Lou Recantou

Well, we took a vacation this fall – to the south of France! For years we had heard about “Lou Recantou”, a gite owned by two former Londoners, Susan and Tim Wallis. Finally we took the leap and got there ourselves. What a treat! Check out the website: www.lourecantou.com
I won’t tell you about the whole trip, what I will tell you is that the only thing I planned was our transportation – plane to Paris, train to Montpellier, and rental car to get us around to all of our unplanned adventures. First adventure was, of course, finding Lou Recantou, which is in Oupia, a teeny tiny itsy bitsy town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but actually is the centre of everything that makes me want to be in France – history, good food, wine, nature, and the laid back culture of the south.
We stayed in “L’Ancien Pressoir”, the apartment that is associated with Lou Recantou. It is a bit smaller, but a perfect fit for a couple. Susan and Tim have thought of everything you could possibly need to make your stay at their gite comfortable- right down to re-usable shopping bags to take to the market. The kitchen was perfectly out-fitted for any level of cook, the bed comfortable, the bathroom modern, and the balcony sunny and private. The best part is that they also provide you with a binder. We referred to this binder as ‘the bible’ because it had everything you could possibly need to know about the area. This was our tour guide for the two weeks that we were there.
We drove- through winding mountain roads, we cycled –along the Canal du Midi, we hiked – in the nearby hills; we walked- on the beaches, and relaxed to our hearts content. Lots of wine, lots of cheese, olives, baguette, and delicious local food every day. Did we get our fill? Absolutely not, we can’t wait to go back.

New Dog in the Family!

We’re pretty excited because we just got a one-and-a-half year old Great Pyrenees! He is a gorgeous giant of a dog that runs like a bullet and has a deep ferocious bark (that masks his really gentle disposition) and we are optimistic that he will be able to keep the deer out of the edamame! He has fit into our family routine as if he has always been here.

Here is ‘Ace’ (on the left) with his new friend, our 12 year old Akbash, Maggie. Look at those happy smiles!

Sammy

Sammy, our four year old Great Pyrenees passed away suddenly last week after a pulmonary embolism.

It was a very sad day. Fortunately we have many wonderful memories of that crazy dog. As a friend said – he had the perfect dog’s life – well fed, well loved, and freedom to explore every day.  Who knew he would wiggle his way so deep into our hearts?

Chickens – They may look peaceful…

Well, those chickens are always surprising us! Like, ‘surprise!’ they ate all the lettuce seedlings! And ‘surprise!” one would rather sleep outside at night (doesn’t she know how dangerouse that is?) And the other day ‘surprise!’ the pecking order gets vicious. Sure enough one chicken pecked at another chicken hard enough to make her comb bleed. Ick, We called her ‘the bloody head’ for a couple of days, but it is looking better now. I don’t know what the problem is, they have lots of space, lots of food, and really, lots of love!

We do love their fabulous eggs, and the excited clucking they make each and every time they lay an egg, well, that is a joyful sound.

Here they are having a relaxing afternoon under their favourite tree. You can see the one that has been pecked, white one, 2nd from the right, you’ll notice her head feathers are slightly darker. This is maybe 2 days after the incident.

Maple Syrup

Well it is maple syrup season again.  I love it.   It used to be quite a family activity when the kids were small.   We would choose a couple of 20 inch diameter maples on the edge of the bush, drill our holes, push in the spiles and hang the buckets.  March was the time.   From the two trees we would get over the month of March  enough sap to make about 2 gallons of syrup; enough to get us through the year.   All of our syrup equipment is purchased at the local TSC store and it is cheap.   $10 for two trees.    We were fascinated with making the syrup ourselves.  We would casually boil it down on the wood-stove; the wood-stove that we use to heat the house.   You don’t even have to boil it, a high heat evaporation will do.   Just transfer it to your stove at the end so you can boil it and monitor it so it doesn’t burn.   Filter it and put it in Mason Jars.  Done.   You just have to make sure you stop collecting sap when it turns cloudy.   Cloudy sap makes funky syrup.

We still do it the same way.  A few more buckets to keep a guy who is trying maple syrup beer supplied.  The only difference is that the kids now prefer to eat it rather than make it!   I recommend anyone with young children tap a tree in their yard or neighbourhood.    It is a great activity.

The Solar Panels Have Arrived

This year our really big project is to install a 10kW solar array.  We will be selling all of the electricity to Hydro One.  It is a bit like a pump; the closest to the pump get the water from that pump and so some of the electricity will be bought back by us.  The Ontario government has put a wonderful program in place to encourage people to install this kind of renewable energy.     Ken, Norm and I will be installing four 20 x10 foot pole mounted arrays behind the barn as soon as the frost is out of the ground.    I’ll let you know how it works out.

witching for water

OK, so a pipe bursts in the barn. My fault, frost. We start digging up the cement floor of the barn to get to plastic pipe and the coupling. It ends up being just too big a job. We have to cut through 10 inches of concrete and we just don’t have the tools to do it. Plan B; Let’s put a hydrant outside the barn. It will be more accessible, it won’t freeze and spill water everywhere.

So Norm and I start digging and digging until the front of the barn looks like a sight from the first world war. Trenches everywhere; down to four feet. No sign of a water line. We quit for the day, not sure what Plan C will be. That evening I am up at our local welders and I ask him where you can get one of those things the city gas and water guys use to locate pipes. The welder doesn’t know, but says why don’t you get Charlie to witch it for you. Of course this suggestion is accompanied by the welders subtle smirk, not to mention a healthy dose of skepticism on my part.

What do I have to lose. Charlie runs the business next door and enthusiastically agrees to come down to the farm with his two stainless right angle rods. One end of each rod goes through the centre of a small caliber copper pipe onto which Charlie holds. So here we have the coldest day of the year and Charlie is wandering around our farm yard, me in tow with the paint can, marking everywhere that Charlie says there is a water line. Charlie conducts this whole procedure with his eyes closed so as not to influence the outcome.

When Charlie is done we have a pattern of red lines that looks a bit like a major expressway map. On top of that, the map looks like a route no sane water line trencher would ever use. Charlie has marked the line where it goes into the barn in a spot that is really quite unbelievable. On top of that it is a place where Norm and I have already dug down to 4 feet. Just to be sure we continue down to 6 feet; still no pipe. See witching doesn’t work!, really, I had never expected it to!

Plan D ; bring in the backhoe. Bev shows up with the hoe and what the heck, I say ” Bev will you take Charlies hole down to 7 feet”. Bev, the ultimate backhoe master, gently nudges the dirt out of the way down to the 7 foot mark and no guff!, there is the water line exactly and I mean exactly where Charlie said it would be.

We now have a wonderfully placed hydrant outside the barn. Anna and Christine are happier with the new situation. It makes it easier to get the water for the sheep and for the chickens. On top of that we now have a family of converts to witching for water!

The First Egg!

Story of the First Egg

We got our first egg!
This is the whole story.
Well, I picked up our daughter from Volleyball practice, so it was about
5pm when we got home. A terrible storm was brewing, so she went
to let her lambkins into the barn, and I checked on the chickens who were
all snuggled down in the hen house. I counted them out of habit
and I only counted 11! I ran and got my daughter from the barn and she counted them
and there was still only 11!
So, I ran to ask Farmer John if a terrible tragedy had happened on the
farm that day, but he hadn’t seen anything, so we all ran out to
search for the wayward chicken before it was dark, as we got
near the barn my youngest daughter came out of the barn with a very exhausted
chicken that she had found in the corner of the barn, sitting on
its small precious first egg.

Gosh, once the sun sets chickens get very docile. Anyway, we put the darling into the hen house
with the rest of her buddies, some food and water, and hope they
all have a good night!

I think we are going to be finding eggs everywhere on this free range paradise. What we are going to do
to circumvent that happening, is we are going to put plastic
Easter eggs in the laying boxes, so the chickens will see those
fake eggs and think – hey, good idea, it’s cozy and warm in
here, maybe I’ll leave my little darling here as well. Chickens
are joiners, don’t you know!

Wow, I love farm life!

Now I’ll probably stay awake and worry tonight! Are they warm
and cozy enough? Is their feed right? There is always something
to worry about!

Deer

It has been a long time since I have been here. Very busy. Lots of picking, planting. Lots of help however and good help at that. We have pretty well finished planting all the transplants; everything from zucs to tomatoes, squash to tomatillos. The fields are full which always presents a problem. We only have three small fields near the house that can grow things that deer like. All of our fields are surrounded by woodlot and every night the deer make their way to the organic smorgasboard to dine. They are however picky eaters and if they come across tomatoes or potatoes they just go on their way. If however they discover a row of romaine or beans, they dont stop eating until they are lying on their backs burping and exclaiming that the farmer really shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble on their behalf. This year the real damage has been done to the lettuces. Every night I put one or two cars out in the field with the radio blaring in order to discourage them. But every night they descend, their perseverance and patience is their strength. They will just freeze and wait. The dogs barely affect them. Me running at them like a mad man only motivates them to run when I am within striking distance. So every morning I walk the field inspecting the damage they have done. Usually only $500 or so but on a bad night they can mutilate up to $5000 of beans or lettuce. What to do? Nothing I guess. Just suck it up. Make it part of the farming experience and marvel at the beauty of a fawn enjoying its first solid meal of organic produce and be happy in the knowledge that our deer are getting the best.

Hunting for Leeks and Morels

Well, I was cutting the lawn yesterday and guess what; It is morel season again. It was just a couple of days ago when I was talking with Christine about morels and how as a kid I would cut the lawn and whop all the morels off with the lawnmower. Since I have grown up I have developed a new appreciation for the morel, so this time I stopped each time I saw one, set it beside a tree and carried on until I saw the next one. By the time Christine showed up I had quite the bounty. Even Anna was really excited about the morels.

We went out as a family and combed all the familiar areas for more; under the spruce trees and in the old apple orchard. We got a big bag full.

No sooner did we get back to the farm house when a neighbour showed up, loads me in his truck and takes me up into the woods to look for wild leeks. They are considerably easier to find than Morels. After only a 5 minute search we came across a great big, mature patch. We filled the bucket and my neighbour had enough to make wild leek soup for his 10 or so guests. Pretty impressive eh?

Well that is it for the wild produce search for now. We will be back at it for puff ball season in the fall.

As for today it is time to count my losses on the beans. It got down to -1 C last night which means that the beans will be all but toast. There were two crops. One was up to 3 inches and the other about 2 Inches. Time to plant again!