Groseilles

 

Today in a thunderstorm that flooded our courtyard and had water rising into the house through the laundry pipes, I picked currants.

Well, what else can you do when catastrophe is looking you in the face? 

I was seriously worried that both our house, and the neighbours, would be flooded out.  The rain was so heavy and went on for about 3hours without cease.  Jean started bailing out their undercover area, and I started worrying. 

Luckily it eased off just at the door lintels and so we were saved from a flooded house.  The laundry and arriere cuisine were awash though, which will take a week or so to dry out properly.  The waterline was a centimetre from our doors, phew!

As always when stressed, worried or upset, I cook.  So when the rain eased off enough I went out in my cagoule and sabots (weather proof jacket and gardening shoes typical of this region) and checked the orchard and outbuildings.  Whilst there I noticed the currants were ripe, so back to the house for a deep bowl and return to the orchard for some berry picking.

Sophie declined to asist as it was simply too wet.

I picked about a kilo each of red and white currants, and there are many more kilos still to be gathered in the days and weeks to come. 

Whilst I am typing this the house smells of warm berries drying in the oven and the sun is shining through the windows.  A complete change from this morning!

 I love the look of white currants.  They are like little pearls.  Very pretty.  Am hoping that they dry well enough to keep for making fruit cakes later in the year.  It will be very satisfying if we get some grapes also off our small vines and I can dry them to use as well. 

Have been reminded that not enough photos of the house on the blog.  Sorry about that.  The main reason is that the work we have been doing has not made any cosmetic changes to the house - as of yet.  I could post photos of wiring and holes made in walls, but they just do not have the same appeal to me as a nice flower of fruit or view of the village.  So here are 2 photos to keep you going.  The above is taken from what will be the garden area looking across to the courtyard and house.  I say "will be the garden area" as it is not started yet.  At present it is a field of mud and weeds.  Due to missing the opportunity to sow lawn earlier this year, I now need to wait till september.  Not being able to do heavy work has also put a bit of a dampener on my garden plans and delayed everything a bit.  Oh well, when it does come together it will be worth it.

This photo is a view from near the orchard towards the rear of the garage and atelier, and the grenier.  The overgrown mess to the left is hiding the chicken coop, rabbit hutches and pigeon house.  I had made a huge amount of progress clearing it all out before I fell ill, and now after months of nothing it has regained its vigour (in fact I think it has profited from the cutting back!) and has grown back bigger and badder than before.  Sigh.

You can see my nearly finished clothesline though.  Black enamel posts and bright red line.  Super cute!

We have no cherries left on our tree thanks to the weather.  Our neighbours, however, have one tree which had a good crop (not fabulous, but enough to share).  So late this afternoon a group of us spent a pleasant half hour picking cherries and chatting.  It was a lovely way to pass the time and as always we had a lot of fun.  Jean likes to tease everyone, and it is a good laugh to try and outwit him or think up a good ripost in french to get him back.  Anita had her little dog, Violette with her.  She spent the time sitting on the grass watching the silly humans strain to reach the fruit, and eating the ones that fell to the ground.  I have never known a dog to love cherries like she does!

Finally, the rain has stopped

We have had 2 months of almost continual rain.  Fabulous, I can hear all the family and friends in Australia saying.  Miserable and depressing for those of us here in Europe.  Spring has been a long time in coming this year.  Up until a week ago we were still lighting the fire each morning in an effort to stay warm and dry.

Combine the rain with hail almost everyday, and gale force winds, and you have a scenario that is not good for the keen gardeners.

Luckily, my garden has pulled through without too much stress.  Sadly, I did not get the riot of spring bulbs that I had hoped for, however other plants have benefitted from the rain and are showing a glorious array of flowers.

The irises are particularly good this year.  I have a pale violet, and a deep dark chocolate with hints of orange.  Both are a mass of colour and scent at present.  The dark iris was a surprise.  I had been given it at a cemetary in the Somme Battlefields (they were replacing the plants and throwing away all the old ones.... what a waste!).  No one could tell me what colour it would be, so it was nice that it is such an unusual shade.

My tiny - and very spindly - elder tree is flourishing also.  I have already picked a huge amount of flowers and they are fermenting away in the cave to make elderflower champagne.  An experiment.  We shall see if it works or not.  All depends on how much natural yeasts are floating around in our garden.  There are plenty of flowers still on the tree to turn to berries and make gelées and sirop later in the year.

The pea shoots have been galloping ahead.  So much so that I have taken to picking them and adding to salads and as garnishes to our meals.  They are nearly 2metres tall and only just starting to flower!  I have been picking rhubarb and strawberries already, and my herbs are looking lush and green.  Tomato plants are in as well as butternut and queensland blue pumpkins.  We shall see if they grow here.

We went to a bbq last night at a neighbours house.  It was a great night, but it was even nicer to be able to go in to the garden and cut fresh flowers to make a bouquet for the hostess.  The roses are magnificent this year, and the sweet peas are heavenly.  I made a pretty posy of pink roses, lavender and deep burgandy sweet peas and pink and burgandy dianthus.  Beautiful and fragrant.

Le brassage (beer brewing) has commenced this weekend with the start of the warm weather.  I am starting with a bitter, to get my hand in and refresh my memory.  It has been a long time since I home brewed!  Hopefully I will be able to bottle next weekend and in 2 weeks after that we will be able to commence sampling the brew.  Tshirts have been made to commemorate the occasion and I have 3 official taste testers waiting (impatiently!) to pass judgement and select the next type of beer brewed.  Think they are going to keep me occupied over summer with requests for new batches.... Photos will follow in a future post.

The last photo is of a neighbours garden.  She has 9 different colours of iris planted in groupings under the fruit trees.  It is spectacular!  I think it rivals Monet's garden at Giverny actually.  Hope you enjoy the colours as much as I did.