Hunting is assumed to be an inalienable right for French people ever since the revolution of 1789 set them free to hunt – rather than poach. And wild boar makes better eating than a handful of roast chestnuts… (read Jacquou le Croquant by Eugene le Roy). Let...
There exists a serious end of summer; invasive flying pests, small, numerous and almost impossible to destroy or prevent. It is one of science’s favourite insects: please welcome the drosophilidae, more commonly called the ‘fruit flies’. You will...
The winter solstice, September 23rd, is when the tomatoes get sick. They refuse to ripen wholly and get rot, perhaps due to the wild variation of temperature during the day. The morning is cold enough to need an electric fan heater and a cardigan; at mid-day the...
Every self-respecting country-woman has a little black book with the contact details of ‘useful-little-men-who-do-‘things’. These people are not found in the yellow pages. They are former salesmen from failed D.I.Y. stores, desperate...
This summer, the black Muscat grapes hanging over the terrace have been very successful. The bunches are big and most of the individual grapes have ripened. There seems to be no single reason why they should be better this summer than in any previous, no reason to... 