Friday, June 18, 2004
Walnuts
Saint Léonce
I've been working on two stories this week. The first detailing our journey to France to find a gite business, and the second recounts the first 12 months (poss. 18 months) in France getting the gites ready and the various highs and lows on the way. The first story is already about 4000 words, the second is still in outline stage. Hopefully I should be publishing the first one soon. It's been interesting going through old e-mails, photos and receipts to try to piece together the chronology.
Looks like we might be in for a bumper crop of walnuts this year. We've got two walnut trees about 25m tall covered in green walnut 'fruits' slightly larger than a quails egg. Last year we got a few but they were not very big, so this spring I bashed the trunk and branches furiously with a big stick to encourage more walnuts. Apparently the tree gets 'scared' and reproduces as a defensive measure. The locals tell me that it works!
Once the walnuts fall from the tree the 'husk' seems to slowly dissolve and ooze a dark brown liquid that stains everything. We just collected the fallen nuts and stuck them in a string bag to dry out. They where delicious in apple pie (also from our trees).
I found another baby fish floating on the surface this morning. I hope yesterday's medicine works, the moles are multiplying like crazy and the fish are disappearing. I wish it was the other way around.
Changeover day in the gites tomorrow, so I've been mowing the lawns again and Caroline has been weeding the garden because we just don't have time on a Saturday.
Lucy is still incubating a full complement of duck eggs.
| 8:25:24 PM
Walnuts
