I’m a one-man crime wave!

Posted on September 1, 2011 | 1 comment

It all started with a discussion on an allotments forum about rhubarb leaf tea, alleged to be efficacious against red spider mite. The moderators removed the post on the grounds that such home-brewed remedies are illegal to make, store, or use.

What nonsense, I thought. An Englishman’s home may no longer be his castle, but surely it can’t be a crime to spray a little rhubarb leaf tea on one’s own plants! Eccentric, certainly. Ineffective, probably. But not against the law.

I was wrong.
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Pumpkins and squash

Posted on August 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Although I shouldn’t complain, since the allotment has been so productive in so many ways, it hasn’t been a brilliant year for pumpkins and squash. But we laid out an entire bed for them for this, our first attempt. Since the plants have now died back, we’ve harvested them.


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The chickens have settled in

Posted on August 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

I can’t resist doing yet another blog entry about the chickens. We’re very taken with them. Neither could I resist this rather sentimental picture opportunity – the henhouse at the end of the rainbow:


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Amora n’est plus mon amour

Posted on August 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’m very fond of pickled gherkins. In fact, I have to face it, I’m very fond of rather too many foods, but that’s by the by. And the nicest readily available ones that I’ve found are the Amora Cornichons Extra Fins sold in France. English formulations just aren’t the same.

No more. Sorry, Amora, but Jean has grown some cornichons and pickled them. They are simply delectable.
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The chickens have arrived

Posted on August 23, 2011 | 2 comments

Well, yesterday the great day arrived, and we went to collect our four Ixworth chickens. I couldn’t take pictures of them yesterday evening, though, since they went straight into the coop on arrival, and have only been let out to explore the run this morning:


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Ready for the chickens, but only just

Posted on August 21, 2011 | 2 comments

That was a bit of a close call! The coop and run are ready for the chickens, but only just. Partly because these things always take longer than you think, partly because rain stopped play, and partly because of my own idiocy, it all became a race to the finish.
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Creosoting and foxproofing

Posted on August 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

The last blog entry on the poultry project took us up to the installation of the basic foundations of the coop and run. The next stage has been to move the hen house onto the site and foxproof the run.

The house has been sitting quietly on the trailer for a month, whilst we’ve been on holiday. I’d forgotten just how heavy most of the panels were. When I loaded up, not only did I have the help of the seller, but we had only a few yards to carry them. Unloading, Jean and I had a long walk from the allotment gates to our plot with each large and clumsy panel.
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Musée Maurice Dufresne

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 2 comments

During our holiday, my brother in law saw a poster for the Maurice Dufresne Motor Museum. I have to say that I wasn’t hugely enthusiastic; from experience I imagined handing over a fistful of Euros to a grumpy peasant in bleu de travail, who would wave us into a yard to see a couple of Citroen Dianes which were clearly an active part of his puppy farming operation.

But not a bit of it. It’s a wonderland. I’m glad we went.

It’s an eclectic mix of machinery, from agricultural tractors and bean hulling machines …


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Preparing for the chickens

Posted on August 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

We had the blessing of the local Council to keep chickens on our allotment. Since we returned from hols we’ve been busy first killing the weeds, and then starting to build our new chicken run.

Here’s a snapshot of progress:


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Tourettes

Posted on August 1, 2011 | 1 comment

Once on a trip to France we discovered a wine called Seigneurie d’Arse. It was a just about drinkable Fitou, and we made a joke of presenting friends and family with bottles of it on our return.

This year’s amusing label is …


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