Red hot chilli peppers

The weather has been good to us here at Beaugut and I have actually managed to get some of my chilli peppers to ripen. I did get some last year but they were accidentally roasted in the greenhouse over a couple of days when we were away in England.  I saved some seeds and have been more successful this year.

Now, I'm not one to complain but, cripes!! I cut off a little piece and it had barely reached my tongue before I had to go and swill my mouth out with water. I understood immediately why the band are called the red hot chilli peppers.

I think the best thing to do is to put them in the freezer (in a suitably labelled bag) and just show the packet to the chill con carne pan next time I make it - I think that should be enough to flavour the sauce.

I have always had Jerusalem artichokes in the garden (they do say that the only way to get rid of them is to move house) but this year I thought I'd give them a chance to grow in cultivated ground so I dug a few up and transplanted them earlier on in the year.  Well they have grown like topsy as they say and are now HUGE, I think you should be able to see the tubtrug in the foreground for scale.
                                                                                                                                                               

Trevor the truffle hound helped me to dig them up and we had some yesterday made into chips.  The jury is still out on the taste, I shall have to try and cook them in different ways but, if nothing else, I shall grow them for the flowers - aren't they pretty shown here with the freesias that Miranda (Keith's eldest daughter) bought me when she was here last week.

Talking of the truffle hound, he is currently "speaking to me" and telling me that it is time I took them for a walk so I'd best be off.  Until next time :-)

Plan B

Did I say about the inevitable thunderstorms?

Well, after the wonderfully warm, completely clear skied day that we had yesterday, this is what I had to contend with this morning:-


A bit different from the scene through the window yesterday:


So... plan B - or it would be if the bloomin electricity would stay on. I will have to moon blush them in the oven.

Still, they taste pretty good even after 1 day - the more observant of you might have noticed that there are a few missing.

Oops, there goes the power again - I'd best go before the battery runs out on the laptop. Good job I've just made a pot of coffee :-)

Sundry'd tomatoes

Another sunny day at chez Channing so I thought I'd have a go at sun-dried tomatoes. I hasten to add that, although I do have a small selection of unblighted tomatoes, these are some that were given to me when we went to collect our newest edition to the family -Trevor.


I read somewhere that you can sun dry tomatoes in the car and, having been stuck in the tin box called an Astra on a sweltering day, it seemed to make sense to me. The thing I didn't read until it was too late is that you should cut them in half and not in slices but, hey-ho I thought I'd still have a go.


I sprinkled them with olive oil, salt and oregano and here is the result. They have only been in the car since about 9 o'clock so they still have a way to go but in about 3 days they should be sufficiently dried and sweet and flavoursome and a good deal cheaper than those you buy in the supermarket.


I'll let you know in a couple of days.... if I remember!

Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees, Pleeeease

In the words of the great Joni Mitchell ;

Hey farmer farmer Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Well, I don't use DDT so perhaps that is why my mirabelles look like this:

They certainly look a bit spotty and, having never grown them before, for all I know this is how they are supposed to look. I have managed to wrestle a couple of ripe ones from the birds and they are completely spot free on the inside and they taste pretty good so I'm not going to worry too much. They have a nice "sheen" on the outside that looks as if it might be yeast similar to that found on the outside of grapes so I think a wine-making experiment might be in the offing.

The apples are beginning to plump up and the one that our friend bought us back from Belgium is positively sweet - shame that all the fruit is at the top of the tree. Never mind, I've got a tall step ladder mwahaa!!!

The potager is still producing. I have been out today and collected seeds from the salmon flowered and purple podded peas (thanks Flummery) We are still eating as many courgettes as we can and the potatoes are still hanging in there under the ground. Can't say the same about the tomatoes. I picked all of the very blighted ones in the garden and made some pretty good green tomato chutney.


The ones along the wall are still looking ok ish and I am thinking of making that their permanent home next year with a sort of "Heath Robinson" affair (any relation Hazel?) to cover them when it rains after a Smith period - I'll keep you posted.

About 3 weeks ago whilst I was outside shouting at some dog or other of ours, Pierre (our neighbour) came out and asked me if I have any poireau (leeks) Now, I know I've been here for 3 years but my French still isn't up to much so in my very best Franglaise I said no but should I plant them now? and he said yes and did I want any. I said yes and he went off - now, I thought he had gone to get me some leeks so, I waited.. and waited... and waited. Eventually I gave up waiting and went inside - I guess I didn't understand him as well as I thought I did.

Now, about 2 weeks later he came and said how many leeks do you want? I said ooh, about 10 (not wishing to sound too greedy) and he came back a few minutes later with 40!

Here they are as he gave them to me, trimmed and ready to go in the ground.



The French always seem to be able to grow giant leeks and, with this in mind, I asked him if he did anything special when planting them, he said no, just make a hole and put them in - or, that's what I thought he said so, I just stuck them in the soil - we'll see how they grow.


I'll leave you with this shot of our outside shaded thermometer - more of the same planned for the next couple of days then, the inevitable thunderstorm.

A sad day at the Beaugut potager

Yes indeed, 'tis a sad day. Here lies our potato harvest (Bintje) still underground but the more observant amongst you will notice that there is no foliage. Oh nooo, I hear you cry from lotties all over the world, the disease that shall not be named has struck here in the middle of France.

It has also struck some of the tomatoes (says she, hastily looking around for some wood to touch) The ones in the main part of the garden are showing the tell tale signs but those against the wall are still looking quite healthy so, hopefully I will be able to make at least one pot of ratatouille - lord knows, I need something to use up all the courgettes I have. Note to self; don't - no really, DON'T plant so many next year.
It's not all gloom and doom however. We picked enough blackcurrants to make over a gallon of wine which is currently smelling like ribena with teeth and enough redcurrants for quite a few puddings, 2 jars of redcurrant jelly and some for the freezer. I think it was Sarah Raven who said that redcurrants are like little shiny jewels and how right she is.

The peach tree that is against the same wall as the tomtoes continues to astound us. It has produced about 6 peaches. Yesterday, I finaly gave in temptation and picked one - the result is Mmmm, very tasty - pretty too, don't you think.

When Mum was here, she planted some sunflower seeds in modules - this is the result. They grew tall quite quickly and produced one big head each. Once that had stopped flowering they grew a load more heads. Having never grown sunflowers before, I didn't know they did this but I'm sure the birds will be thrilled. I will certaily be pinching a few though to use next year.

This time of the year there is so much to talk about that I hardly know where to begin. The Jermor shallots that I thought hadn't come to anything are s l o w l y growing so I'm glad I didn't dig them up in disgust. The purple podded and salmon flowered peas are romping away (thanks Flummery) I think I prefer the purple podded for taste but that may be because I let the salmon flowered get too big and they are quite hard now. I have one - yes, count it, one romanescu that I shall be harvesting for Sunday dinner. Loads of parsnips which still need to be frosted before they taste of anything and the carrots are just beginning to put on a spurt so, all in all, a good year.

I shall leave you with a couple of flower pictures to gladden the heart

Until next time.

Elderflower Champagne anyone?

A warning, if you suffer from hayfever, wear a mask when collecting elderflowers.

I saw a lovely recipe on the Grow your own grapevine and, as I have a tree right behind the terrace, I thought I'd have a go.


I set off with my trusty blue bowl and scissors and went about collecting the elderflower heads - 12 to be precise. I heard somewhere that you should ask the Elder tree for permission before you take any of the flowers or fruit. Wishing to avoid making something that resembles cat pee, I didn't chance it and asked her first.
Feeling very pleased with myself, I came in to the kitchen and set about cutting the flower heads off the stalks and started sneezing... and sneezing, and sneezing. I hadn't given a thought to just how much pollen there would be in a small bowl of elderflower heads but there certainly is a lot. If you have a look at the picture below, you should be able to make out the pollen on the edge of the bowl.



I don't have the right amount of sugar or lemons and I had to use cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar so we shall have to see how it goes should be alright shouldn't it?! I shall let you know how it is in a couple of weeks time when it should be ready for drinking.

Still alive!

It's thundering and lightning at the moment so I just thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to since my last blog entry.

OK, I know, I know, it's been a while but there wasn't really much to say so I didn't want to bore you all and, as my mum told me "if you can't think of anything... Oh no, that's a different thing altogether.

Garden wise, I am slowly getting it back under some sort of control which mostly means digging out the buttercup jungle that has been invading my potager - those little buggers don't want to come out do they. I've lost count of how many times I've done my back in trying to encourage them to be elsewhere.

At the moment, I am putting all my efforts into reclaiming the potager and the legume bed is just about finished. There's still loads more to do but at least I have got some peas and beans in and I have just (today) planted out the courgettes. Hear Clare later in the year begging ANYONE to take some off my hands.


See what I mean about the buttercups - still, it does attract the bees almost as well as the white dead nettle that is also on an invasion mission.


Back last month Mum and I spent many a happy hour digging in what I shall now call the shrubbery, nothing posh, it's just where we planted the shrubs so what better name for it.

This is what it looked like when we started;


And this is as it is now, well as it was before the weeds started invading again.


Well, what a voyage of discovery that was! I found at least 3 shrubs that I thought were lost due to enthusiastic strimming and a couple that I didn't even know we owned.


We often take the dogs for a walk along the viaduct at La Celette and we nearly always find something new to look at. I didn't even know yellow dead nettles existed until last week:

And I think this is an early purple orchid


No idea what this is


Or this, but it looks pretty



and I shall leave you with a couple of pictures from the top of the viaduct.




We live one of the hamlets in the distance. And, before you say it, yes, I do know how lucky I am.

Loads more to tell you about but I shall keep that for the next yea... oops,time.