Unexpected Monsoons!

[vc_row][vc_column][postgallery_grid id=”Grid_20170630″ data_source=”data-4″ null=”” slidesetid=”SS_G3_20170630″ content_type=”image” height=”200px” align=”aligncenter” lightbox=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After the heatwave of last week this week has brought us back to cashmere jumpers, socks and slippers. Some days it has been 9 degrees when we wake up, a bit of a shock having got used to 18! The rain has been torrential, the thunder and lightening has been worse than a Hammer horror film. Although we haven’t had to water the potager, and the stream is replenished, the poor farmers have had cereal fields flattened and the animals look really fed up. After the unusually late frost that has reduced the grapes crop to probably 30% of the usual, this will have affected the arable farmers badly. And of course the poor holiday-makers can hardly have expected such weather.

On the bright side we have managed to make lots of jams and pickles: apricot jam, spiced apricots, apricot, apple and cardamom chutney, bottled apricots; plum jam, spiced plums; courgette chutney and pickle – from the potager courgettes; pickled gherkins. The fruit here is so fresh and unadulterated that we have to work fast and the end product is delicious. We are also planning to do pickled walnuts from our own trees but the weather has made shinning up ladders impossible to do safely so we hope this weekend will give us a break so we can collect some green walnuts.

For the last few weeks Liz has been watching a butterfly in the top of one of the hazelnut stands. It took ages but eventually she identified it as a Lesser Purple Emperor. This week one came into the house, a male sadly he had oviously mated and his time was up. So beautiful, in certain lights the purple iridescent wings seem to glow. Sad though it is it gave us the opportunity to identify him properly and it turns out he is a male Lesser Purple Emperor, form clytie (Apatura Ilia f. clytie; Fr: Petit mars changeant).

Next week is supposed to improve a bit; this cold wet weather is very unusual at this time of year and has caused more than the normal havoc with our internet connection. So we are looking forward to next week![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#deead0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Perhaps you would like to know…
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