24 Jul Tales of Beatrix Potter, but not with Peter Rabbit !!!

Naughty Dicky Deer has been stealing from our garden patch !!!!  As a little girl I adored the Beatrix Potter stories of Peter Rabbit and reading about all his naughty escapades in Mr McGregors vegetable patch.  However, not too impressed now and totally understand how angry Mr McGregor used to get with all those naughty little rabbits when they stole from his garden.  Cheeky Dicky Deer, has found our garden patch.  Who incidently is also camping for free somewhere within Lacomté, along with walkers, who we keep seeing leaving along the bottom road in the morning, having stayed for free making use of all the facilities – another story for another time !!!!!  Naughty Dicky Deer realised very quickly if he grazes through the beautiful warm moon-light hours there is no one around to stop him ! Farmer Stuart is no where to be seen with that gun of his  !!!!!!!!  It appears, for the present moment anyway, that he only likes beetroot tops.  He has ravaged them,  eating the leaves and munching his way down through the stems, tugging out the beetroots from the ground at the same time as he enjoys his wonderful quiet calm moments of  gastronomic eating. We have caught him only once, it was such a surprise to see him there, we did not even get a photo.  He listens out for us now, especially as Stuart would rather he was in the freezer with the veg ! Not too impressed with him, so he had better watch out. The beets are still a bit under-grown,  but luckily he has not eaten them too.  So they are all mine for  creating  wonderful healthy summer juices and preparing fresh summer salads.  As the camping has been a lot quieter this year,  it has allowed us a little bit of time to look after the vegetables, so rewarding picking our own vegetables, something we normally never have time to do.  Now it is a busy time prepping them all for the freezer and of course serving “légumes de saison” freshly picked from the garden  in the restaurant. Wonderful !!!  It reminds me of my Father, he enjoyed creating a vegetable garden, he was always so successful.  I always had to pod the peas, I hated doing it at the time, but now it is a nostalgic memory for me, along with his wonderful gooseberry jam !   If you are reading this, and you or someone you know would like to come and join us for what is left of the season, give us a call.  Have a great weekend !