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Wishing all our guests, readers, friends and family a
– o — o — o –
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ps. Apologies for the lack of posts lately, normal service will resume in 2012!
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Confession – I didn’t grow these magnificent sprouts, my Mum did!
They are called ‘Green Marble’ for those gardeners among you….
x
We love this time of year.
After the intensity of summer the weather has mellowed into misty mornings and warm, calm days.
We’re hauling in produce from the garden and the hedgerows – the stars of this year are the tomatoes, borlotti beans, raspberries, sloes and walnuts.
The woodstack is getting bigger in preparation for colder days.
The faint smell of woodsmoke is in the air and the sound of the Chasse is in the distance.
haie nf hedge
We seem to be spending a lot of time in the hedges at the moment, it’s that time of year…
Eventually we would like to do some hedge-laying, but we’ve got a bit of tidying up to do first. In the meantime we’re making the most of the wild produce which seems to be abundant this year.
On the menu:
Sloe Gin (My favourite!)
Damson Vodka
Sloe, Bullace and Crab Apple Jelly (lovely with cured meat)
Crab Apple and Mint jelly (for roast lamb)
Hawthorn Berry Ketchup
Bramble Jelly
It always amazes me how free (and lets face it, pretty inedible) hedgerow finds can be turned into such sublime treats.
estivale adj (période estivale) summertime
Summertime in the garden
It’s that time of year again where villages across France hold their annual themed Fêtes, a local get together and all round knees-up.
The little village of St Julien La Geneste (2.5km from Gite La Jonchere) celebrates the Myrtille with stalls selling local artisan cheeses, wines and punnets of wild blueberries, wood fired bread baked on the day, tales of folklore and this year a Mexican song and dance group (yes, you did read that right…)
Coming soon -
Fête du Bois at Sainte Christine (23-24 July 2011)
Fête au Pays de Desaix in Ayat sur Sioule (6 August 2011)
fève /f?v/ feminine noun
Bot, Culin broad bean;C (haricot) bean;
~s au lard baked beans;(figurine) lucky charm (hidden in Twelfth Night cake).
At last! After 3 seasons of failed attampts we’ve finally got a crop of broad beans.
The secret? Sowing them in Autumn, the variety Aquadulce Claudia.
These beauties went into a risotto with a good homemade chicken stock, large helpings of tarragon, mint and parsley, parmesan and a handful of just-picked juicy peas.
Delicious!
Some images from the garden this spring.
We’ve been planting triffids!
Not really, this is one of two rows of asparagus crowns planted yesterday, type Verte ‘Lima’.
Now all they need is careful weeding and mulching, and we need lots and lots of patience….hopefully we’ll be eating delicious tender asparagus in a couple of years time.
After the quiet hibernation of winter, suddenly comes the madness of spring.
I apologize for the lack of posts recently but here are a few things that have been occupying us lately:
weeding, sowing, planting, propagating, mowing, strimming, cleaning,  decorating, mending, rearranging, celebrating.
We’ve got one more push on the weeding and seeding front then perhaps life will return to a normal pace again.
We love winter – snow, crisp cold walks, wood fires and slow cooking. Now that the festive season is over however, our thoughts have turned to spring and planning the year ahead.
In 2010 the veg patch really came in to its own, providing us with all sorts of fresh produce throughout the summer. Triumphs came in the form of new potatoes, french beans, sprouting broccoli, a bumper strawberry crop in June, parsnips, carrots and plenty of salads and herbs. The tomatoes were also superb although an early hard frost cut down the crop of plum tomatoes before they could ripen. You win some you lose some….
Hopefully this year we’ll see more fruits on the blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries, now in their second season. The rhubarb was also putting on some serious growth early last year so we’re hoping for a bumper crop, and we’re keeping fingers crossed that the remaining globe artichoke plants have survived the frosts and mole tunnels. We’ll be experimenting with chillies and aubergine again (not so successful in 2010) as well as melon and cucumber, spinach, celery and fennel.
For future harvests we’ll be preparing a bed for asparagus this autumn, and hope to plant our first fruit trees in front of the house, probably apples so we can start thinking about cider making….
Making the most of the fresh harvests and great local produce, we are now offering Gourmet Holidays for foodies. Of course our self catering guests can still enjoy Tim’s delicious food – sample menus can be found on our website.
We are also making plans for a cookery school, to be held in September 2011. If you would like to know more about this please drop us a line – enquiries@gitelajonchere.com
We are now listed on the travel website Trivago. We would be very grateful if our previous guests would leave a review of your stay here. We can also be found on Google Maps!
So, we’re looking forward to a season of gardening, mountain biking, canoeing and lovely walks.
In the meantime I’ll just put another log on the fire….
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