Almost the end of Summer

When I lived in England, and the month of September arrived, I always thought, that's it summer's over now, but here in central France where I live I've found that September is a lovely month. Fortunately we're still enjoying warm sunny days by the pool and as we had a late start to good summer weather this year, all the summer flowers are now at their best. Hopefully as we've been given a good forecast for the next 2 weeks, our summer will stretch out a little bit longer. Naturally some of the leaves have started to change colour and the early mornings & evenings are dewy & slightly chilly, so the signs of Autumn is on it's way. A new season which will be a joy for all it's colours and the fruits on the trees to enjoy, also searching in the woods for the hidden mushrooms, if I'm lucky enough to find them. I've never quite mastered the art of  'trouver les champignons'.

Today we've spent a lovely day with some of our friends who are staying in the house which we rent, called 'La Petite Maison'. I thought you might like to have a peep.

La Petite Maison terrace

with a grape vine covered pergola & the beautiful climbing Campsis,
 with it's vivid flame coloured trumpet flowers.






The grapes and Campsis growing happily together.

La Petite Maison.

A peep inside the cottage, with it's cosy lounge.

 

One of the many hanging baskets.

Still looking good.

Preparing to share aperitifs on the deck with our friends, on their last night.

 

Their last view of La Petite Maison for another year.

  

Hope you liked seeing the end of summer at La Petite Maison.

Au revoir.

A bientot.

Barbara Lilian.

Vin de Noix - Aperitif.

I'm now back home after a busy summer, making sure  all of our visitors had an enjoyable holiday in our gites So now I can get my life back to  normal, what ever normal is.

When we moved here to France which is now 23 yrs ago, our English friends asked what will you do with yourselves when you get to retirement age? That's another thing, what is retirement age? I used to think it was when you reached 60 and stopped working, and you where automatically slotted into the category of being too old to do most things. Well I've well past that age & everyday we are doing things I had never dreamt I would be doing.

This summer I had the chance to experience making Vin de Noix, which is an aperitif in the Dordogne region of France, which is well known for it's Walnut trees.

While I was holidaying at my daughters her 'Belle Mere' (mother in law) was also visiting, so we spent a very pleasant time together and picked some walnuts from the trees in my daughters garden, then she showed me how to make  Vin de Noix. This is her old recipe which was passed down from her grand mother, which I will translate for you. There are lots of variations of making Vin de Noix, but I like the idea of using an old traditional method. 

Maybe next year if you get the chance to find some walnuts at a market or be fortunate enough to have a walnut tree of your own, harvest them while they are still green, which is very important! you might like to try my now cherished French recipe.

Recipe for Vin de Noix

 

3 litres of GOOD red wine.

1 Litre l'eau de Vie (alcohol des prune 45 deg )

20 Green walnuts

750 gr. sugar

Method

Chop the green walnuts into small pieces & put into a wide necked glass container. If you can find an old flagon or demi /john similar to the one shown in the photos which we used, all the better. add the  alcohol and leave for 1 week. Then add the red wine and leave to macerate for 45 days. Now add the sugar and give it a swirl from time to time to make sure all the sugar is completely dissolved. Pass the liquid through a filter taste & if necessary add more sugar  to your required taste. Leave in a dark place, the longer you can leave it the better the taste.

Just a tip. use gloves when cutting the walnuts as the tanning will stain your hands. or do as shown in the pics. put plastic bags over your hands in true French country style, also do not use a wooden chopping board as it will be no use after.

l'eau de Vie

Cleaning the demijohn

 

 

The walnuts are usually ready at the end of June around Saint Jean’s feast day 24th June which is the correct time, specified by French tradition. Important thing  about this recipe is unripe walnuts, still in the green outer casing and feel soft when pierced with a pin.  If you're reading this in the autumn, you're too late to make it this year. But you’ll know how to make it  for next year. Bon chance.

Chopping the walnuts.

 Vin De noix

Good health, Cheers, a la votre.

A bientot

Barbara Lilian

A country garden in France.

Our daughter dreams of one day having the time to make a garden & being able to find time to look after it. But having just spent a week at her home, I wandered around and saw such lovely focal points she never gets the time to enjoy.

So as my hubby had just bought himself a new camera, which does a lot more than my point & shoot, I took lots of photos, so sit back and enjoy my wander around her garden seeing it through my eyes.

 

Don't ask me why the chair was left in the 'potager'.

But I thought it deserved a photo to share.

A slow maturing Willow tree.
This is where her boys play rugby or football.

The boys bikes outside of the barn.
Probably left there till the next time they ride them.

Pretty wild flowers growing in the disused veg. patch.

The swing the boys used to play on when they were younger,
still hanging on one chain from a branch of a huge Chestnut tree.

The cockeral & his lady followers left free to roam.
These have recently replaced the previous batch,
 that one by one were attacked by a fox !!

The driveway leading to the house.
 A lovely variety  of trees.

A lovely typical cottage feel
Some of the Hollyhocks in front of the shutters.

The Walnut and Cherry trees, making a pleasant shady area
where we've enjoyed many meals shared with family & friends.

Buddlia shrub or more often known as a butterfly bush.

An arbour made from an old ladder which had been left in the barn
 when they bought their house.
 It did have roses growing on either side, but the Deer must have eaten them !

 

An old wire crate, where there had been wild strawberries growing in it.

 

The old well which has had doors put on

 to save any accidents when the boys were little.

So as you have seen, every garden has it's charm and doesn't have to be flowers all planted neatly in rows.

I love this garden, and hope you enjoyed sharing my photos.

 and when my daughter sees this, I hope she will enjoy seeing all the

 charmimg parts of her garden that she doesn't get time to see

 because she is so busy with her work.

I hope you will pop by again, when I hope to have had time to visit my friends garden.

A bientot

 Barbara Lilian.

More Lavender from my garden.

 

Decided to cut more of my Lavender today. So thought I'd show you what I did with it.

This basket has been sitting on a shelf  empty for a long time,

 so thought I'd fill it with a bunch of Lavender.

Just what it needed, I'm pleased how pretty it looks.

 

Later I made more of the ribbon posies.

I decided to make a variation on the original way I usualy make them.


 

The perfume is so wonderful. I feel I am back in Provence.

I shall put one of these in all the guests bedrooms.


Hope you liked seeing my Lavender ribbon posies.


A bientot

Barbara Lilian

Lavender posies

My wonderful memory of my visit to the Lavender fields in Provence.
This photo was taken on Mont Ventoux.

Today I started to collect the Lavender from my garden to make my posies.
I make lots of these during the month of August.
A little gift to offer to a friend or neighbour.

Tied with some pretty satin ribbon

Here's how I make the ribbon posies.

Not long after we moved to live in France we went with our French neighbours to the Provence region and stayed with her cousins family. I remember sitting in the shade under a huge tree, the wonderful perfume of lavender was everywhere and I was watching the father who had a bunch of lavender on his knee and a ball of thick string. I was intrigued wondering what he was doing, he beckoned me to come & sit beside him and saw that he was making a very primitive version of the ones I have since made using pretty ribbon.

 

 

 

Some years later a friend bought this book for me, so now every summer I make these posies.

If you don't know how to make them,these diagrams will give you an idea of the stages.

 

 

The posy needs to be made straight after the Lavender has been picked as the stems need to be supple so that they can bend easily over the flower heads. I find it easier to weave the ribbon between two stems together. The number of stems I used for a small posy like the photo shown above is 22. Depending on the size you wish to make, the number of stems when divided by two should always be an odd number, so that you can make the weave regular.

I'm sure most of you will have some Lavender growing in your garden,

 so have a try at making a Lavender ribbon posy.

 

Hope you enjoy making your Lavender posy. as much as I did.





A bientot

Barbara Lilian