Too soon?

It's hard to see leaves turning color in early August. Summer isn't over! Fortunately, though, this is pretty normal. Here and there in the vineyard, the leaves on certain vines will start to turn very early, even though the vast majority are still a very lush green. And so are the trees. So fall is not here yet.

Grape leaves turning color in the vineyards behind our house.

I don't know what causes this to happen, but I see it every year. And some vines die altogether during the growing season. Most of those will be marked and yanked out after the harvest then replaced with a new vine. In some cases, a long cane from the neighboring vine will be buried in the ground with a few buds poking up above ground. The cane stays attached to its parent and gets its nourishment that way. Roots will grow below ground and a new vine is the result. I read that that kind of propagation is called "layering" in English, marcottage in French.

Tomatoes

I picked the first tomatoes from the garden on Saturday. They came from a volunteer vine, one I didn't plant, that sprouted from a seed dropped last year. The tomatoes are small Juliets, like cherry tomatoes but long instead of round. I also picked a few more lemon squash, another zucchini, and a big basket of green beans.

Green tomatoes on the vine. Don't mind the weeds.

The rest of the tomato crop is starting to ripen. There are three or four 'maters going red out there. Soon we'll get to enjoy fresh ones for salads and sandwiches and stuffing and, when they get too numerous to handle (if we're lucky), tomato sauce for the freezer.

A summer view

This is what our hamlet looks like this time of year. Summer is in full swing, and the weather is, as usual, unpredictable. But the vineyards look lush and very green. Tasha has a good time running under the vines and up and down the rows.

Our hamlet with the Cher valley in the background.

Ken will tell you more on his blog, but on Friday I drove up to Contres and bought a new freezer. Ours is getting up there in years and we feel like we should have a new one in case the old one decides to die. The new freezer is not a chest style like the old one. It is tall and has drawers and shelves, like a refrigerator. Maybe that way we won't have as many UFOs (Unidentified Frozen Objects) lurking down in the depths.

Ripening

I mentioned the other day that I've seen the red grapes starting to turn color, so I went out on Thursday with the camera. It's hard to tell how things will go this year. First there was the April freeze, then the alternating heat waves and cold spells. Some of the grapes look normal, others look smaller than usual, and some parcels look like they have very few bunches in them.

These red grapes go from green to pink to "blueberry" blue in the course of their ripening.

It must be very stressful to be a grower and to be dependent on the weather for your livelihood. Very few years are perfect, and the years can be very different one to the next. Temperature, rainfall, sunlight, storms, there's always something to worry about.

Stuffed lemon squash

When your garden gives you summer squash in abundance, you have to find different ways of dealing with it. One way is to give some away to your neighbors, which we have done. We're lucky to have generous neighbors who share the fruit from their plum trees with us, so it's nice to be able to give something back.

Lemon squash cut in half, steam-blanched, then hollowed out, ready for stuffing.

Next to slicing and grilling, stuffing summer squash is one of my favorite ways to eat them. These are small round lemon squash. We only have one plant (given to us by a friend), but it is prolific. The stuffing in this case was easy: Ken cut open some spicy chorizette sausages and cooked up the meat with squash pulp and small bread cubes. The sausages are made by the butchers in our local Super U market and they're often on sale in the summer months.

The stuffed squash went right into the freezer to be eaten in the coming weeks.

We also have three standard zucchini plants producing now, and we've grilled and stuffed them as well, most recently with a ground chicken stuffing (Ken posted about them on his blog today). That was tasty. If we get tired of eating the squash, I will grate and freeze them for making things like zucchini bread and fritters in the fall.

A fine lunch

On Monday, Ken, Tasha, and I went across the river to enjoy lunch at the home of friends C. and M. who were hosting frequent visitors from Australia, L. and S. (who are also frequent commenters on this blog). The weather cooperated and we spent the whole afternoon under the canopy in C. and M.'s back yard.

Quite a selection! Yum.

Lunch started with a little bubbly and some nibbles. The entrée dishes were endive leaves stuffed with crab salad, and a generous platter of smoked salmon. Next was a palate cleanser of apple sorbet with calvados (apple brandy). The main course was a tajine of chicken with apricots and prunes, served with couscous. For dessert we had a chocolate mousse followed by coffee. Then M. brought out the after-dinner drinks.

It was a wonderful afternoon and we enjoyed seeing everyone again.

Tasha Tuesday

Tasha reacts to Trump's latest tweet. I can't tell if she's expressing shock or just yawning. We wore her out yesterday by taking her to some friends' home for lunch. She was a very good dog all day, exploring the grounds and generally being friendly and cute. But because we were out, she didn't get her usual mid-day nap. When we got home last night, she crashed and slept without a peep through the night. Neither the early morning thunder nor the passing garbage truck could rouse her out of bed.

If you look closely, you can see Tasha's name tag. She's also wearing her stylish black harness.

I picked a whole bunch of green beans on Monday morning, so today we'll be working to preserve them. Most likely they'll get blanched and frozen, but we'll probably keep some out to eat fresh.