Happy French mothers day

Today is Mothers Day in France – when I collected Ruby from school on Thursday I asked what she had been doing and she said 'shhhh it’s a surprise for mothers day" and she was really excited.  The present the school had helped the kids make was a lovely photo frame decorated with items from the forest - a recent theme that they have all been working on for the last 6 months at school.  It must have taken some organisation for the school to prepare enough decorating material for all the kids at school to bring home a lovely gift.  

Yesterday morning we were just clearing up after breakfast when the phone rang 'are you ready for the 1/2 pig?' - A friend had taken a couple of our kune kune male pigs to fatten up and in return he said we could have half for our freezer.  He was planning on killing the pig a couple of weeks ago but it never happened, so yesterday unknown to us was D day.  My first thoughts were where to put the pig - with it being so hot I knew that there would be lots of flies and the chap who killed it said that we needed to lay it out flat as soon as possible so that the meat could rest flat - we did not have that space here!  Once again our neighbours came to the rescue and we laid the pig out in their barn under several old curtains to try and keep the flies away.  The kids came with me and saw me lift the pig from the cool bin onto the table - I want them to know where their food comes from and how it looks before it arrives to their plate.  We then left the pig to rest for 24 hours before getting it ready for the freezer.

Luckily our neighbour used to work in the meat industry and as with most rural French folk know how to butcher up most animals.  We had never done this before so Ben looked forward to learning.  As we laid the pig out we all commented on how much fat the pig had - for us too much fat.  We had expected this because the remaining piglet from the same litter is still in our field and half the size.  For us we thought that this was somewhat a waste to have this much fat on an animal…..  Ben finally got his hands on the saw and sharp knife and they set about getting the cuts ready for the freezer.  The kids enjoyed playing with the trotters and watching their dad at work and soon enough the cuts were bagged up and labelled and in the freezer.   A huge thank you to our neighbours!!!

     

            

 

 This afternoon we went to a nearby friend, who we have recently met at horse riding, they have two boys, one who is a few months older that Ruby and the other a few months younger than Rivan.  The kids played wonderfully together and enjoyed exploring a new garden with a brilliant home made "castle" with a slide.  We all took our first dip in their new pool - Ruby wanted to stay in longer and Rivan was quite happy climbing up and down the ladder - this is when mum needs a couple of extra hands!  The kids enjoyed their tea party and Ruby asked me to look out for cups and saucers and a tea pot for her when we next go to a brocante - noted!  

                

 

 

 

 

Ben joined us for dinner - a great lasagne - 'packed full of hidden vegetables' cooked by our host (thanks Corrie) and then washed down with mini chocolate cakes and strawberries from the garden.  Weary kids collapsed into bed with dirty feet and a smile on their face - a great mother’s day thank you

 

Comments

[minutepapillon]

Mothers' day went sort of uncelebrated here as the kids were off school from wednesday onwards.I thought they would pass on the whatever special something they had lovingly done the day after but no trace of anything so far... I might have to ask their teacher this afternooon "where are my mothers' day presents?" They didn't really know it was mothers' day either and no one had trained them to know so . I just mentionned it but that was far as i could reasonably go. Next year...
Love the slide castle. Wish I had a handy man.