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Author Archives: Jason
One Year in Le Vignaud
One year has passed since I drove from Germany in a rickety old Renault truck, bound for my tiny village in France. It had been a wonderful ride- I have made life-long friends, followed a longstanding dream, overcome many obstacles, and fallen to others. But through all the cold, the rain, the sunshine, the good food, the up and the downs I wouldn’t trade a day of the last year for anything else. Continue reading
Posted in The Land, The Village, Updates
Tagged Anniversaire, Le Vignaud, Thoughts, Updates
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Izzy’s Le Vignaud
This is Izzy’s view of Le Vignaud from her visit back in June. I think it may be the most complete view of Le Vignaud yet available on the WWW. Of course nothing beats a visit in the real world, but this is about as close as it comes. She’s captured some great moments, and lots of nifty details about the place that have never been documented. This is one for the LV Historical Society Archives. Continue reading
Posted in The House, The Land, The People, The Village, The Yard
Tagged Izzy, June, Le Vignaud, Movie, Stop-Motion, Summer
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August Update
August has finally arrived here in La Creuse. Surprisingly though the weather has so far remained mild, and we haven’t gotten the typically hot summer of past years. The lake is warm though, and every other day another fruit tree is ready to be harvested is some forgotten corner of the village. I’ve done my share of collecting, harvesting, digging, and eating all of the bounty that surrounds us in this time of year…
Dandewine
One day late in April we decided to drive up to Malval, where there is an old mill as well as ruins of a millennium-old castle. The fields on either side of the rural road were bright yellow, completely filled with dandelions. It was a beautiful sight: the sunny flowers are not really considered much of a weed in France and are allowed to grow sans herbicide. Penelope made a casual comment about making dandelion wine, but it really fired up Jason’s imagination. He’d never even heard of it before, but suddenly he had a new project. Continue reading
Digging Potatoes with Jeanine
Jeneane is an incredible lady- She’s 74 and has lived in Le Vignaud her entire life. When she asked me to help her dig her potatoes, I was more than happy to help. She is always giving me something, whether it’s fresh eggs from the chickens, or a nice warm meal in the evening on my way back from the garden and I’m always looking for an opportunity to reciprocate the generosity. She had about 200 or so ‘pieds’ of potatoes- some fifteen or so rows about three meters long each- all ready to be dug. Continue reading
Posted in The Garden, The Land, The People, The Village
Tagged Garden, Harvest, Jeanine, Le Vignaud, Potatoes, Recolte
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Garden Harvest
Dirty Darren came by one Sunday afternoon to help with the garden. All the hard work was finally paying off, the garden was full, and it was time to begin the harvest. In late July, it’s time to pull and dry the onions, garlic, and shallots, as well as dig the potatoes. It was a great help to have an extra hand to harvest and pack kilo after kilo of these, which will hopefully last through the winter. There were also tomatoes, plenty of GIANT courgettes, beets, cucumbers, peppers, beans, and salad. I can’t help but to say again how incredible I find it that this much food can come from such a small piece of dirt, with truly minimal effort. Continue reading
Posted in The Garden, The Land
Tagged Garden, Harvest, Jardinage, Recolte, Summer, Vegetables
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Stone and Glass (New Stairs)
Back in February when we cleared out the yard, we built some steps up the front path near the mailbox. Still, on the opposite side of the yard near the house, there was another drop-off with no proper way down. I always felt bad when Jeneane would come over and she couldn’t come down into the lower yard. If she wanted to come into the house she had to go the long way around through the driveway. I had been promising her I’d build some stairs to get down to the house since probably November or December. This is the story of Jeneane’s stairs. Continue reading
Posted in The House, The Yard
Tagged Bottles, Improvements, Le Vignaud, Projects, Rocks, Stairs
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July Gardening Update
In July, the big words on the tongue of every gardener were Tomatoes and Courgettes. In fact, after a few weeks of all you can eat style stuffing our faces, it was a challenge to get rid of them faster than they were coming out of the garden. It was a wonderful problem to have. We all had to get creative thinking up new dishes and finding new friends to share all the wonderful things coming from the garden. Continue reading
Posted in The Garden, The Land
Tagged Garden, June, Summer, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Zucchini
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They Call Me “Bon Papa”
The cherry harvest only lasts for a few weeks in the spring when there are literally more cherries than anyone can or would care to eat. Then, winter comes and the trees are bare- not a cherry to be seen for a few months at least. So, in just about every French home you will find a cave or a cupboard literally packed with amazing confitures, sirops, jellies, and preserves. In this way the amazing variety and surplus of fruit projects from warm spring and summer days, stores over the winter. Continue reading
Clafoutis!
Since late March when the cherry trees started blooming, I have been hearing about Clafoutis. Seems like every time the subject of cherries happens to come up (and often it is when the villages are all eying the multitude of cherry trees waiting for the fruit to ripen), a long conversation inevitably follows about how insanely delicious it is, how tasty it is, how fluffy it is, etc., etc., usually followed by a lot of lip smacking and drooling on the part of those in the know. Continue reading