Tuesday 12 July 2011

Weather May-June 2011


The drought continued. The hay crop was only 9 inches high.  There is a request for anyone with a hay field going to waste to help out the farmers. There are quite a few English, Dutch and Belgian  owners who do not use their fields.  Of course they just revert to woodland.  We allow the hay on our fields to be taken by our neighbouring farmer.   It keeps our view open and we get a good variety of pasture flowers.  The hay was cut just into July and yielded less than three bales.  Last year there were 13 bales.
The orchids this year were almost non-existent, because of the drought.
The rainwater cistern of 42 cubic metres capacity is almost dry.  We have not been able to water the plants since mid June.  Since my daughter Rachel is growing cut flowers for sale, this is a serious matter.
During the first week of May we had the 'Vent d'Autan'.  This is a powerful wind from the South East, rather like the Mistral in Provence.  Fortunately it is not a frequent occurrence (unlike the Mistral, which can spoil any holiday in Provence!). It can be caused either by cyclonic conditions over Spain or anticyclonic weather over mid France. The wind is funnelled from Narbonne to Toulouse and then up through the departément of the Lot.
A hare seems to have made itself at home near to the house.  If one approaches, it hunkers down and pretends that you cannot see it.  If you get about six feet away it then takes off.