Looking out over Preuilly

We have been talking about how dry it is: yesterday we went to our favorite lookout point and took some photos for our new banner. Add the dryness to the fact all the crops are now off, and you can really see a difference:

19 August 2009

19 June 2009
2009 has not only been the hottest summer since we have owned the house in Preuilly, it has been by far and away the driest, too. Today once again it was over 30°C, and once again it is thought it might rain the day after tomorrow. This has been the forecast for the last two weeks - dry and hot tomorrow, rain the day after. They've been right about tomorrow - but the day after tomorrow never comes and we just get tomorrow again. Today and tomorrow the forecast is for 34°, Friday's forecast is for cooler with a chance of rain.

This means we are still carrying water down to the garden. Of course, we can never carry enough water to the garden to water properly, but we are amazed that the plants are hanging on in there, even if they aren't growing. The leeks are looking as if they might last, but at some stage we will have to water them even though so far we have managed to avoid it. The beans are having a hiatus, but have lots of little pods - we assume waiting for the rain before they overwhelm us. We hope so anyway, though at the moment the overwhelming is being done by plums and we have nowhere to store them: the freezer is full, the fridge is full, and the second small bar fridge is full as well.

We have had a freeezer on order since the end of last month and are expecting it sometime this week - or maybe next week. This will really allow us to make the most of our produce, and also to take advantage of any specials and bulk buys at the market and supermarkets. We debated if buying and running a freezer is economically worthwhile, but freezers have come a long way since we last had one, and the new freezer will use less than one unit of electricity a day making for an increase in the electricity bill of about 25€ a year. If we can make the most of our garden produce we should get a net saving in money terms - and a net increase in our confidence in the freshness and quality of the food we are eating.

Simon