Musing About & Playing Around

Winter is the time I stay indoors more than usual because shorter days means gardening is done by 4PM and then what? Well, there's time for various musings and enjoyment! What will we be having for that up-and-coming holiday dinner? After a few days of consideration, we chose pan-grilled mushroom caps brushed with melted butter, roast rack of pork, Brussels sprouts, potatoes dauphinoise, and apple pie topped with coffee ice cream. And a nice bottle of Médoc that is lying patiently on its side in the cellier. The equally nice bottle of Cahors can wait for the next time we have pot roast of lamb. So, that's decided then.

Recipe here (omit the cheddar for the crust which can be made with 2/3 butter, 1/3 lard)

A satisfied belly is important, but how about the mind? A Coursera class perhaps? Not this year though I have thoroughly enjoyed the ones I have taken since 2012 especially Daniel Chamovitz's What a Plant Knows. You won't believe this, but spending heaps of time on Twitter feeds your head! I know. Twitter! Though having used it sporadically since 2008, I have re-discovered it. Once a critical mass of individual tweeps who tweet excellent stuff pertinent to your interests are on your stream, oh, the joy of intellectual stimulation especially if you click on the links and related conversation. And for the eyes? How about bundling a lot of evergreen herbs like bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, and sage with a red ribbon, plopping them into a vase, and setting it on the mantlepiece? And that's for the nose, too, especially if you gently crush a leaf or so when passing. Some lengths of ivy will add grace to the arrangement.

Bay leaves

Rosemary

Most of the ripe ivy berries are for the birds, but a few bunches go into the vase

Browsing through plant catalogs is pleasant and part of the preparation necessary for next season's harvest. Doing seed/equipment inventory and figuring out what will go where is essential for our 2016 plant order which will be made in about a month. Trying a new thing each season is good, and this time I will plant a cover crop of white mustard as green manure. The idea is to sow late summer, and after two months of growth, mow, and then spade into the soil, letting the goodness develop over the winter.

Last season's seed packets stored properly in ziplock bags

Spading and mulching the numerous veggie beds continue.

Evergreen plants are the bones of a garden, especially its winter bones. The Yucca's leaves are backlit with the setting sun.

The biggest advantage of an earlier sunset is the opportunity to watch murmurations of starlings. A hundred or so that water at our bird baths whirl and twirl directly overhead before roosting en mass into a couple of nearby spruce trees. However, a much larger flocking consisting of thousands occur south of the garden, near a small forested area. They resemble an avian tornado which twists and turns, sometimes separating, then reuniting and flowing into varied shapes. And as amazing as that is, what is even more fantastic, is when they swoop down together to roost. All that fluttering commotion, and suddenly, a disappearing act punctuated with utter silence.

This pattern resembles a huge bird!

Dirac the Young Cat who of course lives in his own furry world has no problem with diminished daylight as he sleeps during that time so he can spend the whole night outdoors though . . .

Dirac's favourite plush toy is in desperate need of a good wash!

. . . he is known to wake up when he smells something that piques his interest such as my Minestrone with Beef.

I make a cauldron of the stuff which we eat three days straight!

À la prochaine!

A Sedge of Cranes...and pasta & beans

Spring is just beginning. When opening my office shutters in the morning, I see the daffodils' indomitable splash of sunshine, even on a cloudy, wet day which unfortunately are most days because of this never-ending bout of weather which should be more at home in Britain than France. Not that the poor sods across the channel need to be any more sodden then they already are what with the flooding and such happening over there. 

The rose bush in the foreground is leafing out along with irises on the right

They say, there's sunniness to spare, go ahead and bring some of us indoors, and I do, along with their fresh, flowery fragrance.

The daily deluge has engorged the sweet violets with such an abundance of water that they are naturalizing partout, another sign spring is having its fresh way with our garden.

But the most startling and delightful harbinger are the cranes migrating from North Africa for the last several days. Their pronounced honking gives ample warning for me to dash upstairs and get the telephoto lens. 

The group I had spotted before my indoor sprint still was far away so I was confused why they sounded like they were overhead. Monsieur M  popped out of his atelier at the back of his garden and said, can you hear them? Yes, I replied while pointing to the cranes off in the distance. Non, non, said Monsieur M. He pointed directly overhead to many cranes seemingly hovering in one place.

Then my guys flew in.

Keeping a tight formation, they joined the others.

Birds are an integral part of my gardening life, and I do my best to help them out. Leaving berries on bushes for them is one way. Ivy is a boon in that regard, because they form and hold their fruit way after most other plants have gone barren.

Ceci n'est pas a blueberry plant

Another supportive measure for avian life is keeping a wild area. Some starlings, probably close to a hundred, are wont to hide in the mountain of brambles in the back of our garden, twittering away unseen.

Some of the grape vines in the foreground are not covered with nets so the birds can have a tasty 'drink'

Being busy preparing for spring planting and sowing indoors--the tomatoes are now in the incubator--means I am still focused on easy, fast, hot meals and pasta and beans is such a dish. While some linguine is on the boil, saute a minced garlic clove or two or three in a tablespoon or so of olive oil for a minute or two. Add and simmer together for about ten minutes: a frozen cube of homemade chicken/veggie stock (store-bought can be subbed), a tablespoon or so of tomato paste, heaps of basil (there's still ample frozen basil from last summer's harvest), a tablespoon or so of reserved pasta water, and some rinsed, canned white beans. Drain the cooked pasta and mix with the sauce. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Really. Good. Stuff.

The first harvest of rhubarb was happily done. The title of this post was supposed to be Rhubarb Souffle, but the silly thing decided suddenly to inflate with a vengeance and then almost just as abruptly deflate with a determined malfeasance. No rhubarb souffle for us! At least, not this week as I will try again.

À la prochaine!