Slow Living Essentials Monthly 9 - May 2014

Linking-up with Christine for Slow Living Essentials Monthly 9

My mothers-day gift - tray - and card from Tino

{NOURISH}
Finally got around to making Kefir! - much like making yoghurt really - that no-body apart from myself wants to drink!  Richard and the boys all got horribly sick this month, with the three of them needing antibiotics. However, the nasty bugs and germs left me well alone - perhaps it was the Kefir?

tastes better with a drop of elderberry syrup mixed in

{PREPARE}
Another first for me - Kimchi - using Evi's recipe.  It smelt fantastic when I first stared 'bashing' up all the ingredients, but after a while the odor started to turn on me.  Not sure I bashed for long enough as I didn't have much liquid.  Turns out in the end I didn't like it - just tasted like salt to me.

{CREATE}
I want to showcase a few of Rémi's little woodwork gems this month.  I'm so impressed with the way he transforms his ideas into real objects and by his competence in using electric tools!!!

{GROW}
The garden is well underway, there are still a few seedlings in the cold frame but everything else is in the ground.  Despite waiting until after the passing of the Ice Saints (11, 12 & 13 May), after which the garden is meant to be safe from frost, we lost all of our corn on the particularly chilly night of the 15th!!!!

{GREEN}
Now I'm sure slugs have their place in the grand garden scheme of things, but I just wish they'd find their place in some other garden!  For things that move so slow they certainly eat fast!  So far I've tried wood ashes, wood chips, ground coffee, crushed egg shells and saucers of beer (which they drown in),  thing is, apparently they like a little tipple AFTER eating!  In all honesty if I didn't have kids, chickens and a dog running around the place I think I'd bring out the poison!  A neighbor told me that ducks are very good at keeping the slug population down so I'm working on Richard - he's saying NO NO but the other morning I found him 'googling' ponds!!!  Another friend suggested copper tape but as we don't have raised beds I'm not sure how I would put it in place.

{REDUCE}
The local council had a promo day in each village where they were selling compost bins for 15€.  We've always had a compost heap but now we have a bin, which looks a lot neater.  In the winter I think I will continue to use the heap as we have a lot of deer that come to eat during the long cold snowy months.

{DISCOVER}
Quite by accident, whilst out walking with Ringo, I happened upon the remains of the old ice shoot, which was used at the beginning of the century to convey huge blocks of ice down from the Glacier des Bossons to the village below.  The blocks were then loaded on to horse and cart, by amongst others, Richard's great-grandfather Léon, and transported to hotels as far away as Paris, where they were used to keep food fresh.  Amazingly the blocks lost only 20% of their initial size during the journey to the capital.

{ENHANCE}
The Chamonix valley is criss-crossed with many mountain biking trails but has no bike lane down at valley level.  I'm always weary of biking into town with the kids as some folks in cars don't seem to see us in their rush to get wherever they happen to be going at top speed!   The same group that organized the anti-pollution protest walk back in february, put together 'Velorutionn'air', this month for all those who wanted to show their support for the construction of a bike lane.  Rémi completed the ride into town with his cousin, but Tino and I had to turn back as his legs were tired and he need to rest them by climbing trees at the lake!!

{ENJOY}

Where did May go?  Don't know about you, but for me it just flew by!  We started the month with a lovely - short but very very sweet - visit from my oldest friend, Amy and her husband Andrew.  A while ago Andrew gifted me this fantastic drawing of a Chamois that he done especially for me. 

Mid-month we had friends over for Paella.  Tino prepared some delicious cocktails for the other kids, I'm sure he won't mind me sharing his recipe:

frost and chill 4 glasses

crush a chopped lime with 2 tbsp of brown sugar

divide between  glasses

half fill with pineapple juice

fill to top with sparkling mineral water

decorate with a strawberry on a stick

mint leaves

and

 two straws each!

And we ended the month with la fête des voisins.  All over France, neighbors (voisins) are encouraged to get together for a celebration of each other.  Our village society organized a pot luck dinner, a local orchestra provided the music and a great time was had by all!

How was your month of May?