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There’s orchard grass in that lucerne but it is shorter and mostly dormant now. Mineral-rich limestone soils grow tasty lucerne which makes healthy animals and great beef. Without the base limestone the lucerne wouldn’t grow so well and without the lucerne the beef wouldn’t be so tasty. The flavour in each bite of steak owesContinueContinue reading “Beef from rocks”

“I want a pony,” says Lucy. Who leaves a country packed with ponies to move to a non-pony country?

It is hot and dry out here in le Gers. The last significant rain was two months ago and if the last couple of years are anything to go by it might not rain for another month or two. Here the herd is moving down to the Yukon River paddock. Tom, our neighbor, has seededContinueContinue reading “Summer grazing happened so fast”

All the old vineyards are now seeded to pasture but this is the first time the herd has been on this one: Costanza, by the road. Given the extended hot and dry spell we are in the lucerne and dactyle are doing very well. Visitors to the farm tell me to cut it for hayContinueContinue reading “Herd on the grapevine, this time by the road”

A year ago I wrote a little essay on building up fertility in our pastures and how this leads to more legumes. Here is Emerson again this year, about a month later in the season. The yellow flowers are birdsfoot trefoil, the pink is red clover and the long dandelion-like leaves are chicory. Here’s aContinueContinue reading “Raise the fertility and good things start showing up”

Time to wash the retriever. She gets a treat afterwards. Lucy helps with some wiring. Apparently the hat is important. The herd moves from Yukon river paddock to Detroit. With the help of Gary the neighbour. With all the spring rain our grass paddocks are still giving lots of good food into summer.

The lucerne in the Vila paddock is doing well. This plant has buds, or as the French say, boutons [buttons]. The orchard grass that was plentiful at the time of the first grazing is far more subdued in the summer heat, but there’s still a seed head or two out there with the occasional otherContinueContinue reading “You picked a fine time to eat my lucerne”

The herd is down at the little pond between Nebraska and Yukon. (Yes, our geography is ‘creative’.) It’s all heifers and steers in there. Blur has a song about looking for heifers who want steers who like steers to be heifers, or something like that: The grass out there is pretty good given that thisContinueContinue reading “Meanwhile, down at the pond”

Inspecting the dried hay with the barn cat. Driving the tractor requires concentration. Testing the windrows to make sure you can jump over them. Watching Didier make the bales. The cleaned pasture is smooth enough for cartwheels. Testing the suitability of the finished bale for climbing. Good work there, Lulu.

A: They’re all on our latest page of links. Kate Hill of Kitchen at Camont is featured in the latest Condé Nast Traveler in an article on Gascony. Gascony is very much a foodie heaven and Kate is part of that. And more local foodie news as Anneli Faiers of Delicieux won the BritMom BrillianceContinueContinue reading “What do Condé Nast, BritMom, Cotswold Seeds and Steers have in common?”