First day of Spring and everything's growing

I am not a well woman.  I've had a cold and chest infection since Tuesday last week and feel tired and feeble.  If I could stop coughing I might be able to get some sleep but although the antibiotics have made me feel better in myself, I am by no means well. I visited the doctor twice last week as things got worse and ended up with six lots of medicine - a statutory three items per visit in France!  OK - moan over.

 

While I'm looking at my worst a friend nominated me for a "no make-up selfie" in support of cancer research - not that I wear any usually except for lippie, but do feel I need lippie at the moment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, if anything was designed to make me perk up it is the profusion of spring blooms in mine and my neighbour's garden and the lane. 
 

 

 

Yesterday saw me saying goodbye to my old Discovery which I had bought from my roofer back in September 2006.  It had done 243,000+ miles, 50,000 driven by me, and has been a good friend.  However, it had started leaking badly and if I didn't drive it every day it needed jump starting.  Once going it went on forever and I was sad to see it go. 

After much thought about what might replace both the Peugeot 307cc and the Discovery, I saw an advert for a younger Discovery and went for that.  Here she is in the road by Bon Repos Abbey where I went for a beer in the sunshine and then lunch on Tuesday. 

There was a group of French school children on a trip out who had just settled down to eat their lunchtime filled baguettes on the area by the Nantes/Brest canal - very well behaved.

The coping stones along the top of the bridge wall are linked - a little like a jigsaw puzzle.  I don't ever remember seeing coping done like this before.

The weir water was still rushing over.  There is still so much water draining off the land.

The skies have had unusual cloud patterns this week but we had no rain for about nine days, so lovely after the wet months before.   I love this stripy sky.

The polytunnel has been waiting for its cover and yesterday, while it was sunny and little wind, seemed the ideal time to replace it.   Here are the before and after photos.  I have already got self-seeded lettuce growing in there which I have transplanted to serried rows in the raised bed I wanted it in.  The new metre square cold frames are housing seeds which I planted before the cover was put on and which needed protection.  I am pleased with these cold frames which were on promotion in the local supermarket. 

 

And finally the cover is on  - long may it last!

Three things I like:

1.   Drying my washing on the garden line in the sunshine.
2.   Getting the first two blue eggs from my Araucana hens.
3.   Driving a vehicle which has dry seats.

Sunshine - hard to believe - but yes, sunshine!

Wednesday was our first sun-filled day for so long, so I took advantage of it and cleared all of the area in and around the polytunnel frame so that it will be ready for the new cover to go on once my worker returns from his visit to the UK.  The trailer is now full of rubbish to go to the déchetterie.   

 

 

 

 

Below are the blue ceramic pots I use on my terrace, empty and waiting for the warmer weather to establish before I get them planted up.

 

The following day it was also gorgeous weather so I worked on the veggie area most of the day in the beautiful sunshine.  I planted just nine potatoes which had sprouted in my veggie rack and sowed loads of seeds.   I sowed carrot, peas, beetroot, perpetual spinach, turnip and everlasting bunching onions straight into the ground and then globe artichokes, butternut squash, Moneymaker tomatoes, Gardener’s Delight tomatoes, aubergines and courgettes into seed trays.  I planted a bag of onion sets and dug and weeded all the raised beds through except two. 

I found this wonderful small handtool at SuperU a couple of months ago.  It has two ends, one like a baby mattock and one of three tines.  This isn't a photo of mine, but it's virtually the same.  With this miracle tool,  I sped through the beds like I never have before.  If only I'd started my gardening life with one.

A French couple walking in the lane wandered into my animal/veggie area, they were doing a long walk in the sunshine.  They lived up in the north of Brittany, he worked in agricultural  polytunnels and we stood in the sunshine chatting for about 40 minutes about hens, goats and veggies.  The man described the wonderful computerised set up he has at work for heating, watering etc – my eyes were green as he talked.

Today the temperature reached 22.7°C in the shade on the terrace.  I wasn't in the shade, needless to say, but seriously sunbathing in swimsuit and listening to two weeks of The Archers recorded pocasts - bliss. 

The cats frequently sit beside me while I'm in the garden - here they are on the gravel next to me.  I read almost to the end of my current book - this has been a perfect day for me.  

The chicks enjoyed their first day outside as it was so warm.  I put them in the rabbit are on the grass in a small run 2m x 1m and they loved it. 

 

They are not yet three weeks old but were doing test flights and generally running about, pecking and scratching the ground.  I brought them in once the sun started losing its heat and they'll spend the night in the brooder as usual.

 

 

 

The rabbits seem quite interested in the chicks and I think they enjoy having something different to entertain them when they are not resting - Bert and his dad, Boris.

As I walk up the lane towards the calvaire the song thrush is singing his heart out at the top of a tree.  The song is so beautiful I often stand still and just listen for several minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bergenia is blooming next to the staddlestone and looks lovely.

Three things I like:

1.   I found my Drizabone hat which had gone missing for 16 days – yippee!

2.   The virtuous feeling due to working hard all day and getting lots of stuff done.

3.   Listening to my thrush in the lane singing his song.

Most of my time this week has been taken up with the incubator eggs hatching.  Usually they all hatch within about 24 hours of each other but this time, for reasons unknown, the first little yellow chick arrived on Monday evening and the last arrived on Thursday morning.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a lot of uncertainty about the hatch due to the power cuts we had on Friday and Saturday last week.  The temperature had dropped considerably on the Saturday and I was worried there would be no chicks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here the first two chicks have been transferred to the brooder under an infra-red light which, of course, tints the photograph.

 

 

Here are some grown up chickens.  Two Buff Orpingtons hens and their cockerel ready for sleep and sharing their house with a friend's four red hens.  Some more Orpingtons and her little black hen are on the other side of the house.

 

 

In spite of having a wing clipped the Muscovy ducks continue to fly and are often to be found on the barn roof.  Here my grey girl is on the top of the gate to the area before the pond field.

 

 

Here are the seven surviving chicks.  I am so pleased to write that the two dark birds, at the front of this photo, are female Cream Legbars who will eventually lay blue eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met a friend from England for hot chocolate and a catch up yesterday afternoon and she had a lovely present for me - a Guinness Pie Set.  I am really happy with it and have today made a Guinness beef casserole which I shall turn into a pie tomorrow using the Guinness, special dish and funnel.

 

 

Last week, I made a beef and orange casserole in the slow cooker.  It tasted wonderful but I always think it looks particularly beautiful before it's cooked too.

 

 

 

I have done lots of cooking this week and while I had nearly an hour on the telephone with my daughter I made four small quiches from scratch to finished cooked products.

 

 

 

 

I made four and have to say that none now remain.  They were so moist and gorgeous that I have eaten them all.

 

Stuffed pancakes with cheese sauce were also on the menu this week with fresh watercress from my pond.

 

 

In spite of the wet weather it has not been cold and the primroses have bloomed in the lane and my drive.    The rhubarb in the bed next to the first hen run has really got going now and crumble will definitely be on the menu before the end of February.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claude has been very bored with the whole business of the chicks and has done a lot of yawning, although he has been seen sitting on the grid above the brooder perhaps thinking they would make a tasty lunch.

 

 

Here's Claude with Purrdy, enjoying a comfy cushion in the warmth of the woodburner.

 

I think that this budding branch in the lane is a hawthorn but I can't remember well enough to be sure.  I love the little red growths which look almost like berries and contrast so beautifully with the lichen.

 

 

Some of the sunsets in the lane recently have been beautiful and very colourful - tilt your screen backwards a little for the best colour saturation.

 

Three things I like: 

 

1.   Seeing and hearing my new little fluffy chicks.

2.   Reading The Times and The Guardian which my worker brought back from the UK  - I do miss the papers.

3.   Receiving some runner bean seeds in the post from a forum member.