Gardening in May and June

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Jason

Back in the end of May I had just arrived in Les Verrines- a bit later than planned- but just in time to get going on the Garden. The rest of May and almost all of June was spent with fork in hand, breaking the hard dirt, pulling out the grass and stones, and turning the soil over again and again until it was ready for seeds… Now almost two months later, the hard work is starting to show, the sore muscles are forgotten, and the bare wet land starts to look a little greener. Continue reading →

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Mass at Mas Saint-Jean

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Jason

June 26 is the name day of Saint Jean to which the tiny chapel in Mas St. Jean is dedicated. Every year, once a year, on Saint Jean’s day, the chapel is opened up, dusted off, and a mass is held (outside since the congregation has outgrown the chapel’s size) under the great Tilleul tree which stretches over the tiny tiled roof. I’m probably not the most devout Catholic, but I had never seen the inside of the little chapel, and I had a few sins to wash off my hands anyway- so one warm Sunday in the end of June, I headed down the dirt path through the woods to Mas St. Jean to attend my first mass in a few years. This is everything church should be! Warm weather, fresh air, SUNSHINE, friendly greetings, and of course, the obligatory goûter afterwards…

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New Family Member!!!

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Jason

Les Verrines is one member bigger! We have a new family member!

He doesn’t have a name yet! Any suggestions??? Continue reading →

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Cerises Chez Jaques

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Jason
Basket of Cherries

June is Cherry month in La Creuse… for a few precious weeks the trees throughout the countryside are filled with beautiful pink blossoms. Then, almost all at once the cherries are ripe- and then are gone. For a few days in early June we eat all the cherries we can stand- one’s yearly cherry ration in the matter of a few hours! Whatever is not eaten, packed into delicious Clafoutis, or sterilized into jars, will either rot or be taken by the birds if it’s not gathered fast enough… So Jaques called one day asking if I could come by that very afternoon for Cherry Picking- it was either now or never since the birds were already getting full! If we waited even a day longer they would be gone… So, I cancelled my plans for that afternoon and we headed to Eguzon gather all the cherries we could.

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Le Poil et la Plume

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Jason

Inspiration of the Day:

A friend, inspired by my new feathered companions, recently loaned me a book written by Annie Dupery- a Parisian actress relocated to la Creuse… In Le Poil et la Plume she describes eloquently her reasons for relocating to this ‘forgotten’ part of the country, and her endeavors raising both chickens and cats (Fur and Feathers) in her rural garden… The opening text of her book puts it perfectly, (in words better than I can conjure) so I have left them in the original French (rough English translation follows).

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What’s Upstairs?

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Jason

A perceptive young reader wants to know: “What is upstairs in the chicken house?”

This week, Le Vignaud Productions sets out to tell the story:

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CHICKENS!!!

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Jason

In the Chicken Coop

We have chickens! Does that mean it’s a farm yet???

Actually this is a little bit old news, since they have been with us now for two weeks- but I wanted to give them some time to adjust before they got the paparazzi routine… Now they are happily adjusted, enjoying their freedom, and pecking around the garden… no eggs yet, but we will give them a little more time to come up with the rent before we kick them out.

Curious?

Continue reading →

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Chris Farmer

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Jason

Inspiration of the Day:

When Chris was 20 years old, he realized that he had never eaten a single thing that he knew where it came from. At 22, he helped start an organic vegetable farm outside of Olympia, WA. Three years later, for family reasons, he moved back to the Carolinas, and soon thereafter, moved to Earthaven Ecovillage, a 320 acre intentional community outside of Black Mountain, NC, with a dream of one day clearing his own farm field. He will be sharing a presentation about a small 12 x12 Microhut that he designed and built of the wood that came from the field he helped to clear.

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Les Ternes (Pionnat): Or, five MORE reasons I love spring in the Creuse (edit)

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Jason

1)

Cloudy Skies Over Castles

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La Massacre

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Jason

Over the years that I have been coming to La Creuse and in particular over the past few years that I have called it my home, there have been plenty of opportunities for laughter and happiness… There have also been many times of sadness, some tears, heartache, and loss. Some of those times have unfortunately involved death- the death of family, the death of friends… and now animals.

The death of animals on the farm is not generally something that given much thought or notice. Animals are raised and sacrificed for our means, pets come and go. It’s simply a fact of life. That is the way things are, and the way they always will be… But in this case, there was something more than just the loss of life – in this case just the lives of a few chickens – It was the loss of an ideal.

Continue reading →

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