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…
Nice to Crest
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….
Out the Door
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…
Leaving Off
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…
Some things
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…
In the Garden: Setting Down the Pitchfork, Resorting to the Sythe
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…
The Meeting of the Queens
The answer to the riddle was Cassava. Sorry, I kept forgetting about it. Yesterday I kept meaning to sit down and write here, but life was too busy – dealing with all the cream and butter has me feeling chained to the kitchen. Not only that, but there was a very involved chicken liver pate,…
Nature Finds: Spring Things
The insects and animals have been popping up all over the farm, busy, busy, busy. In the very warm and wet spring weather we’ve had, mushrooms are sprouting up all over. I had never seen this lovely, curly oyster mushroom look-alike. They are all over where the hay bale was on the first line. A…
Progress
Much progress this week. The piglets are weaned (so I think that technically makes them shoats), and the baby chickies are out. The piglets have been much more graceful about weaning than the calves. No dramatic squealing or hoarse complaining at all. Star seems extremely glad about the whole thing. They were starting to…
In the Garden: First Tomatillos
It’s been a soaking wet week this week. A spattering of intense rain storms has cooled the weather off, making it possible to move fast enough to work in the garden. I think that’s why nothing gets done down here in the South like it does up North. It’s too hot to move most of…
Yarn Along: Another Shalom Cardigan
I have set aside my Scandinavian-style colorwork sweater (yet again) after realizing there are only three (THREE!!) more weeks until we leave for France. I am still drudging away imperceptibly along the bottom edge, the sleeves are invisible, and the tiny yarn was becoming frustrating. I needed a project I could crank out in a…
Not So Many Peaches
The peaches and early rabbit-eye blueberries are coming along – it looks as if it will be a very good year for blueberries, and a very poor year for peaches. The very late, only frost we got was at the worst possible time for them. The Florida King trees have a few, and Snow Queen…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 