New post in the new home…
There is a new post for Art en Saule … What is there to do… in 2014 follow this link to view it! And Happy New Year to all readers…
On Migration
No… this isn’t a post about migration… it is just to announce that… Art en Saule… has now moved to Blogger. This is mainly because all our other blogs are there and therefore…. it is easier to maintain and monitor the blog. We will keep this blogspace running and post here when we have made … Continue reading
A passion for Trognes
On Monday night we went over to La Rabiniere at Betz-le-Chateau to a book talk organised by the “Champs des Livres” association. The author was a man passionate about “Les trognes” which is the main title of his book. The passionate man was Dominique Mansion who founded and runs the Maison Botanique at Boursay in … Continue reading
Time for a beer… Ooops, sorry!… an update…
Well, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since my last post… but we are waiting with bated breath to see if it will continue to flow. The authorities in Indre-et-Loire have decided to have a major ‘clean up’ of the river system to try and help the native Brown Trout [Salmo … Continue reading
One man went to mow…
…went to mow a meadow! At the moment in my case, it is one man and his cat to follow on. We have around two hectares to mow…. that’s around five acres in English money… and the grass needs to be removed to lower the fertility and allow the weaker species to grow more successfully … Continue reading
2010 & 11… Almost caught up!
As mentioned at the end of the last post we started off the willow plantation. I purchased and collected the willows from Yorkshire Willow… they came as 10″ cuttings… well, lengths… of one year old stem with about six to ten buds. The idea is to plant each length of willow stem where it is … Continue reading
A Bit of Fencing…. 2009
We had a break from the felling routine in 2009 and did some planting [as before] and some fencing. The fencing was needed to define the boundary between our property and the neighbouring field… the original fence was very ‘tired’ and in places… completely missing [having, in our absence, been driven straight through by a … Continue reading
Five old Saules… part four of the saga – 2008
The routine continued… but this year we had my wife with us, so Stuart and I were able to crack on much quicker, leaving Pauline to cook and clean up after us! Well, not really, the third pair of hands actually meant that some of the more difficult tasks were “three head, six hand” jobs. … Continue reading
Five old Saules… part the third. 2007 and the heat is on!!
By this point Stuart and I had got into a routine. Cut the ‘trees’ off the top of the old pollard, deal with the usable timber, plant trees, cut rods and refill the cattle splash. Why ‘trees’… mainly because that is what they were… pollarding usually takes place between ten and twenty five years after … Continue reading
Five old Saules… the second part. 2006.
2006 saw us ‘armed’ with a chainsaw. That meant that we were able to tidy up the wreckage of the first attempt and finish the tree off properly. The cut timber was then processed and we took some of it up to the hangar [dutch bar/open barn] to dry out for use as firewood. The … Continue reading
Latest flickr photos [Click on the Natural History collection for wildlife related pictures]
![Two Dougals two[IMGP0310]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50345955628_4805fe1ab9_s.jpg "Two Dougals two[IMGP0310]")
![Valmer Garden furnishings [IMGP4503]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50345928278_de7f8f0011_s.jpg "Valmer Garden furnishings [IMGP4503]")
![Valmer Garden furnishings [IMGP4502]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50346622786_372c0a156d_s.jpg "Valmer Garden furnishings [IMGP4502]")
![The trusty can [WG600121]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50346553201_17afb993cc_s.jpg "The trusty can [WG600121]")
![Valmer Garden furnishings [IMGP4497]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50346783422_29d615494d_s.jpg "Valmer Garden furnishings [IMGP4497]")
