The extended drought this summer, with four consecutive heatwaves one of the worst on record, leaving parched villages without safe drinking water and farmers panicking about lost crops and a looming milk shortage, has also left little hope of a decent walnut harvest at Les Pierres, where we house two large trees in the backyard that under normal circumstance produce enough fruit to last us throughout the forthcoming winter.
Indeed, so far there are few and they are tiny, but beholding their blessed beauty while collecting them in one of our prettier antique French ironstone bowls helps to keep any disappointment at bay.
