The moles spent Christmas at our place...

When we came back from our Xmas break, we noticed moles (taupes in French) had returned.... The front garden looked like a mine field.

As it was their third visit, we knew exactly what to do. We had used all sorts but traps (trappe à taupes) were the best way.

Luckily, they had been and gone while we were away. We haven't notice any more activity. We just needed to rake the soil.

Here is a link of a great way to get rid of the moles... A bit cruel, but it does the job.

You can find mole traps from DIY shops or garden centres in France.

If you have any tricks to get rid of moles, please feel free to share them with us!

La Chandeleur - 2nd February

La Chandeleur, also known as Jour des crêpes (pancake day) is celebrated in France on 2nd February each year. It is 40 days after Christmas (Noël).

I am not religious but I do like home-made pancakes ! Being busy with work on 2nd February, I made my Crêpes the day after with free range eggs from our chickens and full fat milk from my neighbours cows.

You know La Chandeleur is coming as all supermarkets have special offers on frying pans in France about 10 days before!

In France, we often have pancake parties for La Chandeleur. We invite friends and eat pancakes together! We usually have jam or chocolate spread on them.


I can't really share my recipe with you because I don't measure anything! It is called 'au pifomètre' or 'au pif' when we just put ingredients together without measuring them.

For the 2 of us, I use 2 eggs, about 2 handfuls of flour, a pinch of salt and add milk until I get the right consistency. I don't put sugar in as jam has already enough sugar in it. If needed (if the pancake sticks to the pan) I put a bit of oil but the full fat milk from the farm replace the oil!

Enjoy!

Snow drops - the sign of nice weather on its way!!

It always cheers me up when I see the first snowdrops (Perce-neige in French) blooming in my garden! And yesterday was the day!!

If you don't have any snowdrops in your garden, plant a few bulbs this autumn. They are very easy to grow - you don't have to do anything and they keep coming back each year! That is what I call easy gardening....

Bulbs can be purchased from garden centres or supermarkets in France.