Winterwonderland 2

Our French hunter is also enjoying the wintery view. However, it won't last, temperatures are already rising. Can't say we are sorry about that, as we are stuck on our mountain.
Click the picture for more detail.

Winterwonderland

Even in the south of France we don't escape from cold and snow. However, the weatherforecast predicts a warm Christmas.

Les Catalpas in Christmas outfit

The christmas tree is dressed again and.....

the Christmas catalpa is lit up and can be seen from the village

Cèpes d'un marronnier 2

Looks like these things move around!

Cèpes d'un marronnier

Two years ago, a large chestnuttree fell over in our forest. No particular reason to be found, I harvested the tree and we are actually burning it now. When I checked for other trees to be harvested I found the stump of the chestnuttree and decided to do something with it. A friend of ours had bought a giant wooden mushroom and uses it as a decoration in his garden. So I thought I should try to make one or more out of the stump. They turned out as porcini, cèpes bronzé, or "boletus aereus" as they are officially known. They grow in our forest and are delicious.

The ladies of the Pech

Tony's wife Karin is visiting us for a week. As she is pregnant she gets pampered by the other girls of the Pech, Janny and our female hunter Sacha. In this picture they are posing in front of a new firewood shed. (3m3)

Back to the future.

The vegetable patch did so well this year that we cannot consume all it's products, so we decided to do some preserving the old fashioned way: sterilizing the excess produce in weck bottles.

The result looks smart in the wine cupboard. Let's hope it tastes as well as it looks.

Butterflies

The lavender in our garden attracks a lot of butterflies. Some of the rarer species:

top: polygonia c album, comma in English, gehakkelde aurelia in Dutch.

middle: argynnis paphia, silver washed fritillary in English, keizersmantel in Dutch.

bottem: iphiclides podalirius, scarce swallowtail in English, koningspage in Dutch.

French chicks, part 3

Good news: The new chicks have survived the first 10 days. They are not yet as tame as the murdered lot, we need some more time. All openings in the chicken pen have been closed and every evening the door to the nighthouse is locked. Hopefully we can keep the "fouine" out.

French chicks, part 2

Allas, our beautiful black french chickens were killed during the night.
Three of them have been decapitated and one has been taken, by what we suspect to be a beech marten (stone marten). Stone martens are common here, as are foxes, but considering the small opening in the fence, or rather underneath the entrance door to the pen, we can't believe it was a fox. Stone martens have their young this time of year and are hunting for food for their offspring.

Such is life (or rather dead) in rural France.

New chicks are already on order and will arrive next wednesday.

(photo from http://www.britannica.com/)

French chicks

Yesterday our new chickens arrived. 4 black beauties, 3 black/ brown, 1 grey/ black.

We immediatly clipped their wings (feathers only of course). When we started with chickens, some 4 years ago, we bought 4 for €10,-. Admitted, they were small and it took 2 months before they laid eggs. In the shop where we ordered the chickens they asked if we wanted them ready to lay eggs or small ones. I choose ready to lay. Black or brown?, she asked? We always had brown ones, so I said: black please. And I forgot to ask the price. A whopping €36,-. For that kind of money you have easily 4 Label Rouge top quality chickens, ready to eat. Ok, ok, they don't lay eggs anymore, but you also don't have to feed them.

The promise of the shop came true, after a couple of hours we had our first egg.

Sacha, our hunting dog, is obsessed with them. She would kill all 4 of them, given the chance, that's why we clipped the wings. But tonight when I went to close the door of the henhouse, one was sitting on the roof! So, despite the clipping they can still fly a bit. Tomorrow I have to put a net over the chicken pen, or they will be Sacha's.

spring 2009

We are having a very early spring at the moment. The temperatures are around the 20's, with a peak of 22. The camelia, forsytia and the mirabelle are in full bloom