I know yesterday’s writing was a bit radical…situations like that just annoy me so much.  It’s appalling to me, but I realize I am a minority…things are the way they are because most people want them to be that way, even if they don’t realize it.  At this point in my life, I am mostly…

I’m sorry for another boring vegetable picture. The garden is doing so well right now.  There’s always something to pick every day. Still settling in, there’s still so much to do.  It was wonderful to go away and get a perspective on my life.  I needed that so much. It was interesting coming home.  The…

  We survived and are home now, and scrambling to pick everything up where we left off.  Everything seems slightly different – the goats are fatter, because my mom was slower at milking and they got twice as much barley as usual.  The cows all benefited from the spring green-up.  It is good to see…

A tunnel on the way to Nice – one of 17! The highest point on our trek through the Alps to Nice.  Finally some actual snow to play in!  We also saw some ermines running around. Blue butterfly mud-puddling by the snow melt seep Finally, a guard-rail!  This was what the road looked like most…

woodland wildflower Me and Rose at the real ruin Cool ruined castle in Alsace Climbing up to see the ruined castle.  It was pretty steep. My dad’s train to take him back to Nice Mirin saying goodbye to Smoozie the sheep dog at Bernard’s.  They really got along well. A view of the extremely touristy…

Cured bacon from the market in St. Marie-aux-Mines, the little Alsatian town where my great-grandmother lived.  I discovered from the Archives that my family lived there since 1675 at least. A really wonderful duck pate en croute.  It had three different layers, and raisins and almonds in aspic on top.   This was the ladder…

Captions will follow someday, but now it’s bedtime. Escargot.  There were millions of the things all over.  I don’t know how they could stand the cold.  Aurore said it was their breeding season, and forbidden to collect them right now. Mirin and Rose on the top of La Dole mountain.  It was cold. Beautiful little…

A view of (I think) Nice from up high near an old cemetery Clothilde running up a cobblestone road in Crest Mirin, my dad, my friend Vincent, and me walking in old Crest (I think) a picture of the rooftops of Crest with mountains in the distance.  Mirin couldn’t wait to get to the Alps….

We are all packed, and heading out the door – yes, a true backpacking trip – we’re taking only hand luggage.  Any more than that, and it’s expensive and a pain to drag around.  I’ve got my good, old yellow backpack I took with me back when I was 17 and wandering around France with…

We put the calves back on the mamas, and skimmed the cream off the last of the milk for now.  Last batch of butter here, and we also made some ice cream with a half gallon of cream and a dozen egg yolks.  There’s nothing like fresh, home-made raw butter, except maybe fresh, home made…

These were some pictures I forgot about from last week.  The only harvestable vegetables in the winter garden now are kale, some parsley and dill, and onions. Mirin found some Lactarius and Chantarelle mushrooms, and we got a few peaches.  Not a good year for peaches, because of that last late frost that got all…

  As for the garden, it’s all been just trying to get ready for the lack of our presence.  One thing I had really wanted to get done was mulch the rye down in the paths.  Last year it was a very dry spring, and all of the rye had died and was easy to…