My
Good
Life
in
France
I love autumn in France, particularly in my part of the country, the Seven Valleys in the far north.
This is a lush, verdant part of France, agricultural, forested and criss-crossed by streams and rivers. I love how the leaves on the trees change colour from the bright greens of summer to vibrant yellow and fiery red, and the hedgerows start to thin. Wild flowers put on a display of jewel like colours in the fields. Apples fall in the wind, the mornings are misty, the grass is glittery with dew.
Everyone seems to have a spring in their step as they return to work and school after their long summer holiday. It still never ceases to amaze me how many businesses close for summer here in France, even restaurants, just when you think they would be busiest!
In preparation for the winter my neighbours make jam and freeze boiled summer fruits and vegetables. They store produce from their gardens and fields, potatoes are hoarded in cellars, carrots stored in boxes of sand. Pumpkins start to be harvested and there is always a contest to see who grew the biggest in the village - one year a green fingered monsieur grew one so large no one could lift it and it had to be rolled into a tractor bucket to get it out of the garden. I bet they were eating pumpkin pie for months!
They're not the only ones preparing for winter. Wild pigs and deer, even eagles start foraging seriously, and my adopted hedgehogs - there are five of them that regularly feed at the back door, will start to eat more ready for hibernating.
It's a time for celebration of the harvest and every village will hold a party. Called a Ducasse or a Kermesse, the entire village is invited to join in with a meal, usually mussels and chips, accompanied by copious amounts of beer, wine or cider followed by dancing, often going on until the early hours of the morning. Even the dogs join in, howling at the surprising and unusual nocturnal noise in this normally tranquil countryside.
My ducks, geese and chickens like autumn too, especially when I chuck the fallen apples into the pen! My three dogs love to run in the cooler weather at this time of the year - the fields of sweet corn and wheat have been cut and they race down the neat lines, searching for the grouse and pheasant that are so plentiful.
Wishing you a Happy Autumn from me and my (gulp) 72 animals! xx