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| Latest volunteer Tom at work in Paris (Photo: ©Cédric Martinelli) |
I’ve been up against a
deadline to get as much of the urgent heavier jobs done before Thursday, when I
went into the local hospital to have a hernia repaired. I’m now walking around
rather gingerly, with instructions not to do too much at all physically, for
the next three weeks or so. It was heavy sneezing that did it: during a succession of
bellowing, snorting “aitchoos” something strangely went “bloop” in my groin. It
was quickly obvious what it was and, thankfully, the excellent health service
here allowed me to see my doctor, have a scan, see a surgeon and be booked in
for repair in double quick time. In fact, I even had to ask to have the op
later than I was first offered, so I could host a volunteer for a week, take
our three pigs to the abattoir and a couple of other urgent smallholding jobs
before my obligatory R ’n’ R.
As Gabrielle headed for
the ferry to go and support her mother through her second cataract operation, I
drove to the local railway station to collect volunteer Tom, a furniture building,
computer programming
Englishman in Paris.
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| northern windbreak for forest garden |
I think we pretty much did
something different every day. We attacked a brambly jungle in our woodland,
creating a path around the edge of a third-of-an-acre plot where we want to set
up a coppicing cycle (more on this in future blogs). Continuing work I’d
already started, we mattock-ed off a two metre wide band of turf, prepared
holes and planted a double row of trees and shrubs that will serve as a
windbreak to our developing forest garden.
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| 86-yr-old Monsieur Gallée with his 'almost new' tractor |
We also spent a day beating an overgrown laurel hedge into submission at the
house of our vet. Another of our exchanges, we “pay” for any veterinary
treatment to our animals through gardening jobs. We were helped by the jovial,
energetic and elderly Francis Gallée. At 86, his appetite for life and work
outdoors is undimmed and he took all the brash to the nearby municipal tip,
saving the larger trunks for himself for heating wood. Smiling proudly, he told
us that he’d bought his tractor new … over thirty years ago.
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| Tom grinding coffee |
Tom introduced me to the
pleasures of freshly-ground coffee. He brought with him a Japanese Porlex hand
grinder and a packet of beans and we finished each breakfast with a small cup
of black coffee, drunk with the care and enthusiasm of a connoisseur. We ate
well, grateful that Gabrielle had frozen a store of home-cooked food before she
left.
One more job I had lined
up was the taking of one of last year’s lamb for the freezer. I put this to
Tom, saying that I could easily wait until after his departure as I didn’t want
to push him into something that he would feel uncomfortable about. He had a
think and said yes. Following a thorough explanation of what I was going to do,
the animal was humanely slaughtered (using a captive bolt stunner) skinned and
drawn. It was then wrapped in a clean sheet, hung overnight in our workshop and
butchered the following morning.
