St Jérôme
Yesterday's weather: cool, sun am, rain pm!
Reflecting on yesterday's blog had me remembering that some years ago I read Claude Michelet's excellent trilogy (forgive me if I have them in the wrong order) Firelight and Woodsmoke, The Scent of Herbs and Applewood (in French they are: Des Grives aux loups, Les palombes ne passeront plus and L'appel des engoulevents).
These stories are set in the Corrèze, a neighbouring department to our own and tell the history of a farming community from the early 1900s until the period just after the Algerian War (sorry, the French never admitted a war, they were événements). There is a fourth volume published some 10 years ago but it was never translated into English and I haven't yet given myself the time to read this book which brings the story up to the 1990s. I loved these stories for an easily-readable history of 20th century France but also for the insight into farming methods and the problems faced by rural communities.
It seems to me that things in France have changed much less than in the UK. Here in the South West, and also in Central France, there are communities of small farms. On one side of us we have a cattle farm; beautiful chestnut coloured Limousin cattle graze on the slopes of our hillside and wake us each morning honking their loud moos across the valley. Monsieur D has around 30 of these beasts and cares for them well, visiting them by car if he can't see them from his house to count them and make sure they are all well. Obviously they are very valuable to him and are his main source of income. He has a smaller field with what we refer to as his 'house cows', half a dozen or so cattle of mixed colour and race who live in the field adjacent to his home. Monsieur D supplements his income by acting as the local insurance agent for one of France's bigger insurance suppliers.
On the other side we have Monsieur C who farms sheep with his family. Monsieur C lives alone and only occasionally do we see his sheep who are moved on a regular basis from his farm to his family's farm on the hills behind us. There is another sheep farm across the valley from us and it is quite an occasion when it is time to move the sheep from one pasture to the next.
Two cars, another four men on foot and a couple of dogs (who seem to be quite useless) ferry the sheep along the lane, across the busy road (stopping all traffic first and making themselves unpopular) and off into the distance. Last week we were amazed that this was happening at dusk. We could hear it all in the distance sheep bleating to each other and bells jangling along but couldn't see anything and I wondered what would have happened if one sheep had wandered off during the process.
Another farm visible from our garden is, we have recently learned, a duck farm - not foie gras. Here there are two enormous metal barns closed during the day but often open at night with lights on. Our young neighbour complained that from time to time there would be the most abominable smell wafting into her house from the duck farm. We don't want to know the details.
There is little arable farming here but we do have a field of maize along the track which has just been harvested and there are other maize fields around and very few sunflower fields. Tobacco is also grown here and driving along the Dordogne valley a few weeks ago we saw the huge wooden drying barns full of leaves hanging to dry in the late summer warmth.
And now it is time for the walnut harvest. Walnuts are one of the Dordognes bigger industries, walnut oil, wine and cakes are sold in all the tourist locations and, although not as large as their Californian cousins, they are very tasty. Our own few trees have already yielded several kilos of walnuts and there are many more to drop yet. The biggest tree has, unfortunately, the smallest nuts and only one seems to give us nuts of a decent size, but the small nuts from tree number one are just delicious.
Well, today the sun is out and it's lovely and warm. Jon is picking lavender and I'm going to hobble over and see how many more walnuts I can find. Then I will need to find a use for them all.
Yesterday's weather: cool, sun am, rain pm!
Reflecting on yesterday's blog had me remembering that some years ago I read Claude Michelet's excellent trilogy (forgive me if I have them in the wrong order) Firelight and Woodsmoke, The Scent of Herbs and Applewood (in French they are: Des Grives aux loups, Les palombes ne passeront plus and L'appel des engoulevents).
These stories are set in the Corrèze, a neighbouring department to our own and tell the history of a farming community from the early 1900s until the period just after the Algerian War (sorry, the French never admitted a war, they were événements). There is a fourth volume published some 10 years ago but it was never translated into English and I haven't yet given myself the time to read this book which brings the story up to the 1990s. I loved these stories for an easily-readable history of 20th century France but also for the insight into farming methods and the problems faced by rural communities.
It seems to me that things in France have changed much less than in the UK. Here in the South West, and also in Central France, there are communities of small farms. On one side of us we have a cattle farm; beautiful chestnut coloured Limousin cattle graze on the slopes of our hillside and wake us each morning honking their loud moos across the valley. Monsieur D has around 30 of these beasts and cares for them well, visiting them by car if he can't see them from his house to count them and make sure they are all well. Obviously they are very valuable to him and are his main source of income. He has a smaller field with what we refer to as his 'house cows', half a dozen or so cattle of mixed colour and race who live in the field adjacent to his home. Monsieur D supplements his income by acting as the local insurance agent for one of France's bigger insurance suppliers.
On the other side we have Monsieur C who farms sheep with his family. Monsieur C lives alone and only occasionally do we see his sheep who are moved on a regular basis from his farm to his family's farm on the hills behind us. There is another sheep farm across the valley from us and it is quite an occasion when it is time to move the sheep from one pasture to the next.
Two cars, another four men on foot and a couple of dogs (who seem to be quite useless) ferry the sheep along the lane, across the busy road (stopping all traffic first and making themselves unpopular) and off into the distance. Last week we were amazed that this was happening at dusk. We could hear it all in the distance sheep bleating to each other and bells jangling along but couldn't see anything and I wondered what would have happened if one sheep had wandered off during the process.
Another farm visible from our garden is, we have recently learned, a duck farm - not foie gras. Here there are two enormous metal barns closed during the day but often open at night with lights on. Our young neighbour complained that from time to time there would be the most abominable smell wafting into her house from the duck farm. We don't want to know the details.
There is little arable farming here but we do have a field of maize along the track which has just been harvested and there are other maize fields around and very few sunflower fields. Tobacco is also grown here and driving along the Dordogne valley a few weeks ago we saw the huge wooden drying barns full of leaves hanging to dry in the late summer warmth.
And now it is time for the walnut harvest. Walnuts are one of the Dordognes bigger industries, walnut oil, wine and cakes are sold in all the tourist locations and, although not as large as their Californian cousins, they are very tasty. Our own few trees have already yielded several kilos of walnuts and there are many more to drop yet. The biggest tree has, unfortunately, the smallest nuts and only one seems to give us nuts of a decent size, but the small nuts from tree number one are just delicious.
Well, today the sun is out and it's lovely and warm. Jon is picking lavender and I'm going to hobble over and see how many more walnuts I can find. Then I will need to find a use for them all.
