very lazy but I was short on time), whizz up the seived dry ingredients with the wet, allowing the melted butter to cool a little, until you get a soft dough. Dollop generous heaped tablespoons into a greased muffin tray, then bake for 20 minutes.

My scrambled eggs are very simple, in a heavy pan fry a chopped onion and some chopped chorizo sausage in a spoon of olive oil. Beat 6 eggs (for 3 people) in a bowl - thank you Edith, Mama Hog, and others for the eggs, add a splash of milk, pinch of salt, freshly ground black pepper, teaspoon of paprika and a tablespoon of dried herbs - normally parsley for me, then pour over the fried sausage and onion, and keep stirring into the centre.

With a full and happy belly off to work I went and then spent some quality time with a friend.

I am also vey pleased to see the amount of blossom now appearing on our plum trees.  We had a disastrous year last year with hardly any fruit at all, so I am hoping that this late bloom after the worst of the frosts and with plentiful pollinating bees around mean I can get some wine on the go for Christmas.

Bouncing Baby Bunnies

After a miserable Friday spent drowning under paperwork and endless calls back and forth to the UK, I was very pleased to see Saturday dawn with some bright sunshine.

With Brendan safetl ensconsed in the pantry and under strict instructions to not come out until the walls had been patched up, Thea and I set to with the rabbits. We currently have 5 babies, one mummy who has just given birth but we don't know to how many babies as they are still buried under straw in her hutch and one pregnant female. A bit of a hutch reshuffle was required to make sure everyone that needed extra room got it and to separate the males out for a bit of a rest so they could recoupe their engergies.

This is Crumble Stud Muffin - so named under the misapprehension it was a male - who later turned out to be a very good mummy indeed, it is her daughters that are pregnant and have given birth recently.

Underneath her is our current stud - Brian Big Nose (from Monty Python's Life of Brian).  They all needed a good clean out and fresh straw so we got started early and soon had a great pile of poo ready to become compost.

As I was so impressed with how well the seedling compost came out, I decided to make some more ready for next year but this time instead of leaving it sitting idle on one side of the garden, I thought I would put the old pantry shelves to better use by making a designated raised composting bed.  These are just some pine floorboards that fit together tongue and groove, to which I screwed a reinforcing bit of off-cut pine  to stop the two planks springing apart, then dug into the ground about a third of the width.  To this pile of rabbit poo will go some fresh Milla manure and some mole cast, and so that it is working for a living - I intend to use it for my pumpkins this year.

I was pleased to see the first cucumber seedlings poking through yesterday.  Every morning now starts with a watering can in the greenhouse and one for the poly tunnel.  With the snow melt still affecting our water table, we have a very full duck pond and an instantly replenishing well, so I have been pumping the well water into all the garden water butts - whilst it has been raining recently, there has not been that much, and I am standing by my conviction that this year will be a drought year. 

Finally with friends coming to dine, I thought I should do a pudding for a change.   I am not a great baker nor pudding maker and all too often I cop out by buying some choccie biccies or asking a neighbour to provide the cake.  This time, inspired by Come Dine With Me, I thought I would have a go at Eton Mess, after all if those guys can whip one up in no time why shouldn't I.  I had bought a crate of strawberries the other day as a family treat at a good reduced price for our tiny budget and with these and the eggs from our chickens whipped up into a meringue with some caster sugar and a bit of double cream - my own Eton Mess. 

Just a quick swirl of a syrup made with the strawberries and a fresh berry to finish.