oh deer!

the doe was back again last night.

she was sitting in the grass in front of the house and, seeing as she didn't even bother to run off when we went outside, we suspected that she wasn't the happiest deer in the world.

then, this morning, we found her laying where she'd slept. we think she died in the early hours of the morning.

despite being very sad at seeing such a magnificent animal dead we didn't want to miss the chance to learn some new and important skills: how to bleed, skin, gut and butcher a deer.

here she is as we found her this morning, a really beautiful animal:



nikki and monkey boy then hung her up:



monkey boy began by cutting the skin from the genitals to the neck:



we then cut around the neck and ankles so that we could remove the whole fur in one piece.

here she is with the skin half way down:



and then fully skinned:



here's her coat - it's such beautiful fur:



there was some controversy as to whether we should skin before gutting or afterwards but, seeing as we can't eat the meat (having died of unknown causes - disease etc...), we figured it didn't matter and so skinned first as it seemed like the best option to retrieve the fur in good condition.

and after gutting:



here are the internal walls of her rib cage:



it's amazing how nature works - when you view an animals insides you can't help but be impressed.

when we'd finished:



for us this kind of experience is an interesting and educational one. you start to really think about how bodies work on the inside.

her fur coat is now drying (other side up) in the sun.



it's such a shame that we can't eat the meat but we have learned a lot from this which will be of infinite use in the future.

from this deer we will eventually have:

- rib bones for making sewing needles, fish hooks etc...
- bones for knife handles or other uses.
- one mighty fine fur coat which we don't yet know what we'll do with.
- senew for making really strong string for bindings etc...

afterwards gairy buried the remains in a nice spot underneath a row of cherry trees so that her nutrients can be reabsorbed into the soil.

all-in-all an awesome and humbling experience was had by all three of us.

gairy and nikki.

close-encounter

this morning i went outside to fill some water up and stumbled across a female deer sitting just outside the house.

i think she was asleep and luckily i was able to come to a stand-still before she'd gotten to her feet and so she didn't see me (although we're thinking that this one might have impaired vision as this is the third time one of us has been able to get pretty close to a female deer close to the house and had unusual reactions from the doe).

you can see below just how close she came to the house:



grazing:



looking around:



hearing but not seeing me stood 15ft away with a camera:



a nice close-up:



we've each had good close-encounters with deer lately which has been nice.

maybe they're struggling to find tasty fresh shoots this late in the winter and so are more prepared to come near the house - who knows - but we like it.

later, gairy.

guess what.....more snow!

just as we said goodbye to the last of the recent snow (and were finally going to be able to get the stone mason here to do some work - he's been unable since early december to get here because of snow) it snowed again!

another 6-10 inches has fallen over the last four days and so we thought it only sensible and right that we celebrate by doing loads of baking/cooking and going on walks.

here's a shot taken from a walk we went on yesterday looking back across the valley and up to the barn:



and almost the same shot taken in july last year:



today nikki is making another chocolate cake (a new recipe which she tried out a few days ago and which was A BIG HIT!!!), monkey boy's making veggie sausage rolls and i think i'm planning on making some cheese and onion scones - mmm!

here's the veggie sausage rolls:



they are bloody tasty!

and the cake:



keep in mind that this is a 14"/35cm plate which means that the cake comes out at just under a foot in diameter and 7"/17.5cm high!

it's absolutely amazing!

as most of you know i am a fan of the chocolate and you can probably imagine how much i'm looking forward to eating this.

finally, here are the cheese, onion and fresh herb scones:



***post testing update: all of the above are really REALLY tasty!***

gairy.

wintry walk not work

this afternoon, as nikki went off to do some shopping, me and monkey boy decided to sack off working in the barn and instead go for a wintry walk to see how high the river level was (seeing as the overflow from the spring has been flowing really heavily).

so the three of us set off (me, monkey boy and müca - the resident simple:lodge 'hunting cat' - who follows us on walks and stalks insects) on our jaunt.....

the river had loads of icicles on overhanging branches which looked cool:



monkey boy then waded across the river (he was wearing his wellies) and took this:



and this one of some nice bracket fungi:



müca after a spot of rock-hopping:



and a nice moscicle:



walking through a snow covered field monkey boy spotted this little fella just sitting on the snow:



and then i saw this one:



here's the view from the final corner on the track which descends to the house:



and one final shot which is taken from the same place but zoomed in so that you can enjoy the mountains in the distance:



it's not too shabby to look out over these views every single day i can tell thee.

despite being only marginally better at speaking 'cat' than i am at french i feel confident in proclaiming that a good time was had by all!

gairy.

'müca loves lamp' plus lots more work.....

Just thought I would update you good people on our progress - boy have we been busy!

Over the last week:

- We hired a van and collected the insulation (plus remaining cellulose boards) for our walls - unfortunately the van wasn't hardcore enough to make it down our snowy road so we had to do many trips back and forth with Shabooboo.

- We had a trip to Valence to look at some doors, but to no avail. Followed by a much more successful trip to Puy-en-Velay (the place where Puy lentils come from) and bought some (French) pine doors (which we will match to our oak floor with a natural colour-wash).

- We fitted the first door (the bathroom) after Monkey Boy came up trumps with an ingenious idea of how to fit it. (see pic below)



- We've been continuing to fit the cellulose boards that make up the walls and also started fitting the lovely wool/hemp/wood insulation.









It looks so warm and snug that I want to climb into the walls and have a snooze - but there's no time for that!



- Monkey Boy has been designing and building a cupboard in the hallway/entrance of the house, which is coming on nicely.



- Finally, below are two pictures of Müca who recently hit jackpot when she discovered that lights also give out heat. We were a bit concerned that she might blind herself and moved her away, only to find her straight away back in place "sunning herself".



- oh, sorry I lied this is the final thing, this afternoon Monkey Boy went of a baking frenzy and made bread, biscuits and then my favourite jam tarts!





YUM YUM YUM!!!!!

later

Nikki

monkey boy photo action.....

monkey boy hit jackpot with the camera recently capturing a few deer (a first), a coal tit and some nice shots of the cats looking fat in their winter coats!

this is the first time any of us have managed to get any shots of deer:







next, a coal tit eating from our bird table:





muca and hobo looking all grown-up and fat:



and finally one of muca looking like a comedy cartoon cat villain:



cheers, simple-folk.

bagelmania!

Hello all!

Today I feel compelled to share my newest batch of bagels with you! This is the second batch that I have made, the first being rather tasty, but more hassle to make and less pretty than these. I am feeling rather pleased with myself although they are not the most regular shape and size they are in fact simple, rustic, fresh and local and I know Chef Ramsay would be proud, and that's good enough for me, ok!

Take a look below and be prepared to be impressed and hungry.

Yes, I am aware that the holes got a little lost - but the way I see it - there's more to eat now.

I just need to make some peanut butter now, so I can enjoy it on a toasted bagel - yum yum yum!

Laters potatas. 

Nikki

walls, mezzanines and cool ice patterns

we've been hard at work in the barn over the last few days and we've progressed a little further.

here's the walls going up in the spare bedroom (the view up into the mezzanine and out towards the hall):



here's a shot from monkey boys room of the room/mezzanine and through to the spare bedroom:



this is the mezzanine for monkey boys room which we finished today:



and two shots stitched together to show the entrance/mezzanine (excuse the perspective) for monkey boys room:



the day before yesterday nikki left a glass outside overnight with some water in which froze and ended up looking really good.

you could see a sphere of unfrozen water in the middle and loads of weird patterns in the ice from the way it had frozen - enjoy:



we're picking up the insulation on tuesday and so there'll be a load more work to do in the barn (so get ready for more barn work photographs in the coming weeks) which should be good.

also, i'm planning on making a lasagne tonight which should be nice (i know you're all glad to know this!).

gairy and nikki.