Archive for September, 2008
September 28, 2008 at 11:11 am
· Filed under building, diy, downshifting, france, permaculture, renovation, self-sufficiency, sustainability
One of the few things I hated about our new house (I still call it new although we’ve been here two and a half years!) was the fireplace. Our house is a 19th century peasant hovel built from local limestone and the chimney would have been an extremely simple affair made from plain, dressed limestone. Unfortunately, some idiot decided at some point during the 60s or 70s to build a new fireplace, and this is what I’ve been scowling at since we moved in.
Now, I’ve mentioned my feelings about the fireplace once or twice (a day) to Ian who has resisted the temptation to knock it down because he so rightly knew just how much work it would involve, and how much time it would take him to rebuild it all afterwards. But a couple of weeks ago I managed to catch him off-guard just long enough to agree that the darn thing would have to go!
It’s not just the aesthetics that I’ve been worried about; open fires like this are a notoriously inefficient way to heat a house. Last winter we got through huge amounts of firewood and yet the temperature in our kitchen was barely affected – all the heat goes up the chimney. This winter we are determined to be warmer and, amongst other heat-efficiency projects, installing a wood-burning stove will make a huge difference to our ability to heat the kitchen (which is our main living area too).
These snap-shots make it look like a quick and easy job, but in fact it took three of us the whole weekend to dismantle everything and clean up afterwards…
And unbelievably we discovered part of the original fireplace (the two outer “pillars”) underneath the crazy-paving monstrosity we so enjoyed pulling down.
I’ve since bought a new mantelpiece and this week Ian will rebuild the upper part of the chimney-breast. We’ve been given a very old but powerful wood-burning stove (a De Dietrich) which, whilst it may not be quite as beautiful or efficient as a modern stove is miles better than the open fire. New pics coming soon…
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September 24, 2008 at 1:16 pm
· Filed under downshifting, environment, permaculture, self-sufficiency, smallholding, sustainability, toilets
You’ll remember the saga of the blocked septic tank (fosse septique) and our subsequent removal of our normal flushing toilet for a compost (or sawdust) toilet.
Well, we’ve just had our bi-annual water bill and our water consumption over the past six months was half that of the previous period – 46 cubic metres instead of 100.
I’m pretty pleased with that. Not only do I pay less but we’ve managed to reduce consumtion despite having a constant stream of visitors since May (and all four of us having baths since there is currently no shower facility in the main house). As use of the compost loo is going well in all other respects, halved water bills is just another nail in the coffin of the ‘normal’ toilet! With a little more thoughtfullness, re-installing the shower and a couple more water butts in the garden I think we could reduce our consumption even further.
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September 10, 2008 at 9:09 am
· Filed under Gardening, downshifting, food, france, permaculture, planting, seeds, self-sufficiency, smallholding, veg
This year I grew 3 different heritage tomatoes (all from Real Seeds), Baby Yellow Pear, Purple Ukraine and Urbikany.
Least successful was the Baby Yellow Pear. This is the 3rd year I’ve tried it and although I hate to criticise any heritage vegetable I really think it’s a waste of time. The seedlings were streets behind my other varieties, developing very slowly and only producing its first ripe tomato on the 1st September. The plants aren’t very productive either, I’m lucky to find 4 tomatoes a day from a dozen plants (and as you can see, they’re not too large!) and I have now had to pull them all up anyway as they’ve got mildew. The other two years they also got mildew very early, last year before they had even flowered!
So I’m afraid I won’t be growing Baby Yellow Pear again as it’s really been hopeless for me. It’s possible they might do much better in a tunnel or greenhouse, but as I have neither I’m not in a position to try this out.
Fairing much better was the Purple Ukraine. This was a healthy and vigorous plant, it set fruit early and had the first ripe tomatoes in the garden. They were absolutely delicious, very sweet with a really good flavour. Some of the tomatoes where HUGE! The only drawback is that the plants were irresistible to every slug, ant and wasp in the garden – way before they were ripe half the tomato had been eaten, and there didn’t seem any way of preventing this. (By the way, I’ve never seen a slug, ant or wasp on any other tomato varieties in my garden!?). I’m still going to plant them next year, because they really were so tasty that I can’t resist! If I can’t beat the bugs I will pick them green and use them for chutney as they are very fleshy inside; which is what I’m doing with the rest of this year’s crop.
By far the best tomato I’ve EVER grown was Urbikany, a new discovery this year! The plants are prolific and sturdy and I’m bringing in basketfuls like this every few days. The fruits are fairly small and perfectly round, at first glance they don’t look much (yes, it’s round and red, not very imaginive I know!) but the taste is really SUPERB! A really full-on tomato flavour! They’re also quite fleshy, so they are perfect in salads or cooked. I’ve used them in pasta sauces, tomato ketchup, etc and they are great. They’re also still going strong even with all the rain and gloom we’ve had this year, and it looks as though they’ll keep producing for quite a while yet.
I’ve kept piles of seeds, and next year this will be my main tomato crop, with maybe a few Purple Ukraines for variety.
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September 5, 2008 at 12:51 pm
· Filed under Gardening, digging, downshifting, food, permaculture, planting, self-sufficiency, smallholding, sustainability, veg
This year I planted a few rows of potatoes on a rough old patch of ground next to the main veg patch. It had previously been covered with a bit of straw, but I had never dug it over. As I was in a rush to get planting and had no time to spare, I decided to plant the spuds on the surface, and just rake some soil over the top.
As you can see, I scored a line in the earth with a hoe; dropped the seed potatoes in (un-chitted and cut in half) and then raked over as much loose soil as I could (there wasn’t much). After a month or so, I earthed them up a little more, and once during the summer when the weeds got too much the whole patch was weeded. Apart from that they’ve had no attention, but are giving plenty of really good-sized potatoes on an almost daily basis.
As a way of getting potatoes for almost no effort, I think this has really worked. Because spuds are a good ‘cleaning crop’, I will now be able to turn over this patch during winter and next year it will become a soft-fruit bed for raspberries and currants.
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September 2, 2008 at 12:22 pm
· Filed under building, children, diy, family, france, holidays
The second half of the summer holiday was really busy; guests, in-laws, trips to the beach, more guests, more trips… so I haven’t had a second to write any posts; but today the kids went back to school and I’m able to breathe again!
Just to recap… We started the ’summer’ by making a playhouse for the children, as they can go a little crazy during the holidays, and we don’t have the money for long trips abroad. Ian spend hours in his workshop and when he finally emerged he had made a kind of kit-form wooden shed just the right size for 2 or 3 children.
We used reclaimed windows from the local carpenter, cut up old doors and odds and sods that were lying around, plus some shop-bought panelling. The whole thing will be painted with some lime paint with added linseed oil.
When the children get bored of playing in it, I shall convert it into a tool shed. You have to bend your head to get in but inside it’s quite roomy and certainly has plenty of space for rakes, spades and wellies.
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