saturday on the farm
That painful muscle tear in my chest is back, and this time it's on both sides of my chest, right on my ribcage. It hurts pretty bad when I lie down flat, and I have no idea how I'd ever fall asleep at night except that the good doctor gave me some codeine pills the last round and that knocks me out for the night. I sound like I have the plague, the way I cough.
The kids seem to be on the mend. I hope they manage to stay healthy till the month is out - I know February is almost over but the last time Bao had an ear infection, she recovered for about three days before getting sick again. She actually has a vaccination due on Wednesday but I'm going to see if I can postpone it because she's still not entirely well and every time we walk into the doctor's office we seem to walk out with more bugs than we started with.
We had some nice weather in the morning today and J saw in the papers that one of the farms nearby (right next door to The Bun's school, actually) was having an open day so we decided to pop by. We've only driven past it and the butchery fronts the main road so it never occurred to us that there was a farm behind it.
After we parked we stood in an empty carpark, slightly confused and wondering where everyone else was. For an event featured in the local newspapers there was no one around. Eventually we wandered towards the back lane, following the sound of the cows mooing, and finally the huge farmyard came into view. We were just in time to join the small group tour led by Alexis Bidaux, one of the sons who runs the family farm. The cattle (Black Angus, I think) had been brought in from pasture so that everyone could take a close look at them, and they were robust-looking animals, lowing loudly and watching the crowd keenly.
The Bun enjoyed fiddling around with the haystacks and trying to jump in muddy puddles, and Bao stared at the cattle with wide eyes. Someone pointed out a tiny calf, almost hidden at the back, lying down with its mother. I've seen live cattle before, but not Angus cattle, and these were really good-looking creatures.
Alexis then led everyone to the barn where the ewes and lambs were. I'm a city girl through and through, but… aren't lambs are born in spring? If I see all these leggy bleating lambs bouncing around, that must mean spring is coming, right? Can you tell I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring? The weather has been so mild lately that when it's sunny it's almost easy to believe that winter is over and we can look forward to better weather. But I've been warned by pundits that La Bise can suddenly decide to play tricks and bring sleet and hail in April, so I shouldn't speak too soon.
Anyway, some of the lambs we saw had been born only on Wednesday, if I heard Alexis carefully. They were tiny and wobbly and not very fluffy at all. The older lambs though, were very cute and it made me have (tiny) second thoughts about enjoying roast lamb and the like.
Ewes and lambs in the barn.
The farm, Viande du Pré Vert, is a family-run business and it specialises in beef, lamb and mutton as well as other products from the region like honey, cider and wines. Its operating model is distinctive because there is no middleman involved in their trade - they own and manage the livestock, slaughterhouse, and the butchery, so you know for sure that the meat you purchase comes directly from the farm. We even got to tour the small abattoir and the back room of the butchery where Alexis and his father Michel showed us how each animal enters the room and is 'processed'. Rather sobering and a little difficult to explain to The Bun, who, incidentally, loves eating lamb.
Walking through the abattoir, though, did not put J off buying two nice entrecôte steaks for dinner tonight. They cost about CHF18 (S$25), which is really not too bad for Angus beef direct from the farm, and they were tender and tasty. The Bun, who is normally not much of a meat eater, even ate a fair bit of my steak (I had served him and Bao chicken instead) so perhaps that's the most telling part. All this time driving back and forth from school and we didn't realise we had a decent butcher nearby. Now that we know, I guess it'll be easy for us to pick up something nice for dinner next time, during the school run.
The kids seem to be on the mend. I hope they manage to stay healthy till the month is out - I know February is almost over but the last time Bao had an ear infection, she recovered for about three days before getting sick again. She actually has a vaccination due on Wednesday but I'm going to see if I can postpone it because she's still not entirely well and every time we walk into the doctor's office we seem to walk out with more bugs than we started with.
We had some nice weather in the morning today and J saw in the papers that one of the farms nearby (right next door to The Bun's school, actually) was having an open day so we decided to pop by. We've only driven past it and the butchery fronts the main road so it never occurred to us that there was a farm behind it.
After we parked we stood in an empty carpark, slightly confused and wondering where everyone else was. For an event featured in the local newspapers there was no one around. Eventually we wandered towards the back lane, following the sound of the cows mooing, and finally the huge farmyard came into view. We were just in time to join the small group tour led by Alexis Bidaux, one of the sons who runs the family farm. The cattle (Black Angus, I think) had been brought in from pasture so that everyone could take a close look at them, and they were robust-looking animals, lowing loudly and watching the crowd keenly.
The Bun enjoyed fiddling around with the haystacks and trying to jump in muddy puddles, and Bao stared at the cattle with wide eyes. Someone pointed out a tiny calf, almost hidden at the back, lying down with its mother. I've seen live cattle before, but not Angus cattle, and these were really good-looking creatures.
Alexis then led everyone to the barn where the ewes and lambs were. I'm a city girl through and through, but… aren't lambs are born in spring? If I see all these leggy bleating lambs bouncing around, that must mean spring is coming, right? Can you tell I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring? The weather has been so mild lately that when it's sunny it's almost easy to believe that winter is over and we can look forward to better weather. But I've been warned by pundits that La Bise can suddenly decide to play tricks and bring sleet and hail in April, so I shouldn't speak too soon.
Anyway, some of the lambs we saw had been born only on Wednesday, if I heard Alexis carefully. They were tiny and wobbly and not very fluffy at all. The older lambs though, were very cute and it made me have (tiny) second thoughts about enjoying roast lamb and the like.
Ewes and lambs in the barn.
The farm, Viande du Pré Vert, is a family-run business and it specialises in beef, lamb and mutton as well as other products from the region like honey, cider and wines. Its operating model is distinctive because there is no middleman involved in their trade - they own and manage the livestock, slaughterhouse, and the butchery, so you know for sure that the meat you purchase comes directly from the farm. We even got to tour the small abattoir and the back room of the butchery where Alexis and his father Michel showed us how each animal enters the room and is 'processed'. Rather sobering and a little difficult to explain to The Bun, who, incidentally, loves eating lamb.
Walking through the abattoir, though, did not put J off buying two nice entrecôte steaks for dinner tonight. They cost about CHF18 (S$25), which is really not too bad for Angus beef direct from the farm, and they were tender and tasty. The Bun, who is normally not much of a meat eater, even ate a fair bit of my steak (I had served him and Bao chicken instead) so perhaps that's the most telling part. All this time driving back and forth from school and we didn't realise we had a decent butcher nearby. Now that we know, I guess it'll be easy for us to pick up something nice for dinner next time, during the school run.