Autumn

Hiya

Well, here we are in September, the last of the tourists have headed home and we are left to prepare for winter... beautiful sunny days at the moment to assist in our wood collection, finishing off the harvest and then contemplating the rather large job of the redesigning the house!
I have had the Rayburn sandblasted and it is now resprayed (not a bad job for my first one) and this week I have been collecting large pieces of old, thick slate that will be our kitchen floor. Having searched and researched woodburners, decided to buy a British Hunter...this looked likely to cost the best part of €1,000...tomorrow I am picking up a 3 year old one after my market in Carhaix for €350...very nice indeed..
I have finished recladding one of the barns (pics to follow), will finish it off with stable doors and then the focus will be on the house. As to how much we can achieve before winter is the question, I am starting to feel alittle worn out and looking forward to a winter rest (a Tui ad I suspect!)
However, winter will be the time I shall get ready for my bees, have decided to buy a (French) traditional hive and build a top bar hive so I can see the difference. Mick (of Gambia fame) is briefly back and has both experience and preference re bee hives so there is plenty for me to digest. I am reading beekeeping for dummies right now which is a lovely broad stroke guide....
A big mention to a lovely Belgium couple, Linda and Thierry...they have introduced me into the fascinating world of Belgium beer...oh boy what stunning beer it is. Also rekindling my desire to own and be able(!) to ride an old Harley..lovely.
Charlie and Lola are back at school yet the teacher now wanting them to go fulltime, we both think they are too young so we shall have to wait and see if we can hold the line! I really can not see they need fulltime school this year, we are not obliged by law so if the school insists we shall find another in the area..
All in all life is good here in Kervelen, kids are happy, the land is fertile, we have met some lovely people..if only I could crack the speaking French part..lentement!

Harvest

The garden hasn't had as much attention and work as we'd like, but still we managed to get some good crops of potato, courgette, beetroot, tomato and one or two big pumpkins. Cooking is not my favorite thing, but cooking with my own produce I really like!

August is a great month for picking endless amounts of blackberries in the hedgerows. A very mixed pleasure to stick your arms into the very prickely maze of branches and get double stung by the blackberries BFF the stinging nettle. My hunt for blackberries has led me to hidden and overgrown places on our property I hadn't been before. It's like a jungle out there! Everything is buzzing, flowering and so alive! It's lovely and wild :-)

We're surprised by the amount of raspberries we can pick, day after day after day. And the french love their confiture framboise! Yesterday the yellow plums started to ripen. Soon the purple plums and apples will be ready.

August is usually a wet month they say. Well indeed it is pouring down and chilly. To wet for Rod to finish the work on the barn (it's already looking great) but he is doing up an old Rayburn stove and he can spraypaint it today under cover.

For me time to sit behind the computer and get ready for next holiday season. I've made a new folder, you can download it here. Please download and forward to everybody you think needs a nice Brittany holiday?

6 months later...

Indeed, we left NZ 6 months ago (seems alot further away than that) to discover a new challenge. I having the fantasy of taking a year out to settle in !!!!! here I sit, Friday evening feeling somewhat battered, toothache (August is the month of holidays for most!), sore wrist awaiting treatment (ditto) and tweaking back! Thankfully a soothing Bath ale beside me care of Rom, many thanks...
As you can see we are slowly knocking the place into shape with the focus being sealed and warm for the winter. Another legacy of Rom is the complete rethink of the layout downstairs, great to think we can design our own space and in the process delete some current things that just do not work... Tomorrow we are off to look at a Rayburn stove that is on offer for 150 euros, we have been warned it is "a horrible chocolate brown" yet works well. This will allow us to run radiators off it and of course cook if we want. Rayburns are very much become the heart of a house so we are sure we can cope with the colour!?
Still picking plenty of Rasberries, Heleen is busy on the blackberries and so the jams are coming thick and fast...coffee is beginning to sell on the markets although people seemingly buy it ground...I reckon much education is needed for them to see how good their coffee can be. The average cup of coffee served in the cafes is, at best, poor, surprising considering the reputation France carries, maybe in the bigger cities but not here...
Days are shorter now and so it is time to stack the wood and harvest the fruits of the land. Alot of grain grown around here, not in the huge expanses we see in the US etc. but I do have a sense the farmers here are wanting to expand as lines of trees disappear along their hedgerows. That it would appear symbolises the conflict here, on the one hand farmers are keen to maximise their output by cranking the land and we (and others) want the regrowth of a balanced, sustainable harvest...
Talking of which I am getting closer to bringing in the bees so this time next year I will have honey on the market, I have a sense this will be both a challenging and satisfying experience...

I must go and lock my chickens up before mr fox takes his chance (and find the panadol)...

R

Under construction...

Apart from lots of nice visitors, looking after kids, chickens and horses, going to the market and webdesign, Rod is also doing some building projects. We already had the plan to add some windows at the back and move and raise the front door. (Not easy with 70cm thick stone walls!) Then Rom came with the suggestion of changing everything around... She's obviously watched 'Grand Designs!'...

So where the bathroom is now will eventually be the kitchen and vice versa. In stead of two staircases we'll end up with just one so we can utilise more floorspace upstairs where we'll have two bedrooms eventually (after we've replaced the roof!). Downstairs a large living/kitchen area and separately a lounge.

In the mean time also the barn is under construction. Rod's put the entrance of the barn on the more sheltered road side and built a wall to keep the weather out on the windy and rainy side. In the masterplan all will be plastered, and also a tackroom is pending...

Anyway, hopefully the bigger gaps will be closed before autumn.
Days are getting shorter!

Some more photos to give you an idea, or come over and have a look yourself one day...

Gites...hellos n goodbyes...

Before our summer guests arrived we heard a variety of cautionary tales from (former) gites owners...stories of drunk guests, loud, difficult & many flavours in between so you can imagine our slight wariness heading toward our first summer. However, I am very glad to report that to date we have had/met some lovely people, today having to say goodbye to Sonya, Brett and Raul after their week here. Very heartening to meet good people in a world that the media tells us is so grim! It is a nice thought to have that some people will come again another year and thus continue the connection and watch the progress!

Have many ideas for improvements over the winter with the idea of developing a holiday home that really is a lovely experience....

In the meantime I am busy rebuilding one of the barns so it is dry and warm for the winter complete with tack room for Heleen and all the trimmings. Sadly my wrist seems to have packed up with classic symptoms of carpel nerve pressure and of course we have no cover yet! If you have had this you will know the worse part of the thing is that it is far worse at night and so my sleeping is very poor right now. So, I shall go and see a doctor next week to ascertain how much it will cost...bummer.

Yet to get anywhere near building my hives, stone raised beds or the second half of the house but if I can get a new wrist things will begin to happen. I notice the days are getting shorter (already!) so always a good reminder to keep chopping wood and mend roofs...

The French is slowly coming along, I notice how less at sea I feel at the market and be able to respond...I shy away from phone calls and use Reverso alot for emails! However, if I keep plugging away this time next year I am sure I will be fluent(ish)!!

Went to a local bar last Saturday morning to watch the All Blacks convincingly beat the Boks...watching the ABs reminds me just how much I identify my self as being a part of NZ, much more so than watching Wales (just don't tell Tony for Godsake!!) I shall be back there on Saturday to watch them play Australia.

An interesting side issue of watching games at this time is having coffee rather than beer, little in that other than the quality of the coffee here is poor (to s*@t)...seemingly the French are content to drink this? So I have began to build toward a quiet revolution in introducing fresh coffee...selling well at the small markets we do, sadly needing to be ground as there seemed to be a lack of grinders (the next step I think will be equipment)...so I shall let you know how that goes.

Chickens are firing on all cylinders since introducing the organic feed, at €600 a tonne it is far from cheap yet the girls are laying around 45 per day and even the old girls are looking great (could be the introduction of George the rooster too!)... seems like we may have many little rabbits soon as the two 'girls' we acquired last month seemed to be doing some strange things to each other for sisters...bugger.

Pigs yet to arrive as we have decided on the mini (or is it micro) version and the people are down South at the moment. All are well under the Kervelen banner although Heleen and Charlie seem to suffer a certain type of hay fever...feels abit daunting having a tackle the French medical system as I have a sense it will be an expensive business (with no guarantee it will solve the issue-that having far scarier implications)...shall leave this open for Heleen to say some words...

Here we go: Today Milo and me have cantered through the fields for the first time. He has breaks and steering now. He is such a good boy!

Summer in Finistere

Summer is great this year. Hot, blue skies, warm still evenings with pink & purple sunsets at half past ten.

Our lovely first guests Pam and Caroline were very lucky with the weather; only one morning rain, in general too hot for walking! They thoroughly enjoyed their holiday and they were an absolute pleasure to have. We even went out together to a fest noz in Locmaria. Very nice to hang out with the locals and join in a game of egg throwing/catching...

In the mean time some new animals arrived: 19 lovely white sussex girls that have joined the laying team. And two rabbits: Coco and Tatti. We'ved let them out of their cages, it was too sad. Now they are hopping around in the backyard with young rooster Johnny and some old hens. Cats and dogs know they are pets and the bunnies are now just relaxing on the lawn, coming and going as they please.

Soon we'll get some piggies too. Not sure we'll go for a couple of mini pigs (the only grow till they are 15 kg!) or a small black pregnant pig. Also thinking about some small sheep...

What more? Kids are on holiday. We've discovered the lake by Drennec that is a great place for them to go for a swim. Marley can go there too. After NZ it's nice to be able to take your dog to places.

I'm trimming hooves, helping people with their horses, riding almost every evening. The only horrible thing here in summer are the flies. The horses are in their stable all day!

Rod's picking fruit, making jams, extending the berry gardens, ordering chicken food and roasting coffee. His french is improving but I don't think he's noticing it....

Just buggered!!

We are still here yet there seems so little time to sit and write at the moment...long, hot days and so all those essential jobs line up for attention..

I have been busy getting ready for another batch of chickens, today I bought 19 Light Sussex, point of lay...I have decided to focus on the pure breeds and pull away from the hybrids from now on. Seems more of a natural position and the pure breeds tend to last longer. I shall post a picture of them, 2000 year old breed developed by the Romans I think, some what appropriate being the Roman were living here (awhile ago now!)...

Starting to pick the fruits, strawberry, black&red currant, rasberries & gooseberries are almost there...have been spraying all the beds with seaweed tea and have turned the first compost heap in addition to applying biodynamic applications 502-507 in the heap. I have also bought enough BD500 to cover 10 hectares, doing this by hand (bucket and dust pan brush to be precise) will be a meditation in itself..

Gearing up in my mind to tackle the roof and bedrooms etc. (I think it usually takes me a couple of months before I am ready to pick up the hammer!)

Next guests arrive on Saturday, our first ones are here until Friday...they have been lovely to have, quiet, friendly and enjoying their holiday...thank you Caroline and Pam!

C&L are due to finish school this week until September 1st, sounds along way off! They are happy kids although the long nights tend to mean they don't get to sleep until late...I am sure they (we) will hardly get out of bed come winter...bbbrrrrrrr

Okay, I must sign off and lock up the chickens, the young ones will probably need putting on the roost, if I were to leave them I wonder if they would eventually!?

Soon