Spent yesterday morning out in the forest with Jean-Pierre clearing the ground and preparing the hides for the hunt, we finished off by collecting some cepes (large brown wild mushrooms also called boletes) the ground is covered with them at this time of year. If you want to find them you normally have to get out early in the morning as most of the villagers are partial to a cepe or 10, and it can often get quite busy out there at this time of year, they’re quite pricy at the market so if anyone can find them for free then they’re on to a winner.
Walnuts and sweet chestnuts as well (although it’s a bit early yet), we normally have thousands of them, we hang them up to dry in one of the outhouses in large wire mesh containers, they have to be wire mesh as the red squirrels and glis-glis will try and steal them, they’re usually dry and ready to eat by Christmas, then there’s all the blackberries, Suzette, John-Pierres’ wife makes potloads of homemade jams that we serve at the breakfast table, there’s always enough to last all year, and not forgetting her nearly famous pork, cepe and walnut pate which always goes down a treat.

When we first arrived here I hadn’t a clue as to which mushroom to pick, but I seem to be getting the idea slowly as we havn’t killed anybody…. yet ,
well not this year anyway, no,no my little joke ha ha.
Here in France we can take our bag of strange mushrooms and bizarre fungi along to the local chemist who is qualified to identify them, it’s a free service and if anybody dies as a result of eating the wrong one, its her fault, or at least I hope it is, there’s only a few that are considered ultra toxic the others are fine to eat if cooked in a certain way. Even though John-Pierre and Suzette say they are all ok, we do like to double check !!