Update

November 2nd....

Finally the lovely, warm weather is receding and the wet begins...we have had a fantastic summer/autumn so no complaints. I am looking forward to some real cold weather not only to test the renovations but also to kill off some of the less desirables...one in particular being the Asian hornet, similiar in size to the 'native' one here yet much more aggresive. I found a couple cleaning up one of my hives this week, I think the hive had already been robbed by another colony yet these hornets have the ability to do alot of damage in small numbers...

Time to manure the raised beds and cover them with straw before the real winter arrives, ditto with the polytunnel although I shall need to plan out the beds in there in readiness for the new year. Also am looking to collect as much dead leaf as possible to put in a clamp for next year.

We now have three black sheep, brothers born this year and left entire so not wanted but their owner...we shall keep one and hopefully exchange the other two for young ewes, thus starting the flock! Home killing of sheep is still permitted here so this will be a great way of ensuring we have our own meat...in addition to our meat birds that will be ready for Christmas I think.

We have had a variety of harvestable foods yet it is obvious to us that it will take sometime and a lot of work to get the soils replenished and techinques right to reduce the slugs, catepillars etc! Amazingly, the rasberries are still going (only just) which gives some indication of just how warm it has been here. However, the wet weather that is due to arrive will mean that I can focus on the many indoor jobs that await...

Kids are back to school in the morning having had a 10 holiday (it felt they had only just gone back!?) so hopefully I can have this kitchen finished (before Christmas (2011 that is)). Sadly, no such progress can be reported on my ability to speak French, maybe I shall discover some latent gift soon...(sounding alittle like a Tui ad)...

R

Kitchen...

Kitchen floor is ready. We're just waiting for the new stove to arrive and then the kitchen bench can be moved in. How exciting!

Visitors

This morning our last guests have left. Now a few days just us, and then Sian will be here, and in September one more couple from Holland and then the summer will slowly come to an end. I believe most of our visitors have had a great time and they've also made us and the kids have a lovely summer!

We've seen Sonja and Brett with their little Raul. The kids clearly remembered each other and picked up their play where they'd left it a year ago. Then Mels came to stay for a few nights. She missed her plane back to England so she ended up staying a little while longer.

Then we had Hein and Jannemieke with their two girls, and another collegue Tibor with Wendy and little one Twink called in for the day. At the end of the day Charlie and Twink were running hand in hand on the market, looking like cute little dutchies. All the girls had pony lessons that they'll probably always remember (helped by photos) like I remember my first ride ever on a black Shetland pony just like Trefine.

We've had a Canadian and a German family that have seen all the sights. After them three families with children that all stayed for two weeks and that have played endlessly here on the farm with Charlie and Lola with bikes, in the hay shed, building things, collecting snails and grubs, and creating fairy castles in the trees.

Clare, Gordon, Rebecca, Oliver, Sabine, Sarah, Steve, Jill, Rebecca, James, all lovely parents and great kids.

And last but not least the 'Witches of Eastwick' called in: Bianca with husband Wayne and mum and sister. Bianca and mum are into (animal) healing, Reiki and crystals and have helped Scooter (who has again a broken leg...) and Toby who had a sore paw. Such great people, we were very sad to see every one of you go.

But it will also be nice to have our own quiet space back, and get some more stuff done like work, building, gardening, dogs, horses...

Apart form all the staying visitors we've also had loads of people call in: A surprise visit from my cousins, and of course our local visitors Lisa, Christina with her mum, daughter and grandson Maxwell, Simon and Eddy, Steve and Erin. And Tom and Isabel of the mill next door with their four kids. Never a dull moment in Kervelen!

Some photo's:

Been awhile..

Yes indeed, along time since I sat here to write something, maybe before I went to Wales to say hello to Jon and Meryl or so...the truth is I do not find this an easy media, it feels to exposed to be a diary of thoughts yet uneventful enough not to be a diary of activity...

However, here we are, bright summers' day 18 months into our French experience...I think I am still adjusting!! It's as if we came on a big holiday and have decided to stay. In part, this maybe a classic response to something that is 'foreign' to our systems (not unable to speak the language being an effective agent for this)...so it is difficult to fit in, find a place etc. That being the case I guess another year and afew more phrases may make the difference!!

Very close to laying the wooden floor in the new kitchen and so this will bring to a close the messy, dusty side of the job and the focus to move the kitchen...for now we intend to move the old units etc. in by cutting them up to fit and for Pearce to come and Morrocan plaster the bench surface...sounds good to me...

With all the focus and energies poured into the house the outside, gardens etc. have suffered abit...so next year I am determined to reverse the trend...first up is a polytunnel so I can get going alot earlier in addition to growing many things that do not go well outside...then I need to rebuild the raised beds and extend the overal size. This week I have actually sent my application in for organic certification with Nature & Progress...no doubt my Google translate assisted form will give them a laugh but no doubt it should get the ball rolling....if we can achieve this it may go some way to feeling more stable...

Meanwhile back at the ranch, another sunny day, Monday morning, Heleen back from the Netherlands, C&L firing on all cylinders awaiting their porridge, maybe a long walk in the woods....all's well..

R

New rooms

Wow, I can hardly believe it but... we have slept in our new rooms! Kids in real big beds on legs in their own room with all their toys upstairs. And Rod and me finally just the two of us in our beautiful new room with a view on the apple trees.

Spectacle!

Fridaynight was the end-of-the-year spectacle of the school. The kids showed what they've worked on in their music and dance class. We were very impressed!

The teachers have done an amazing job teaching the kids beautiful dance and yoga moves and even choreography on interesting minimalist music. It was great to see that Charlie and Lola are getting it and actively participating. Lola has amazing balance!

Charlie and Lola are 5!!

Charlie and Lola are 5 years old! What a big lovely kids! They had a lot of friends over for their birthday party. We had cake with lovely sprinkles Roms sent us, and pizza. It's so good to see them having fun with their french schoolmates. In the mean time they just love going to school.

Lola and Charlie want to say THANK YOU to everybody that sent them nice presents!

Hay

Hay has been baled: 75 bales, what a lot of hay!.
It was trying to rain yesterday, but no luck...

Dry

We can't remember the last time it rained. The verge garden looks dusty and nothing is growing much. The few leaves that have grown are being eaten by caterpillars and slugs. The farmers must be getting pretty deperate but no cloud in sight for the next ten days.

The weather is lovely, but scary!

Work on future office...

Charlie

Happy (f)easter

Happy easter everyone! The kids have been creative in school making chickens out of camambert boxes, filled with chocolate eggs. And at home Lola and me have done some old fashioned egg painting.

Tom and Isabel (the neighbours of the mill) have been staying here with their four kids. The kids have had a great time, making treasure maps, splashing in the river, doing egg hunts and endless bouncing on the trampoline. Unfortunately british and french easter holidays are not held at the same time. Charlie misses them very much!

Buziness...

Long time no blog! I do see that if I am not prepared to write something each day the connection is broken..however, here I am with some bee news in this endless blue sky spring of ours...perhaps one of the up sides of global warming...

One sunny afternoon a couple of weeks ago myself and Steve (a friend down the road who once belonged to a bee group! further toward the hive than I me thinks!!) decided it was time to have a look inside the hive I had bought in the winter. Suitably suited up (thank God as it happens), complete with smoker and keen interest we set off. On the stroll over, Steve suggested we would have a look for the queen, check out their honey supply and generally see how things are but not to stay for more than 15 mintues, great.

We arrived, blew a little smoke across the opening before removing the roof...it quickly became apparent to me that this was not like the books I had read..."working with your bees will be peaceful and enjoyable..."meditative.." hah, thay had not counted on these girls, they were pissed, instantly!! not having stood very often by an open hive in a full suit I had little history to guage how things were..Steve however was quite quickly suggesting things were not okay, we should put this back together and go back, these bees are really aggressive to.. lets go now!....the little buggers were bouncing off the veil enragedly desperate to kill me, having got the lid back on some were still at us after a 1km of walking away...hmmm, maybe they were zenophobic?

To cut a long and sometimes painful (on the second visit..yes I have been back!?) one managed to sting me through my leather gloves...I have managed to extract (last years) honey, about 7kg left and today a lovely chap Thierrie (as in Henri) who has 450 hives called in to have a look...the prognosis being they are definitely nasty but with some manipulation of the monarchy (killing the old bag and putting in a sweet hearted beauty) we can turn things around..phew..

Inspite of all this I find the whole thing quite fascinating and am keen to build up to at least three hives by winter...honey is popular and will go well alongside my other bits and pieces on the markets...

Since finishing the roof in March we have not seen rain! Each days is in the mid 20s and apart from the obvious need of rain for the grass etc. it has been a lovely time.
Kids have just began their 2 week easter break yet love their school in Collorec so I suspect before long will go all day.

No real breakthrough, insight into the French system and so we are left with the frustrations of not knowing if we can find a way to be fully certified etc. little wonder France struggles to balance the books, I have yet to meet any French who understand their own systems (at all)...c'est bizare...

R

Lovely days

Spring has been amazingly warm and lovely so far. Lots of spring flowers and great temperature to do a lot of weeding and tidying up outside. Pony Trefine is doing great and is very sweet with the kids. With the much longer days (how did that happen so quickly?) I also have more time to do stuff with the horses.

At the moment we have my dear old friend Anita staying over. So nice after all these years to just chat (and do a little bit of weeding and walking) and have some time to catch up and to find out we have hardly changed at all. So funny my kids are now her kids age when we last saw each other, and now her oldest has already left home!

The renovations are making steady progress: The kids bedroom is all insulated and gibbed. Downstairs Rod and Simon have poored the concrete floor.

Good news: Today we saw Scooter sitting down, and standing on his leg for a few steps. Marley caught a hare today so they both had an extra special dinner to celebrate Scooter's little steps forward on the road to recovery.

Spring

Days lengthen as we pull away from what really has been a long, difficult winter...various illness, long, wet days and of course the 'silence of the lamb' episode(s)...the most curious aspect of the whole business being that the chap who shot scooter actually tried to put the rifle up his bum!? if this is not a homoerotic gesture then...(which does fit with him...yet such a punishing thing to do..rage, rage)..

Anyhow, here we are starting to sense the sun is warming, the days longer and the grey,wet mist receding...with the roof finished it is time to start the inside..yet, it is also time to attend to the gardens...onions are in, garlic up and going (from October), strawberries beginning to shoot as are the rasberries, casis and blueberries. I have planted a 50m double row of willow for coppice and whips as well as three varieties of hops as a trial. My bees have woken up so soon I shall have a look under the lid to see how they are. No glasshouse yet so I need to build some single bed cloches for this year..

Huge amount of work left to do before the second half of the house is ready but I do feel that completing the roof is a big step..sadly my back has given up for the last week so it has been enforced rest for awhile...

Watched Wales score a somewhat dubious win over Ireland, here's hoping the ABs do the business in October...

All this against the backdrop of Japan, with thousands of people presumed dead, towns wiped out and peoples lives devastated..with this in mind, life is pretty good here in rural France! lessons are back on and so the bilingual goal is still alive!!...

R

The roof is finished!

The roof is finished, spring has arrived, it's a school holiday, and Scooter is doing fairly ok. So I must say, things are good here.

Black dog day

It's been a week ago already. Both Rod and me weren't paying attention to the dogs. Too sick, too much going on. The buckle of the rope Marley was supposed to be tied on was faulty. Marley and Scooter went of for a run.

An hour later Martin came by in his car. That he'd shot the dogs because they'd killed a sheep. That the gendarmerie was there and were going to put them both down. That Scooter had a broken leg. That Marley was ok. I was in shock. Rod jumped in the car.

When he went there the maire was there but no gendarmerie. The dogs were alive in a stable. Rod endured a half hour tirade, then they had a coffee and Rod and the dogs came home.

Scooter's leg was all floppy. I took him to the vet. An x-ray showed his feamur was in bits and pieces. Another vet could operate on him the next day.

After a 4 hour surgery the vet had pieced his leg back together. When I picked him up on Saturday Scoot was a miserable little pile of dog.

I've been on the verge of tears all week, but today both Scooter and me are feeling a little bit brighter. He sleeps most of the day and lies in the sun in the afternoon. He is on loads of antibiotics and has a foot long zip on his thigh.

I'm sorry about the sheep, but I find the damage done to the dog out of proportion. Expensice too. Looking at the x-ray the dog have been shot at very close range. The guy could have grabbed him by his collar.

Everybody we know has heard about the sheep incident. It's probably the most exciting thing that has been going on for quite some time. I'm really tired. I wish my life was boring too, but it just never seems to get there.

The first year...

Well, Friday saw the first year mark come and go...a year in Kervelen, much has changed for us over the year...from the shakey beginnings last February of the 'delightfully' dishonest karen & pete, the biting cold (compared to the NZ summer), the mountain of works and ofcourse the language... to the beginnings of feeling that we have arrived. Sure, there are many things here that still need to be fixed but with C&L happy at school, all the lovely people we have come to know, a tentative sense of language (I did say tentative) and generally an easing of that manicness that seemed to charactise 2010 for us... I do think that 2011 will be a far easier and enjoyable year for us..

Simon, my old mate from NZ is here at the moment, great to catch up after so long and also to have the help on the roof! Slating is a slow old business, especially compared to zinc sheeting of NZ but once done it will be great and we can move in next door so I can then look at the half of the house we now are in(!)...it appears pete cement rendered the interior walls which is a no no as it prevents the thick stone walls from breathing. The overal effect is one of trapped moisture and mold, so I shall have to take it off in some place and replace it with lime render(at least my rendering skills will be pretty good by the end)...

I am looking at the old practice of putting a layer of glass bottles in the cement floor (under the new kitchen's wooden floor). The bottles provide an insulative layer between the cold sub floor and the floor by holding a warmer temperature in the air pocket of the bottle(s)..seems like a great use of all my empties!! This was used alot before the more modern, easier to implement alternatives came in but quite an effective option if you have the time and bottles..

Sadly, poor old Charlie is still sick and now Heleen is down again...I only hope this is an ajudgement period for us or we will be heading South soon!!

The days are slowly gaining length and so from here on we should see some more warmth and sun, well that is the theory anyway..I have yet to start my glasshouse so I sense another year of cloches and blight. Already have my onions in (garlic was put in in October last year) with lots of seeds currently on the kitchen windowsill. It may takes us another year before we get to a place of satisfaction re growing etc...I have cut lots of wood for next winter, mainly coppice and pruning so no harm done...have collected a big bundle of willow whips today from Hilka so I can plant a living hedge/wood supply along the raised beds..it will be aprox 60m long and two staggered rows of willow...over time this will supply shelter, wood and whips (to sell) not to mention a lovely living piece of visual art...

I must go and put the horses out, feed the dogs and lock up the chickens as everyone else is asleep...hugely looking forward to those warm, summer days (and a finished house!!) and a more enjoyable second year...

R

Thanking the Gods....

Sitting here with a glass of red and a pack of crisps as a minor celebration of surviving my roof fall! At the end of a long day I grabbed a stud that had not been nailed and fell backwards onto the ground, amazingly not even with a sore back...by all accounts I just rolled with and jumped back onto my feet!! The various alternatives don't bear thinking about so this evening I am quietly thankful...
We are making good progress and hopefully will be ready to start slating tomorrow, we are dodging the showers etc. but all in all the weather has been kind (so far!).

The intensity and sheer hard work is quiet draining but with the goal of being able to then finish the new kitchen/kids bedroom etc. is spuring me on. I know I have said this before(!) but I am looking forward to having the house finished as the other projects are all outside and therefore do not hold the same urgency.
Needless to say alot of other things are on hold, my French lessons (:((...:))!), Huelgoat market (so I go to Carhaix on Saturday) and the other bits and bobs, however, when that last slate goes on I shall breath a sigh...

I really need to get into pruning now, the fruit trees, shrubs etc. it is so warm I think things will begin to bud. I presume we shall have more cold weather but since the new year it has been lovely.
Continue to meet lovely people, Giles, Elena and William were here for a fortnight in the farmhouse gite, I have visited the circus people down in Le Coty (to borrow a tarp) for a (bleary) evening and a few more locals, we are slowly building a network. Next week will be our first year anniversary (February 18th we arrived), feels we have achieved alot in the first year yet it will take the next to be able to remove the shanty feeling we inherited...

I will finish here as I am aware this reads like a shopping list! and I need to stick my sore fingers in a big pot of cream!

R

Progress

Such nice weather for early February!

Beaucoup de travail

On the chilly but sunny last day of January we were brave enough to take the old roof of. The weather forcast is not too bad but now in the evening it's all wrapped up in plastic and canvas, so hopefully it will all stay dry underneath.

No doubt it will be great once it's finished. The old roof was made of sheets of asbestos, not insulated and not even closed at some places, so really chilly and full of animals like rats and weazels! brrrr! We're looking forward to a cozy and warm kids bedroom (and having are own bedroom!). It won't be hugely big, but snug. And ofcourse on the outside it will look much better with just slate.
We're very happy we're getting some help from Barry and are looking forward to an extra pair of hands when Simon comes.

Wish us luck!

Freezing again

It is so cold again! A blistering easterly is blowing and my lips are cracking... We have lovely guests in the farmhouse with a 3 year old boy that brought his train set so Charlie and Lola are enjoying their day off playing with their little friend. Rod is at the market in 6 layers of clothes...

Rod has arranged to start the new roof on Tuesday. I'm a bit nervous about it. It won't be raining when it's this cold, so that's one thing less to worry about, but I can't imagine sitting on a roof when it feels like its -15...

Poor chicken

A nice break in the winter weather has inspired us to clear a some of banks around the house. They were all overgrown with thick brambel and hawthorn and horrible prickly holly.

After cutting and weedeating we've fenced the area of to let the chickens do some more good work to the ground. Unfortunately the nestingbox fell over while moving the coop. Two instantly dead chickens. Also after their death they're made to good use. Although the next one will go in the slow cooker, she was just a bit on the tough side. Lola eats anything, but here favorite food is... bones!

School update

Charlie had a bit of a fever on Tuesday but brave Lola decided to go to school all day, staying over for lunch and music in the afternoon. Poor Lo has been crying most of the afternoon thinking she'd stay in school forever... On the bright side she also told that the teacher have been very very very nice to her.

It's Thursday now and they're both coughing and sniffing and not feeling well. Although... since we rang school to tell them C&L will stay at home I haven't heard one cough!?

School report

A quick update... All going well at Collorec!! C&L have had their first week and seem to really like it, Lola is really keen to go full time! (the older kids seem to be quite sweet and caring of the little ones, nice thought)..Friday they stayed for lunch and I turned up to go to the pool on the bus... all the little ones chatting away and me just smiling and nodding, they probably went home and spoke of this curious chap on the bus who did not say anything!! Tuesdays is music/drama so this will be another full day, so two mornings and to full days sound like a good start for all of us.

The teacher wants me to take a water test next Friday so I can get in the water to help...could be hilarious, she knows my French is very limited, jumping in the deep end..LOL..

A big relief for Heleen and I, we shall have to pray the Marie is not too vengeful!

2011...Here's hoping!

I imagine this is typical Brittany weather, about 10 degrees, light around 9am and very wet! Infact, this reminds me of West Wales, all those camping holidays..driving there, putting up the tent, sitting there and packing up in the rain (that and camp coffee and smash..boy what fond memories!!)

The great news for 2011 is that Charlie and Lola have started in Collorec school and so far love it...the teacher does not shout and they seem to do more age appropriate activities and less of the rigid, 'in the lines' stuff...phew...a big relief for all around as the cabin fever was building fast.

Have found my old mate Simon and he is heading up here in a month or so, it will be great to see him as well as being perfect timing as I am aiming to rip the roof off then and who better to have here than the old roofer himself. No doubt there will be a few roof shouts along the way. I have stripped the old plaster board and rat shit filled insulation of the old roof so we shall get stuck in very soon...

Chickens are still laying around 40 eggs a day so the markets are still a must each week, bleak afairs in such weather yet the people do still venture out, especially in Carhaix where I could often sell many more if I had them.

I am ready for the bees having found a space far enough away from the chemical farming neighbours yet not too close to be hassled or hassling. I shall go over to Duncan's this week to pick them up and beginning the lessons! I often get asked if I have Honey on the market so I do think it will sell well, I don't know if will come under our organic certification (when we get it!)..it is never that clear here.

January is the month for cutting firewood for the next few winters, I have started already by coppicing various woods by the river and dropping a few trees that were on their way out. I reckon I shall be able to have at least two years worth by tidying up the hedgrows and thinning out some coppice clumps. There are some old oak trees overhanging the big barn and I need to trim the boughs that are damaging the roof, a helicopter would be handy but I think I shall use Simon instead!


Ah well, I shall sign off and make some biscuits for the kids in between batches of jam (Casis and Frambois) for the market tomorrow...