Yesterday morning, Walt reported after his walk in the vineyard with Tasha that one of the vignerons (grape growers) was out there burning bales of hay again, trying to protect the tender new growth on his vines from freezing cold temperatures.
Looking back toward the hamlet, into the sunrise, at 8:00 a.m. April 28
I just heard on the news that vignerons all over France are doing the same thing. However, we didn't see any smudge pots (bougies anti-gel) set out up and down the rows of vines this time. Today it's a degree or two warmer than it was yesterday at this hour.
As I feared, we had our springtime weather too early this year — in February and March. April was chilly, and May is chilly for the time being too. The news report I just heard said the last time May weather was this cold was in 2013. That's not very long ago.
These photos are some that I took late last week, early one morning, out in the vineyard where we walk with the dog every day. You can see the tender new leaves and grape flowers. I walk in the vineyard with the dog one afternoon and then the next morning. Walt walks the next afternoon and the morning after that. Rinse and repeat. Tasha gets her exercise.
I notice in some of my posts from May 2013 that I was saying back then that we were going to be late getting the vegetable garden planted. The same holds true this year. I haven't even tilled up the garden plot yet.
Walt has seedlings growing in the greenhouse, though, so if it warms up and dries out, I'll have to get busy. It's something to look forward to.
It is cold in Paris too! The bright side, it is not raining. It seems it will get warmer, but very slowly. Let's hope we will have nice weather after les saints de glace.
ReplyDeleteI just watched the France 5 documentary about goat cheese, including Selles-sur-Cher. It says that 82% of the Selles-sur-Cher cheese are industrially produced. That means that a dairy (like Anjouin) buys milk from a number of different farmers and then makes the cheese in the dairy. So industrial cheeses can also be AOP. There are plenty of farm-produced Selles-sur-Cher cheeses available around here, though. There's one farm near Couffy, just 10 minutes from here, that makes Selles-sur-Cher fermiers (AOP). I'm going to go there tomorrow to buy some cheeses. According to various web sites, it's open every day except Sunday during normal business hours.
DeleteA few days ago I bought a Selles-sur-Cher at the corner store and it looks and taste as usual. But probably, the Anjouin dairy has been making " industrial" cheese for some time now and we didn't know it!. I'd like to know if you see a difference in taste or texture with the fermier cheese. I must say I'm happy with the one I get here.
DeleteA cheese can only be labeled fermier if all the milk that goes into making it comes from a single farm. Is your Paris goat cheese from the fromagerie Segré?
DeleteNo, it’s Anjouin, as it has been for a number of years whether at Franprix, as the last one, or at Monoprix.
DeleteJust checking out those tiny grapes in the last photo. What a great picture! If it makes you feel any better, we've had a quite cool start to May in southern California.
ReplyDeleteThanks, D. Now I have to go outside and harvest a ton of chard.
DeleteKen lol. ;-)
DeleteYes, it is something to look forward to. Imagine living the life of a farmer, with the unpredictability of weather. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteAfter I posted early this morning, I looked out the back window and saw plumes of smoke rising up out of the vineyard. The vigneron who has been burning bales of hay this spring to keep his vines from freezing was out there again. Hope it worked. There was a lot of frost when I went out to walk.
Delete