Yes, it’s true… two parrots have been flying around our garden for the last few days. Just to remind you, we live in the north of France, not the tropics - so this was quite a surprise. They make a lot of noise, but so far neither of them has said “Bonjour” and no dapper pirate has come looking for them. Has anyone else spotted parrots in Normandy?

This one was hanging out in the cherry tree… I wonder why?!!

Finally, our new camera has arrived, so I can now show you what I’ve been up to.

Many will remember the Saga of the Blocked Toilet, which has been a regular event here. And yes, the fosse septique blocked yet again - that’s four times in 2 years! Ian spent a day emptying it by hand and the following day recovering. Not only that, but every time we have to dig down to the tank we make a mess of the lawn just outside the B&B where it was strategically placed!

I had had enough!!! I’ve ripped out the toilet and installed a compost loo!

When I last posted about the compost loo debate, some people seemed a little confused as to what it entailed. I can recommend Redforkhippy’s comments as they were very clear, concise and to the point. But here are my thoughts, just for the record…

1. Using a compost toilet means we save an estimated 40 % of our water consumption (last year’s water bill was 350 euros). This is a major contribution to reducing our eco-footprint and spending less money!
2. The compost toilet is clean, totally without smell, 100% chemical free (no need for toilet cleaners), doesn’t have that disgusting-looking build-up of black gunk under “the rim”, doesn’t get limescale build-up, doesn’t have any running costs (the sawdust is free from a local sawmill).
3. The emptying of the bucket takes approx. two minutes every two days. The frequency would vary depending on how many people use the toilet and how large the bucket is. There are four of us, and I have used a smaller bucket (16 litres) because I’d rather empty it more often but more easily (it’s nice and light for lifting over the edge of my compost bin.
4. The toilet is emptied onto a DEDICATED compost heap. It will be left for a two year period to mature fully and the compost will then be used in our copse and for our willow coppice which we’re growing for firewood. It is not the case that I will be planting lettuces in near-raw sewage (which seems to be most people’s assumption when one mentions a compost loo!)
5. Compost loo heaps are a safe and efficient way to decompose humanure. Our current system (which doesn’t work!) of a fosse septique allows raw sewage to be leached out underground where noone can tell what damage it is doing. A well-managed compost loo keeps the manure in a contained area where it can be monitored and decompose thermophilically to produce a useful product. There is no risk of pathogen contamination because the heap gets nice and warm and kills off all the baddies. To find out all about compost loos, read The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins.
6. Although we have a constant flow of uninitiated visitors through our house and B&B, no-one has ever had an issue about using the compost loo and feedback has always been very positive.
7. The total cost of this new, post-modern bog was 20 euros (that’s for two pieces of 60cm by 200 cm prefabricated board (thickness 18mm), and one bucket for the sawdust. Everything else was already lying around here – some old bits of wood for the batons, a few screws, the last third of a tin of varnish, a bucket for the actual toilet-bit and the recently bought loo seat was taken off the defunct toilet. If I had had to buy everything, the cost might have been around 55 euros. If used carefully, this toilet should last for ever, with occasionally new buckets being bought when old ones crack and die.

It was very simple to build. Most of the time spent was waiting for the varnish to dry! First I sealed up the toilet pipe in a very hi-tech way (some tape), then put batons up as shown. I measured up so that the overall height of the top (not including the seat) would be 45cm. That’s a little higher than a conventional loo but is comfortable to sit on and not too high for kids.

I then cut my two boards to the correct size. In one I cut a hole the same shape as the inside of the toilet seat and another hole the size of the sawdust bucket. The other board could have been left as it was, but I decided to cut a couple of arches out at the bottom to allow air to circulate (the room is slightly damp) and for the skirting boards.

Once varnished, all I had to do was attach the seat, add the buckets and a bunch of flowers and hey presto! a compost loo/work of art!

Photos of how I made the first, stand-alone compost loo (the one in the B&B) can be found here.

I’m just bottling the comfrey oil I made in May. Comfrey oil is very good for cuts and bruises - in our house it is kept in a bottle labelled “Magic Oil” and every time a child gets into a scrape out it comes. It cleanses, softens and conditions the skin, as well as reducing puffiness. The kids are certain that their wounds heal twice as fast with comfrey oil.

To make your own, simply stuff a container (jam jar, etc) full of good comfrey leaves (I use medium sized, healthy-looking leaves). Pack the comfrey in and then pour over an oil of you choice (almond, wheatgerm, olive, etc) Leave on a sunny windowsill for three weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain into suitable magical-looking bottle. It does smell quite quite potent, but this only adds to the mystique!

Dab on liberally when needed. Also good rubbed onto abused gardener’s hands after a day toiling in the veg patch, or on dry knees and elbows. I have also added it, along with a marigold infusion,  to my ‘Gardener’s hand-cream’.

(There’s no photo because our camera has died and I’m still waiting for the ‘new’ one I bought on ebay.)

Just a few days later, and the courgettes et al are growing unbelievably fast - they’ve gone from little two-leaf seedlings to this!…

The weather has been perfect, warm with lots of sun and rain, but nonetheless I’m surprised at the speed of growth and obviously very pleased. I just hope they keep going strong and produce lots to eat.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time in the last few days staring at the ground in the veg patch; hoping that if I stare long enough some little veg seedling will pop it’s head out and say hello.

Sweetcorn and runner beans are just coming up, but sadly some old packets of bush beans I found at the back of the cupboard don’t look at though they’re going to do anything at all, which is a real shame. Same thing goes for the carrots, which really don’t keep for more than a season, but luckily I have some more of those which are more recent.

One successful planting has been all the cucurbits. I had several packets of various odds and ends, pumpkins, hubbard, courgettes, etc and I have planted them all in my many and varied compost heaps. Last year I planted them direct into the soil, but as it’s so terrible they weren’t amused and refused to grow - by putting them into the compost heap I hope to give them all the nutrients they’ve ever wanted, and more besides! I just made a hollow in the top of the heap about the same size as a cereal bowl which I filled with soil/compost. Put seed in and water well. The warmth from the heap also speeded up germination by a couple of days.

This is not a tourist blog, and I don’t want to bore you with scenes of rural Normandy; but this weekend we were at the Marché d’Art at La Perrière and I felt it was worthy of note!

La Perrière is a small village (10 minutes from here) in the west of Le Perche. For one reason and another it has built up quite an artistic community and has become the venue for an annual art market. Every year local villagers open up spaces in their properties so that around 100 artists can exhibit their work – in old barns, gardens, basements, garages, living rooms; but also in marquees set up around the church, in an abandoned factory, etc…

It was a wonderful example of what can be achieved by a whole community working together; luckily the sun shone despite dire weather forecasts and the visitors were happy! Every stall had something different: watercolours, photography, oils, sculpture, wood carving… The local bar owner, Martin, was doing excellent business with his ham and spud cauldron

and a local percussion group were keeping flagging art buyers going with their thumping Brazilian (?!) drumming.

Here’s B trying to resemble a work of art!

If you’re in the area next year, the Marché d’Art is certainly worth a visit!

With the past two weeks of glorious sunshine, the rhubarb went into action and produced four stunning blooms. It does slow production to a near standstill, but luckily I have another 8 plants which don’t flower. I even managed to pick 3 kilos of prime rhubarb to sell to the local restaurant - the first time I’ve sold anything from the garden! Let’s hope it’s the beginning of a good season.

This is what happens when you don’t keep on top of the weeding; a carpet of invading buttercups has now taken over the chive bed…

The only compensation is that the chives don’t seem to mind (for now) and it makes a cheering show in the corner of the veg plot!

I put chive flowers in yesterday’s meal and the kids loved them - they’re like little, hot explosions in your mouth and the colour is fantastic.

I turned my back on the rhubarb plants for a couple of days and they’ve gone completely nuts! I’ve pulled off 6 kilos of the stuff just to try and keep abreast of the issue, but I can already see new shoots growing in front of my very eyes. For future use I really want to pick it when it’s smaller than this to get a better flavour .

What I want to know is if anyone has a good rhubarb recipe of the more unusual type - chutneys etc. I’ll be making the usual puddings but would like do try some more long-term bulk-processing recipes. Anything that I can make and put in jars is a winner in my book. Anyone have any ideas? Does rhubarb chutney work?…

As money is in such short supply, I’ve started selling bread (above) and pasta to local friends (and as the season progresses hopefully they’ll buy some veg too!)

The chickens have gone from laying no eggs EVER to laying more than we ever thought possible. This daily delivery has led to me making lots of pasta again… I’ve had this pasta machine for years, a classy bit of kit bought back in the days when we had money. Not only that, it’s made in Torino, Italy and not in China!

Pasta is a great way to use up eggs. For the 4 of us I use 300g of flour (recipes will tell you to use only the finest 00 flour, but I use whatever is in the cupboard and it tastes no different!) and 3 eggs. That’s it! Either kneed by hand or chuck in a food mixer like I do, then begins the fun part of rolling it through the machine. It’s very therapeutic and I highly recommend it!

Anyway, this time the purpose of making pasta was to do some experiments on the drying side of things. I usually cook it straight away, but it seems like a good idea to be able to make some and then store for a future emergency.

This is my home-made drying rack, it’s just a rake handle hanging off a couple of nails and is high-up to avoid children and cats. Hanging here are tagliatelle, linguine and pappardelle.