Colour My Autumn

And so it starts. Winter, that is. We got our first snow a couple of days ago and while it is still not staying on the ground, it will not be long now, what with the temperatures falling a few degrees every day. Normally the first job of the morning is to make a cup of coffee but now it is to light the fire in the stove and get the temperature up so I can remove one of my many layers of clothes.

 But we are prepared; we've got the wood, the oil for the heating, the woolly jumpers and the snow shovel. Let the winter come, I say. Mon Cheri is not so sure. He did his army service in the Alps but that was a long time ago, and as a somebody who is used to the warm, southern weather, he is not so confident of his winter survival skills anymore.

But it is important to stay positive, I say, even if the temperature outside is not. Look how beautiful the falling snow is, how intricately designed the snowflakes...I'm talking to the wall; Mon Cheri has put on his earmuffs and is no longer responsive to my words.

Ach well, so we have also put the winter tires in the car. Right on time, it seems. In this country they change only the two front ones, which is a good thing since it was quite a job to do even that, never mind all four. And I was only handing out the tools and pointing the light where it needed to be pointed while Mon Cheri did all the hard work. Sometimes it is good to be a woman. With a man whose is more than willing to do all the manly jobs around the house, I hasten to add! We're still squabbling over the saw and the axe but I just have to pick my fights, I suppose...

While the winter is taking its first steps around here and the days are rather dark and chilly, I like to look back and remember the last of the autumn days and all the colour we had around us. I have a feeling I will be looking at these photos a lot in the future and basking in the 'warmth' of the vibrant colours.

When I planted these Tagetes seeds, I accidently dropped a whole lot of them in one spot on the ground and since they are rather small I couldn't be bothered to pick the extras away but just left them there to do their thing. And look what a happy display they made!

All autumn I was collecting various flower seeds to secure an even better flower display for the next summer. I think it is safe to say that when it comes to these Marigold seeds, I have a reserve for the next ten years at least.

My neighbour Sylvette gave me some Cosmos seeds in the beginning of the summer (and the ones I planted are still blooming, believe it or not!) and here's the stock for the next year.

Little spots of colour in the forest.

Last of the few peppers I managed to grow and delicious they were too! Mon Cheri is planning to extend the greenhouse, so next summer we should have more than this.

One aubergine plant survived the move against all the odds and managed to produce a fruit as well but it just didn't have the time or the warmth to mature. Again, this shall be remedied next year. I have collected so many recipes I want to try, so I'm hoping for a better haul next summer.

As you all know by now, our courgettes were a success story. We got about  46 kilos of courgettes this summer and in the end were at loss to think what to do with them. Luckily they have kept quite well in the cold garage and now we're down to the last big one. And here's few of them (that we prepared earlier!), filled and  ready for the oven. That's a couple of days worth of food.

One of this autumn's revelations were the rosehips. For years I have planned and promised myself to do something with them but I didn't manage it until now. Armed with gloves I went forth and didn"t even have to go too far from the house, since they grow pretty much everywhere. In no time at all I had a big tub full of them and I decided to make some rosehip syrup to secure the intake of vitamins for the coming months.
I also got a dose of colour-therapy while cleaning the rosehips outside in the warm sunshine. Aren't they pretty!

Picking the berries, cleaning them and preparing the syrup takes a lot of time and trouble but it is well worth it in my opinion; in the end you'll have a delicious, thick syrup which is so good for you! and here's the recipe I used:
https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/rosehip-syrup

After cleaning the kitchen from the spilled syrup, I could sit down and enjoy a very refreshing and delicious rosehip-tonic drink. Cheers autumn, welcome winter!

Merde Alors

It's always with a certain sadness that I say goodbye to the summer; the sunny days, the warm evenings and the easy outdoor-living, all those things that give way to the colder, darker time ahead. But there is delights to be had in this season as well. Even though the work in the garden is all but finished, there's still few things to be done to prepare for the winter.

Le potager is finished now, bar the few last tomatoes in the green house, that are slowly trying to ripen before being brought indoors. But as the garden has been emptied of veggies, I can start preparing it for the winter and for the next year.

Enter, La Merde! Young Master from the neighbouring farm very kindly brought us some cow muck, le fumier, to fertilize the soil, ready for the plants next year. So hip hip hooray, some more physical work before the year is out, and hopefully that might sort out my sore back as well. Don't they say that exercise is the best medicine in these situations. Surtout ne reste pas dans le lit!
We'll see what happens.

And here it is, the black gold, all laid out where it will be most useful. I tried to do the permaculture-thing by laying out manure, sticks, straw, grass, leaves and kitchen waste in layers, and let it do its thing over the winter. Hopefully by next spring it has turned into a splendid growing medium for my new plants and seeds. The previous occupant had done marvellous job with the soil and we tried to investigate what exactly had done into the ground and mimic that.
Whatever it will be, it can't be bad. The big pile of garden waste, sticks and grass tufts we left just next to the veggie beds over the summer (being to lazy to drag it into the first terrace where the 'official' compost is), has already turned into a beautiful, dark compost, ready to be added into the garden.

I took the car to fetch ten big bags and couple of big containers full of leaves from the nearby forest, and spread them on to the veggie beds with some sticks on the top as weight against the wind. Now I can start dreaming about the next summer's bounty! The gardener's work is never finished.

The next natural move was to put my feet up and have a well deserved glass of rosehip syrup with tonic in front of the fire, listening to the wind and rain outside. Could we not just fast forward to the bit where it's snowing? Or even better, when it is sunny and warm again? If I was an animal, I would surely be a bear, hibernating all through the winter in my cosy, warm den. Well, I suppose this is not so bad. I do love candles and fire, and snuggling up on the sofa to read after a day in the garden.