Far too hot to weave

 

With temperatures around 36 degrees it is too hot to weave.   When I'm in the boutique it's actually quite cool as the building is north facing and doesn't get too much sun after 11am.    But at home it is hard to concentrate.

However, today, I took two jigsaw scarves to the post office and they are on their way to Texas USA.   They are both made on the same warp but the pattern in each is slightly different and I added extra colours to the second one to use up some of my bobbins.    

For those of you who are interested they are woven on 16 shafts using a block double weave design.

And just for fun a video whizzed up with timelapse!

Huck Lace 

I spent the weekend in Sainte Suzanne which is a charming village in the Mayenne department and where a group of 8 artisans (including me) exhibit their work.    We take turns managing the boutique and this weekend it was me.     This gives me a chance to check the stock and to take my trusty hand held steamer - nothing annoys me more than seeing unironed scarves being displayed and my steamer is brilliant at removing creases.   

The scarf I made last week is gorgeous.    The colours are more pastel than I anticipated but beautiful nonetheless.    I used huck lace within the squares and for the second scarf I put the huck in alternate squares just to change it a bit.   This involved totally rethreading the loom as I hadn't thought about this in advance.    I don't think I have ever thread and woven a scarf so fast - I had a date with Roland Garros semi finals!

This week I'm working on a similar scarf but navy blue with pink and/or turquoise separating the squares.   I dyed the silk last week and now have to tidy up the workroom and get started.

It is June which means Roland Garros and I find it very hard to work when I really want to be watching the tennis.    As a result I spend the mornings weaving and the afternoons twizzling (my word for twisting fringes) the scarves that have been finished with the computer in front of me tuned in to the tennis.    It seems to work.  

At the moment I am building up stock for the boutique in Sainte Suzanne (more later) and also for the end of year exhibitions - Christmas is a busy time for me.    

Today I am working on a simple but colourful scarf in citrus colours.   It's a colour scheme I use often at this time of year : summer, light, colourful.  Let me know what you think.   The photo shows the idea as it appears in my weaving software.   The scarf will obviously be "similar but not the same".

 

I've decided to resurrect this blog but largely based on my weaving work.   

Back in 2012 I was given a table loom for my birthday and a new life began.    The table loom grew in size until it eventually became a Louet Megado with 32 shafts.    I started exhibiting and selling my work locally in 2015 and later on I was invited to exhibit at various Salons des Metiers d'Arts.    

I don't know how successful I'll be at writing the blog each week but I'll try!   In the meantime, if you've got this far, you can find some of my work by clicking this link through to my online shop.   

Top Bar Hive

Three years ago Max made a top bar hive. We wanted to compare the two different ways of beekeeping. We left the TBH outside in an enticing position and waited...and waited. Absolutely nothing! We had swarms from our hives but we wanted these back. For the TBH we were hoping for a wild swarm or a swarm from a callout. But for two years we had no calls for swarms and the TBH found its way to the back of the wood barn where it waited some more.

Then on Monday we were driving home when I suddenly saw a swarm sitting in a tree trunk just a few miles from home. Max returned half an hour later with the only equipment we currently have available - a small step and a sheet - and bought them home. Meanwhile I had managed to extract the TBH from under a pile of wood.

It took a while. These bees were obviously looking for a different des res but luck and the weather were on our side. It started to rain and didn't stop for 24 hours. It's not often I welcome 24 hours of rain, especially during the tennis season, but this time I was delighted. The bees realise that a TBH that was waterproof was the best offer they were getting and filed in. We checked yesterday and they are slowly building comb. We are devising a feeding system for them as the weather is still not great.

I will try and keep you up to date on this hive. I love the idea if a more natural way of beekeeping although I have no plans to get rid of my trusty Dadant hives.

 

The garden in late June

A wet June but it hasn't all been bad. The pears are amazing; for once I thinned then and it seems to have paid dividends as the fruit is developing nicely and we should have a good crop.

The artichokes always look beautiful and add structure.

Stargazer lilies and decorative poppies outside the kitchen door add colour and the courgettes are delicious - we've just eaten some!

 

Lily Beetle

There is only one good thing about the lily beetle : you can see them easily. Once the lilies start coming through I check on them several times a day. Almost without fail I find one or more of these beasts. They are very nifty at dropping off the leaf at the first sign of danger (ie me) but I have developed some equally nifty techniques at catching them.

I usually have a small container of some sort so that I can just knock them in. They fall on their back and I can then pick them out and kill them between two stones.

If I don't have a container I try to arrange things in such a way that they fall into my hand. Then again the trick with the stones.

Be warned, these beasties can fly away. However, if they are on their back you usually have the upper hand.

Why are they so horrible? They lay their eggs on the underside of the lily leaf and the larvae hatch in what appears to be poo. The larvae then eat voraciously, weakening the plant to such an extent that the flowers are severely stunted.

I am always open to suggestions of a positive nature. If anyone wants to give me just one good reason not to squash these red pests, I will listen carefully.

 

Yippee, courgettes

Not many and not huge, but delicious. If the weather picks up maybe we'll get some more.

 

Strawberry Coulis

This year we have had another bumper strawberry crop. 2.5kilos every two days for between two and three weeks. We eat most of them of course, but just occasionally even we find our limit.

My solution to the extra is to make and freeze strawberry coulis. It takes approximately 10 minutes from start to freezer. I store them in foil ramekins and use them throughout the year as an accompaniment to yoghurt, ice cream, etc.

I am sure there are other recipes but this is the one I use.

500gms strawberries, hulled

100gms castor sugar

100mls water

Put the strawberries in a liquidiser.

Bring the sugar and the water to a gentle simmer for about five minutes, making sure the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the syrup over the strawberries and liquidise.

Pour into ramekins and freeze.

 

Strawberries

Never mind Ascot or Wimbledon, we have strawberries galore!

My favourite way to eat them is of course straight off the plant. However, I also love strawberry sandwiches. It has to be on plain white bread - I use the traditional French baguette. Squiggle down the strawberry and eat. Somehow the flavor blends into the bread and explodes in the mouth. You don't believe me? Well, try it for yourself.

 

The garden in June

 

 

Spring honey harvest 2013

This is the spring harvest from the oil seed rape. Despite the top picture it is in fact all the same colour. Over time it will change its texture and harden. Taste? Delicious!

One hive gave us a total of 13 kilos. Not one for the record books but given the weather, not too bad.

 

Beautiful spring

The clematis outside the kitchen is always a sign of good weather. Spring is late but it has arrived.

 

The garden in May

Our gite is now open for business. These are the photos I took of the garden last week to help promote it.

The greenhouse is being productive. After last year's tomato disaster I decided to keep two tomatoes growing under cover. The rest are in the veggie patch. The lettuces will be reay next week.

Celery to keep Max happy.

Last year a friend told me that you can keep weeds down by mulching with (untreated) grass cuttings so this year we decided to try it. I have them around the toms and lettuces in the greenhouse and around everything in the veggie patch that doesn't have a plastic mulch.

I DON'T like weeding!

 

Ouch

 

This is what happens when you leave a rake the wrong way around and the stand on it. Hurts like mad but I put some arnica oil on it so I hope it goes down quickly.

 

Bees

 

After the appalling weather this year we finally had the opportunity to open up the hives this afternoon.

We finished 2012 with three full size hives and two nucs. I have been concerned about all of them but with freezing weather turning to monsoon and back to freezing it has been impossible to do anything.

So it wasn't without a certain amount of trepidation that we approached the first of the three big hives. This is the colony that we took from a tree last year where it was upsetting a farmer - he was being attacked every time he drove past in his tractor! To our delight it was full of brood and had a small amount of honey. We put on a super and moved on.

Elsewhere there was good news and bad news. The good was that each and every hive/nuc had brood and looked healthy. However, they all had a minimum amount of honey stored so we put the feeders on and will give them a syrup feed tomorrow morning. Will they survive? I hope so. The oil seed rape is just coming into flower around is so if the rain holds off a bit they will have plenty of food.

Fingers crossed!

 

A new year, a new resolution

Max ticked me off this morning because I haven't been blogging Up The Garden Path. He's quite right and I really will try to change this. To be honest I haven't been very active in the garden for a while but that too has to change.

March is often considered the beginning of the gardening year. We've been away, and anyway it's apparently been very cold, but now we are back and there are jobs to be done. A new chicken house, a new pig hut and the bees need checking.

The greenhouse needs cleaning out and if it ever warms up I an start sowing some vegetables.

You've read it here first. I'll be back in the garden - just as soon as it's warm enough for my fingers!

Update on Cucumbers

I am dreadful at updating from previous posts and for this I apologise. Today I received a comment from Carrie asking me how the frozen cucumber experiment went. I'm sorry to say that it wasn't the greatest of successes! We did, eventually, defrost the cucumbers and I think we could have used them for soup. However, I'm not mad on cucumber soup (tasteless) and I didn't have the necessary ingredients for gazpacho so we gave them to the pigs. The pigs were very happy.

I'm sorry not to be more positive. I've noticed that a lot of people have come to my blog via a search of "how to freeze cucumbers". In future I will make even more gazpacho soup - which freezes/defreezes beautifully - and leave it at that.

This year we have once again had a good crop of cucumbers but with a mixed quality of fruit. I imagine that this is something to do with the drought during the spring - although we did water the veggie patch and the cucumbers are under plastic. We've got plenty for the time being but some have not developed in the centre at all. Happy pigs again.

If anyone has a good freezing cucumber recipe please let me know!

Noisette at work

Noisette has been a boon. Normally at this time of year Max performs dangerous acrobatics with a strimmer on the side of the moat. Noisette has changed this totally and as a result my heart beats at a much more regular pace.

We move her approximately every two or three days and this gives her a chance to cut everything within reach (boy, are we careful where we put her!) Now that the field at the back of the house has been cut we can put her at the top of the bank. Being a mountain goat she thinks nothing of the steepness of the bank and just makes her way down eating everything on the way. The brambles at the bottom are next I hope. The photos a bit dark so you can't seem them but they are thick and grow at the rate of knots!

Yes, she's earning her keep.

Local lamb

We buy very little meat from the supermarket nowadays. We have our own pork, our own chickens (if the fox doesn't get there first) and each year we buy a lamb from our neighbour and have it butchered locally.

Martial raises his lamb on organic principles although as he's basically a small holder he doesn't bother with official tags; he just gets on with it. His herd of sheep have won prizes in the past at local agricultural fairs and he is rightly proud of them.

This year's lack of water has a trickle down effect (curious phrase under the circumstances as nothing is trickling at all around here). First of all one of Martial's wells has dried up and he is having to water his sheep and poultry from the town water which is expensive. Because his second well is almost dry he has cut right back on his vegetable growing - he doesn't want to have to spend money on watering those as well and will instead tuck into some of the surplus that he has conserved from previous years. The price of feed has rocketed sky high - when you can find it that is. He told us that most of the local farmers will get so little for their cereal products that they are cutting their losses by turning it into winter feed for the cattle. There is almost no straw since the wheat is so low and of course hay is scarce as well.

Although the cost of raising his sheep has more than doubled he has kept the price down to last year's level because if he doesn't sell them he'll have to carry on feeding them. This year we have bought two.

Martial is a small holder and very relieved he's not raising meat on a large scale farm. He came round last night to help us tag Noisette (the goat) and told us that at the end of the year he expects a number of farms to be out of business. The future does not look great.

So, if you can, buy your meat locally from a farmer. I realise this will come under the heading of luxury for many people so why not get together with some friends and share a 10kg pack? It will taste better and you will be helping your community's farmers.