Thank you SO much for being here. My name is JoJo, one half of , the ‘feasts’ part not the ‘writer’.
I am not the most natural storyteller so these updates make me nervous … and when I’m nervous I maybe say a bit more than I mean to! And it all comes out a little bit fast too. But this is about slow living on a small farm in the Vienne Department of France so perhaps I just need to take a deep breath and tell you what’s been happening since I last wrote to you.
If there are too many words, fear not, there are pictures too!
Here we are, March 20th (first entry, for ages)
All of a sudden, Spring is here, properly.
How are you all doing?
The birds, bees, and butterflies are busy doing their thing.
And so we are, sort of.
The potager has looked a bit bedraggled since late autumn so over the past couple of days we’ve done some grass cutting, weed pulling, seed sowing (flowers), and generally tidied the place up a bit.
I got such joy from using our own compost to mulch the rhubarb (all three of which I thought had not survived the winter, but up they’ve popped!) The sun has been out in all her style, the temperature nudging 20C, the wind calm. Perfect, but I’ve realised I’m not garden-fit. I ride my bike most days, run a bit, walk a bit, but gardening .. well, that uses a totally different group of muscles! If only we had a bath in the farmhouse (we do have a shower) …
I shouldn’t complain; I do have an ice bath to hop into but we emptied it recently to relocate it. Why, you might ask? Well, the ice bath sat happily on the concrete ‘roof’ of our underground citerne (the reservoir filled by harvested rainwater). After a trip to Wales recently we were devastated to get home to find our huge bread oven had collapsed. What remains is looking a bit dodgy so we thought it best to move stuff out of the way. We’re assuming the bread oven roof gave way with the weight of all the rain we’ve had - in hindsight, perhaps we should have fixed the roof up a bit, to stop the rain soaking into the soil, but we didn’t and we are where we are. Pardon the pun, but any repairs we had planned have gone on the back burner.
Stefan, a fabulous local mason/roofer, has finished reroofing the cuisine d’été (summer kitchen) and its little next-door ‘cwtch’ (this is a Welsh word meaning ‘hug’ or ‘snuggle up’, which works as an idea for the small space). The roof looks amazing, new, yet aged - Stefan used new tiles on the bottom with older tiles on the top, giving it a worn-in look. We love it. The cwtch might become the new home for the ice bath. It stays shaded all the time. It’s roughly north-facing so perfectly aligned to keep a cool thing cool.
April 13th and the mercury is rising
We’ve put a lot more thought into what we’ll grow in the potager (the kitchen garden) this year.
Last year we tried all sorts of stuff; we had some successes, but some things didn’t work. This year, we have some adventures planned and so we’ll be away quite a lot. We don’t want to grow too many vegetables if we’re not going to be around to harvest them (or water them). So here we are in mid-April and we’ve got just popped some tomatoes, basil and chilli peppers in.
Other stuff will be planted in the next few days.
Most importantly, beds for our grandkids Olivia and Finley will be planted with peas in a day or two - they will be visiting in June and we cannot wait to see them pick and pop the pods. The strawberries are coming along nicely as is the blueberry shrub, both favourites of Olivia. It is SO important that youngsters understand the connections between growing and eating, don’t you think? We gave the kids these raised beds as birthday presents, gifts that keep on giving.
Glow Sew
Our recent trip to the UK was such a blast. Lots of cold water immersion, waterfalls, rivers, ice baths, and several saunas. Plenty of sewing too.
The ‘Glow Sew’ weekend at Fforest was just the tonic I needed to really kick start this new found hobby.
I was surrounded by like-minded women, all keen to learn, sew, mend, chat, mingle, share stories, swim, sauna.
I created a pinny that was a delight to make. I’ve definitely got the sewing bug now. There are worse habits to have. I am so excited to have booked myself in for Glow Sew in October at Fforest (at Manorafon on the Welsh coast). Do check it out if it sounds like your sort of gathering.
We also had a magical few hours at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford, celebrating a Great Gran’s 81st birthday with the (great) grandchildren. Memories made to sustain us all.
Adventures Closer to Home
Last week we headed to the Ardeche to hang out at Margots Retreat, helping to set up and run Lottie’s fermentation workshop. What a blast. I met some fabulous folk there, made some amazing fermented stuff, drank some gorgeous natural wine and chilled out with Lottie and Jean Marc. Their drive and energy is inspiring, they never seem to stop! Their gorgeous space is always evolving. We love them and everything they are creating. Such beautiful people.
We came home via Ceps, a tiny village in the Herault department. What a treat to catch up with Lizzie (yes, she of Sewing Bee fame) and her partner Mick in their pied a terre. What a cute spot. Lizzie and I made a beeline (hee hee, couldn’t resist) to l’Orb, for an amazing dook (dip) in the river that flows past their hamlet. After supper, fun, laughter and silly games ensued. It was a slow drive back home the next day.
Home, of course, to much grass cutting, seed sowing, plant sowing, and hammocking.
Spring has certainly sprung!
Until next time, à bientôt
JoJo x
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect.
~ Alice Walker
A fabulous extremely readable ‘notes from the potager’ and out and about! Everything is looking fabulous, and the sewing room is flourishing! The notes reflects your energy and enthusiasm! ❤️
and never BACK^^