We try our hand at animal husbandry

20th – 28th June
The journey to Julie and Khaled’s was fairly uneventful and straightforward. The amazing thing was just before we reached the French border it was just like something out of the Wild West. It appeared that the whole place was full of French people, every car had a French number plate, and every few kilometres there was a restaurant with a supermarket attached which was basically a booze store. It was also the last place to get cheap petrol/diesel before France as it’s about 25p a litre cheaper in Spain, so the garages were full.

On our arrival in Canet we were given the usual full-on Shbib welcome and as I walked in the door a beer was thrust into my hand, very nice. It was then decided that it would probably be best to take our van around to the back of the house, where it would be fine, unless of course it rained heavily. In which case we will be here for some considerable time!

As Julie and Hannah were leaving in 2 days time it was obviously very important that we begin right away to learn about the eating habits of the various animals we were to be left in charge of. I say ‘we’ when really I mean me as the small one is very happy to remind me of the various feeding points and when to feed them but not to actually handle any of it. Her attempts to interact with them have met with mixed reactions. The dogs think she’s great and even although she does not continually throw things to be brought back, they will always be found lying around her reclining chair in the garden.

The cats do from time to time get a stroke but on the whole do not crave our company much. However the donkeys bless them are to say the least somewhat puzzled by her. This is because we have been shown how to stroke and pat them and they seem quite taken by us. An electric fence goes for miles around the property, (I mean miles!), so that they cannot wander off. An important portion of this fence is of course around their paddock which can be shortened by moving one arm of the fence, which is always live.

These poor defenceless creatures were delighted when Joan went up to them then suddenly I heard a cry, help I’ve been Pablo’d, poor Joan was stood there covered in dust all down one side where he had rubbed himself against her as a sign of affection. Later Pablo came over to be stroked, she was soo pleased with this that she leaned towards him, just as her hands start to stroke under his chin she makes contact with the electric fence! They both jump back in shock and it took sometime before she could convince him it was a mistake. Finally he and Poppy, the baby, came over to her and blow me if she didn’t do it again! They are now a little wary of her unless she is inside the fence.

I of course spend lots of time inside the fence feeding, locking in, letting out and of course removing the piles of poop. All the donkeys seem happy if a little cautious of me and my only problem is that Annie does keep sort of leaning on me and it is difficult to remain on ones feet. So here we are settled well into the farming life with cats, chickens, donkeys, Guinea pigs and birds first thing in the morning and the same in the evening plus the dogs and collecting the egg’s and watering the garden.

During the day our time is our own and we have visited a few places recommended by Julie, one was a Mediterranean garden which has been cut out in the side of the mountain. We arrived at lunch time and walked steeply uphill from the car park to a minute bistro with 4 tables, 1 chair either side in the street balanced precariously on a piece of decking. After a very pleasant meal and a carafe of chilled rose wine we set off again almost vertically up until we arrived at the entrance to the garden. To our surprise the lady who had been sitting next to Joan in the restaurant was waiting to sell us a ticket. Later we found out we could have come on a slightly easier route but it was much longer, we know because we came down that way. The garden itself is like all these things, a work in progress, but even if you were not interested in the garden, for the €5 entrance fee it was more than worth it for the incredible views in both directions along the river.

On Sunday we went to Narbonne market where we managed to buy four pairs of shoes, some underwear and a pair of sunglasses, none of which sadly fit me but Joan bless her has said she will wear them, what a trooper! We then went to Narbonne beach for an hour which we thought was a couple of miles from Narbonne but is actually 10 miles away? With the temperatures up in the 30’s we tend to spend our other time either sitting under the trees in the garden, staying inside which is nice and cool or out driving, thank God Julies car is air conditioned. Well that’s about all for now, it’s good to see Reena has put a nice meat curry on her recipe blog, it will go nicely with all this hot weather we are having at the moment.

Oh, and welcome home to Pam & Colin, hope the holiday was as good as it sounded on the phone.
Lots of love
Joan & Bryan
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