Hi, I'm Becky, and I'm really bad at blogging! Here I am however, determined to start again and inspire you with musings of our daily life here in SW France.
It's the beginning of Autumn but you'd be forgiven for thinking it's still Summer. Although the mornings are getting fresher, walking around in 30 degree heat at the weekend didn't feel like we were in the right season. The kids are still wearing their shorts and t-shirts and the mosquitoes are still raging. It means we're seriously slacking with our winter wood. There are random piles around our land of trees that we felled last winter that are just waiting to be gathered up, chopped and split into pieces small enough for our wood burner. I've made a start...but there's a long way to go.
So what's new? Where do I begin? The kids are in school and we're back at work after an intense Summer juggling guests (friends and family,) work, and keeping kids cool in the heat. Over Spring we added goats and bees into our chaotic mix, alongside our chickens, which I'll tell you all about soon. We had another go in the veg patch and had our most successful year yet, even if we were a little slow with some of the harvesting. It's still not nearly reached its potential but each year we learn a little more. Water is still an issue as although Spring provided us with the most perfect growing conditions, the Summer sun caused the regular drought which made continuing veg growing difficult. I also lost most of my fruit crops last year. I replanted strawberries and raspberries and tried to rescue my gooseberry bush in the Spring but they don't seem to have done very well, so I'm planning to plant them again this Autumn.
Way back in January I wrote about how our camping plans had been squashed due to changes in regulations. We're still working on 'Plan B' which involves changing the use of our barn. It's a long waiting game as we wait for that stamp to say we can go ahead. It's looking positive but I'm holding back until it's official at which point it will be full steam ahead.
So that's a little of our news. I hope you're all well! Do update me on how your year has gone so far. Anyone else added animals this year? Anyone else had a successful veg patch? Are there any other beekeepers out there? I'd love to connect.
Becky