Grindl

How do you keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen Par-ee?

Buy a tractor!

Francesco developed a small obsession about riding lawn mowers when we managed, a few years ago, to cajole a free two-week roost at a chateau in Burgundy by trading the mundane task of mowing the lawn for our board. (Dazzled by his skill the Dutch owners – not prone to generosity - repeated the offer a summer later. We ended up with the total of a month free board in France for practically nothing – ha, ha, ha…)

Since his chateau mowing days Francesco’s not been the same, and the first order of business here in Perigord was to shop for a mowing tractor to handle the hectare or so of grass around our two new houses.  (That’s about 2.5 acres for us American folks.)

An astounding 1,800 euros later ($2,600) we are now the proud owners of Grindl, our hardy Swedish-built Husqvarna LT151 – an orange rough, tough mowing machine that emits a roar the Valkyries would envy. We’ve also bought a pair of high-powered branch trimmers, hefty pruning shears, a sturdy rake, and are furthermore shopping for a weed whipper and a chain saw.

OMG. The next thing you know we really will be dressed in overalls and - pitchforks in hand – immortalized a la Grant Woods: French Gothic?

Other tasks these days involve cleaning and polishing various pieces of furniture that we’ve snatched from local ‘depots ventes’ (ie. used furniture shops) and flea markets.  We’ve replaced the 1930s kitchen suite that Madame Besse kindly left with more traditional pieces that we hope will enhance the 1800 vintage of La Placette Haute.

There’s a lovely old china cabinet (that looked totally forlorn when we bought it), a dry sink, and an armoire that we are using in the kitchen to store mops, brooms, and the vacuum cleaner. By using a liquid wood cleaning soap and steel wool, then extensive rubbing with expensive bee’s wax, the patina of each is now restored.

Francesco is more patient – and thus better – at cleaning and polishing so my job is to paint. I’ve started experimenting with color choices for the ‘well-worn’ doors, windows, and shutters. The honey tones of the local stone and plaster seem (to me) to call for bright, happy colors on the woodwork. We’re heading towards a buttermilk cream for the doors and windows and pale blue for the shutters.

So far I’ve managed only to dismount the kitchen door and paint it with the buttermilk concoction, and purchase what I hope is the correct shade of blue for the formerly crap-brown shutters.

What do you think?