The last of the house-guests....

We’ve just spent a wonderful week with my father and his sister (photo above in St. Emilion and below Dad on “the tractor”!) - the weather has been spectacular and thankfully, the weather looks like it’s going to continue to be spectacular for the next week which will give us the opportunity to catch up on all the laundry and more importantly to rotovate the veggie patch and prepare it for the winter.

This is fabulous and also quite sad as we’ll be rotovating the veggies we haven’t yet harvested, back into the ground - which will of course feed the ground but it’s quite sad that we won’t get to enjoy the bounty that the garden has consistently been offering up.  We did try to offer the leftover veggies to the neighbours (over 100 leeks, 12 brussel sprout plants, 12 cabbage plants, 12 broccoli plants, 3 still producing aubergine plants, 6 still producing courgette plants & copious still producing tomato plants), but it seems that everyone is suffering from a glut and no-one is interested in harvesting our veggies so it was actually the neighbours who suggested we simply rotovate the plants back into the ground to feed it.

As happy as I am to feed the ground, I know when I’m sitting in Cayman without such easy access to go “shopping” in the garden, I will miss the veggies I’ve sacrificed (photo below of our latest aubergines and yellow courgettes just waiting to go on the bbq).

We’ve had the most phenomenal summer and have learnt so much about what it will take in order to maximise the bounty of the garden in order to survive a winter and so feel that we are that much better prepared when we do have the opportunity to return and perhaps we can return as real instead of pretend farmers!

We have 10 days left in which time we have to pack up and winterize the house, rotovate the veggie patch and do the rounds of aperitifs with the neighbours - now we’ve done the “vendange” and met so many more of the people in our little hamlet, we’ve got that many more aperitifs to have!

In the meantime, the piggery is progressing (photo above of the back wall with the solid oak lintel in place) and that gives us some impetus to get back here in the not too distant future in order to ensure the piggery is completed in time for the next visiting season!

Wishing everyone a happy week ahead and hoping the weather holds out for us at least so I can have a last session in the veggie patch in my bikini much to the amusement of the neighbours!

Helping the neighbours with their “vendange”

We invited Michel & Simone over for aperitifs with Tony’s mum and aunt on Friday during which time, I enquired as to when our other neighbours would be doing their “vendange” - we’d noticed a few years ago that the entire hamlet tends to help with this and we thought it would be a nice opportunity to get involved.

Michel said it was slated for Monday morning followed by a big meal to thank the volunteers as is custom.  He promised to ask the neighbours if we might join in so I mentioned that we’d only be able to actually join in for the grape picking as I had to leave to collect my Dad from Limoges in the afternoon - although a shame to miss the meal, we were thrilled to be given the opportunity to help with the collection of the grapes and meet a few more neighbours.  Simone called us on Sunday morning to confirm “we were on” and should meet Michel at their place at quarter to 9 on Monday morning armed with a “panier” (basket) and a pair of secateurs!

So it’s 8.30 on Monday morning and we’re a little nervous and although it’s a fairly simple task as it’s the first time we’ve properly met some of the other neighbours we just hope it all goes well - I’m armed with secateurs and a camera so we shall see what transpires!  It usually only takes a few hours (it’s just a few acres he has) but will be nice to meet a man who makes his own wine on a small scale - something that Tony would quite like to try in the not too distant future.

As you can see from the photos above - we’ve now ‘been there and done that’!  It all went very well - it was lovely to meet the rest of our neighbours - all of whom are lovely and treated us very nicely if a little like a curiosity!  We arrived just before 9am at the winemaker’s house and his wife offered us some pork terrine & bread washed down with our choice of red wine (there was a magnum of it on the table) or coffee or both!  Having just had breakfast, we simply had a cup of coffee and made our way to the vines.

After a few hours of snipping grapes and listening to the banter of people who’ve grown up together, we returned to the winemakers house to actually start the process - we tipped the grapes into a pre-prepared and cleaned barrel - added a few bags of sugar cleaned out our grape trays and the grape bucket on the back of the tractor and sadly we then left as they sat down to their “repas des vendanges” and we came home to clean up and head to Limoges to collect Dad.

They’ve invited us back if we’re around for the vendange next year (last year they did the vendange on 9th Oct so it was a little early this year because of the drought), and also invited us to try some of the “pineau” (a grape based aperitif) which will be ready in the spring.

I’m sure there’s more to it than meets the eye - but the way they’ve just done this makes it appear as though it’s something we should really have a go at - the winemaker thinks he’s almost done with his grapes (which have been growing for more than 50 years) - his sons like drinking the wine but aren’t as fussed with the making of it - perhaps he’ll bequeath his equipment to us one day!!

Happy week ahead and ‘Sante!’ to one and all.

The ‘vendange’ (wine harvest) begins with the return of summer!

With the arrival of Tony’s mum and aunt (pictured above with a very friendly waiter!), summer made a re-appearance.  The leaves are still beginning to turn as we had a brief glimpse of autumn last week but this week I’m pleased to report we’ve had temperatures back in the high ’20’s and even a day in the low ’30’s!

So we thought it would be nice to go and see what was happening in the vineyards around Bergerac and perhaps take in a tasting or two.  The vendange was well underway but that didn’t stop the lovely winemakers from offering a tasting of previous years product (photos below) and we also stopped to have a look at Chateau Monbazillac (photo above) and the grapes which I can report are nicely and ‘nobly’ rotting on the vines!

We also popped in to Perigueux where there was a lively market underway - I will surely miss the markets with all the wonderful produce they have - one of the photos below is of the fish stall where you can buy the raw produce from the same shelf as all manner of pre prepared dishes such as seafood paella, made in a dish big enough to feed the 5,000 - delicious!

It’s early Thursday morning and as I type, I have some fresh tomato sauce bubbling away having been delivered yet another gift of bounty from the neighbours garden which I’m loathe to let go to waste and so will be trying tomato and goats cheese tarts from a Delia recipe later (if it’s tasty will pop it on the blog) to serve to the neighbours when they pop round for an aperitif tomorrow evening.  In addition to an enormous bag of tomatoes, they also gave us another 3 aubergines (and we’ve still got another 1/2 dozen or so on our plants) and another enormous bag of green beans which we’re getting used to having to be creative with - the other day we enjoyed a salad of green beans (cooked just enough to retain a bit of crunch) with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette with garlic, thinly sliced red onion, toasted almonds, feta cheese and bacon bits - it was lovely but then not being a vegetarian I think bacon improves most things!

Back to the Farm...

It occurred to me that I’ve spent more time writing about our exploits and travels and less about our farming.  It’s been tough to really maximise the bounty of the land in the form of canning and bottling etc. since our decision was made to return to Cayman.

I have been experimenting with methods of making jam and canning things and haven’t really been blogging about that but I can report that I’ve had about as many disasters as I have had successes!

My latest experiment was fig, lemon & ginger jam in the crockpot - I’ve only just bottled it and I have a loaf of bread in the oven as I type (multigrain today to have with our curried coconut lentil soup for lunch) so shall know whether this latest experiment can be added to the list of disasters or the list of successes - if it’s a success I do feel it may be quite revolutionary for being able to multi task on jamming days!

Our dream is to one day fill the “cave” (or larder for those UK folk following) with shelves upon shelves of produce that’s been bottled, pickled and/or canned so that if we have a particularly harsh winter we can remain fairly self sufficient with no need to nip out to the shops if we get snowed in!

With this in mind, and although we haven’t maximised our pickling and bottling and jamming this summer, I do think we’ve used the time as wisely as we can, experimenting with recipes and methods so that when we really have to maximise everything that’s produced in the orchard and garden we’re in a strong position to do so.  How blessed to have this opportunity to “pretend” to farm before actually having to rely on our (limited) skills to survive.

So as we’re on countdown for our return to Cayman (4 weeks tomorrow until we actually fly out of France), our priority has become less about canning and bottling (although I know once back in Cayman I will have regrets for not bringing suitcases full of produce back with me!) and more about the renovations so that we’re that much more comfortable upon our return.

Although only early September, autumn has arrived in force - to be expected after the stunning summer we’ve had, but it’s amazing how last week I was weeding in a bikini and today I’m typing in jeans and a woolly jumper!

After only 3 days away in Madrid, I’ve completely lost control of my garden again - whilst we were enjoying sunshine in Madrid it would appear the veggies were enjoying some rain here which has meant we’ve managed to harvest another 1/2 dozen courgettes (there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for these either!), lots and lots of tomatoes, 4 aubergines and our second melon - I’m hoping it will keep so that we can share it with Tony’s mum and aunt when they arrive on Saturday.

Off to enjoy some warming lentil soup for lunch (recipe below).

Bon apetit!

Easy curried lentil soup

1 onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, crushed

splash of olive oil

1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock

1 can coconut milk

1 can stewed tomatoes

salt & pepper

1 tablespoon curry powder

2 cups red lentils, washed

Cilantro or parsley (optional) for garnish

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until soft but not discoloured.  Add the lentils and mix well - add the tomatoes, vegetable or chicken stock, salt & pepper and curry powder - Let simmer for 10-15 minutes until the lentils are cooked but haven’t lost their colour.  Add the coconut milk.

Puree in a blender until smooth - reheat - adjust the consistency as needed (by either adding more stock or water or milk - you will then need to adjust the seasoning as well) - serve with chopped parsley or cilantro and a salad and fresh bread!

Bullfighting - a cultural tradition worth preserving.........

...or an abhorrent sport that should be relegated to a thing of the past?

Tony and I have just returned from 3 days in the phenomenally beautiful city of Madrid, both the capital of Spain and the largest city in Spain with a population of approximately 3.4 million (not including the surrounding ‘metropolitan’ area).  Within 5 minutes of arriving, we’d literally seen more people than we’d seen all summer and certainly more than live in Cayman or in our local village here in France!  Photos below of some of the interesting characters we stumbled upon within seconds of exiting the metro (we were pretty pleased with ourselves for figuring out the metro from the airport into the centre saving ourselves a EUR35 cab fare to the hotel!).

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were fascinated by the beautiful architecture, the incredible array of wonderful foods (not surprisingly paella featured on every menu) and the delicious spanish wines.  We even tried tripe for the first (and possibly last) time - it was actually very ‘tastefully’ done (photo below) and surprisingly tasty however, just knowing what it is relegates it to the list of foods that are not necessary to hunt out for further tastings!  Still, pleased with ourselves for giving it a go and glad we picked a nice restaurant to do it in so that we could accompany it with a 2003 reserva from the Ribero del Duero region!

Given that we were in Madrid, just minutes away from ‘Las Ventas’ bullring considered to be the home of bullfighting in Spain (with a seating capacity of 25,000), we made the rather sensitive and perhaps politically incorrect decision to attend a fight.  The fighting season is from March to December and Las Ventas has fights every Sunday from May through October and so for EUR10 each we signed ourselves up for the Sunday night fight - slated to be a 6 bull fight (just meaning 6 individual fights each lasting approximately 1/2 hour).

We didn’t actually last the distance and left at the end of the 4th fight figuring we’d seen enough.  For those readers incredibly anti, I’m ashamed to admit I was rather fascinated by it all - the ballet like moves of the matadors in their pink tights (yes - every single one in different coloured sequins but all in pink tights), the incredible speed with which they whisk off the bull at the end of the fight and the next bull appears and the pomp and ceremony involved throughout.

That said, as with our experience of tripe, it’s not something we’d hunt out or be keen to see again.  However, it is very much a part of the Spanish culture and I’m not sure it’s my place to interfere with that culture just because it doesn’t conform to my culture or my sense of what is right or wrong which is of course largely dictated by my upbringing heavily influenced by my local culture as to what is acceptable.

Having researched a little about the bulls themselves, I would suggest that in most cases, bullfighting bulls, barring the last 20 minutes of their life, have a far superior quality of life than any cow or bull currently living in a CAFO (see previous blog found at http://pretendfarmer.blogspot.com/2011/06/if-cows-werent-meant-for-eatingwhy-are.html).  

These bulls are primarily bred free range and are selected based on a particular combination of aggression, energy, strength, stamina and intelligence - according to wikipedia, a bull intelligent enough to distinguish man from cape would be too dangerous - so the super intelligent ones are presumably reserved for steak!

Fighting bulls generally reach maturity slower than meat breeds as they are not selected to be heavy although mature bulls weigh anywhere from 500-700kg (1100-1600lb).

Also per wikipedia, the wide-ranging ranches these fighting cattle are born on are also often havens for Spanish wildlife as the farming techniques used are extensive.  The fighting bull is raised by its mother until one year old, after which it is separated from the mother.  At two years old they are then sent for testing at which time it is decided whether they will be suitable for breeding, the bullfight, or being slaughtered for meat.

At three years old, the bulls are no longer considered calves and are ready for further training.  Under Spanish law the bull must be at least four years old and reach the weight of 460kg to fight in a first rank bullring.  They must also have fully functional vision, horns that have not been tampered with and be in generally good condition.

Very occasionally, a bull will be ‘pardoned’, meaning his life is spared in the bullring due to ‘outstanding’ behaviour in the ring leading to the audience petitioning the president of the ring with white hankerchiefs.  The bullfighter joins the petition as it is a great honour to have a bull one has fought, pardoned.  The bull will then be returned to the ranch where he will live out his days in the fields and in most cases will become a ‘seed bull’.  In these circumstances a bull’s lifespan can be 20-25 years.

Given the above, I would also suggest that the ducks ‘we’ force feed here in France perhaps have it worse than those bulls, given the ducks are force fed for the last 2 weeks of their lives whereas the bull only has a ‘difficult’ last 20 minutes.  I realise this is another aspect of life that many find abhorrent but again I would suggest that this is a cultural thing and we’re all entitled to our opinions (as one of my favourite people once said after being accused of being ‘opinionated’ - ‘If you don’t have an opinion on anything, you really haven’t lived!’), but I’m not sure those opinions regardless of how firmly held, entitle us to try to change the way other cultures do things even when those things are in such stark contrast to what we might consider an ‘acceptable cultural tradition’.

So I suppose that’s my justification for having witnessed the perhaps abhorrent bullfight.  I have neither regrets for having seen it nor the desire to repeat the experience.  It was colourful, sad, shocking, interesting, lively and distasteful all packaged in bright sparkly sequins worn by men in pink tights!  OLE!

And yet more sunflowers....

I just couldn’t resist taking a few more photos of the glorious array of sunflowers that appear daily in the garden especially as today we’re off on a “petite vacances” to Madrid - we got an inexpensive flight from Bordeaux to Madrid and so decided to go and have a look as neither of us have ever been and while we’re “next door” we thought ‘pourquoi pas’?!!

Given we’re going away, I am a little worried that we’ll return to the end of everything - sunflowers, figs, and some of the bounty from the veggie patch - we’ve got about 9 aubergines ripening as I type in addition to 2 further melons (we enjoyed our first one last night - it was delicious!), many more tomatoes and yet more yellow courgettes!  Hopefully the hornets and wasps will have left us some figs (photo below of ripe figs on the tree - the trouble is, gathering them is a bit of a battle - the tree is alive with wasps and hornets who seem to think they’ve got ownership of the figs - my trying to establish ownership is getting lost in translation - they are after all french hornets and wasps so it’s probably a simple misunderstanding and I’ll have to practice my french more or teach them english - in addition, we’ve had an influx of asian hornets this year and I’m not sure what they speak!).

We’ll be offline until early next week at which point we’ll be preparing for a visit from Tony’s mum and aunt on Saturday 10th which we’re both looking forward to and will of course have an update as the piggery continues to take shape - we’re not in a position to take any bookings yet but hopefully ‘soon come’!

Bon weekend! - Hasta Luego amigos!