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| Local free-range organic eggs |
Day eleven, Monday 9th November
I’ve had better starts to a Monday morning. There is nothing quite like the words “Mum, Mini (the dog) has been sick on my bed” to put me off my bowl of apple, walnut and cinnamon oats in the morning. On a positive note however, the dog had looked quite off-colour yesterday, but is much more herself today and the weather this morning was good enough to get the washing dry outside.
Buying local
It has now been a week since we used a car and although one of us will need to do a supermarket shop for things like dishwasher tablets, washing liquid and dog food, that aren’t the easiest of items to buy by bike, I’m determined to try and do as much fresh produce shopping from local producers as I can. As well as helping the local economy and reducing the carbon footprint of our food, it gives us a valid reason to get out on the bikes which is a bonus for our mental health. I’ve already identified two vegetable growers and a farm selling meat and homemade sausages, all within ten kilometres from home.
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| Buying local |
Today’s local shop was a bike ride to get eggs from the organic, free-range egg farm three kilometres from the village. A weekly visit here has become routine for us this year since our three old birds are no longer laying. Last week’s dozen contained a double-yolk egg and going by the size of one of them, this week we might be lucky again, although I can’t help feeling for the chicken that laid it. As well as eggs at 2.50€ a dozen, you can now also buy local honey, which I will be doing once we’ve finished the current pot. We all take a teaspoon of honey every day, so having access to a locally produced one is great news. Honey has many benefits to the immune system including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties and I want our bodies to be as ready as they can be to fight off any virus or bacterial infections this winter.
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| Local honey |
Sadly, our area of France is one of forty-six French departments that has been put on raised alert for avian flu. It is migration season and in order to reduce the risk of the wild birds infecting poultry, all birds that are normally allowed access to the outdoors must be shut inside or be protected by netting. This not only affects the larger producers like the one in our village, but individuals with a few backyard birds like us too. Chatting to the farmer this morning, she assured me she would be bringing in as many ‘toys’ as she could, including straw bales for her girls to climb on, so they don’t get bored.
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| The French Village Diaries 2020 new header |
Blog updates
With no course to run this week and only the decorating to carry on with, I thought Adrian needed a new project to keep him from getting bored too. It has been over two years since I changed the blog header, so I felt the time was right to update the pictures and make a few changes to the layout.
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