Tuesday 22 March 2016

wwoofer - Luc

Luc stayed for a week in March - a short break from his work as a stonemason.  He took charge of the pallet greenhouse project - and used his sharp intelligence and practical skills and knowledge to reinforce the roof structure, build doors and add the plastic ...

Adding horizontal supports for the roof ..

Adding diagonal supports ...



Beaucoup plus solide!!

Luc used lengths of wood recuperated
free of charge from Bricomarché to contruct
doors .......


.. and then fitted plastic ...

Impressive ... and all for around 30 euros ...



Fixing plastic to the roof structure ...

Et voila - c'est presque fini .... bravo!!
 
Being fascinated by the medieval
era - he used some of his spare time
doing some green woodwork with
a shaving horse that I built in the UK
before coming out to France.

Cleaving a green log ...

A creative musician ....
 
Thanks Luc for all your help and good luck with the project to create a medieval eco-community in the near future ............ very inspiring!!

wwoofer - Adam Grace

 

Adam, an English sound engineer and musician stayed for a week in March.  He recently gave up his job and luxury flat in the UK to explore new horizons ... to work with his hands ... to learn about self sufficient living. He is currently on a motorbike tour of Europe and this was his first wwoofing stop.   Some images from his stay ...

The Pallet Greenhouse

He started the week working with wwoofer Luc on the greenhouse - a structure made from pallets and recuperated plastic ....



 


Working in the Garden

Digging a trench for a hugulbed ..
 

Filling the trench with rotting logs found on the
land ......... the wood will act as a sponge retaining
water ... so less or no watering to do ... and as they break
down they will provide nutrients for the plants ..

Smashing up the logs ....

Adding leaves, hay, twigs ....

Collecting branches from recently
felled laurel trees to put in the bed ..

Creating a crumb structure with the earth
that was put on the top ... ready for seed sowing ..

Placing logs from trees felled on the land
 to define the garden beds .......
 
At Leisure

Thanks for the great mexican supper!!


... and the music


Preparing the bike before leaving .... bon continuation
and thanks for everything ....



 

Monday 21 March 2016

wwoofer - Joachim

 

 
Joachim, a young Catalan traveller stayed three weeks in February/March this year.  Disenchanted with his work in tourism and driven by a desire to reconnect with nature, he arrived with great enthusiasm and motivation.  He spent his time productively reading about different aspacts of permaculture, building a greenhouse from pallets, helping out with vegetarian cooking and working on the land.

The first volunteer to diligently take notes ... on
permaculture, herbs, rocket mass stoves and so
on .............



Brushcutting  brambles in preparation for planting
willow for basket making ....

The beginning of the pallet greenhouse project - here
Joachim works with a couple of visitors from
Paris.

 
He spent quite some time levelling
the six display pallets ....




In the workshop ... working on the roof for the
greenhouse.....



 
Potting up seeds to go in the cold frames ...

Planting asparagus crowns ...
 
An expert at shelling walnuts ...
 
Bottling homemade cider vinegar ...

 
A competent and creative vegetarian
cook ......

 
Much free time spent learning to
play the eukaleli

Putting his new musical skills into practice ...

A rare cuddle for grey cat ...

Bon continuation .... à la prochaine .... thanks for all your help, curiosity, enthusiasm and good humour!!

Wednesday 9 March 2016

Wwoofer Simon May

Simon stayed for a week - a short break from his course at the Sorbonne in the history of art ...

He arrived immaculately dressed:


... but that soon changed ....

He initially decided to design and build a chicken house.  He researched the topic, did some sketches, sourced the tools he needed and available wood on the land and set to work ...

 
.... a project to be continued ...
 
He helped to harvest the willow crop
and planted cuttings through plastic
to create new shrubs ...

Cutting harvested willow into
batons ......
 

He harvested laurel from the land,
tied them into bundles and then
hung them to dry in the living
room ...........

He spent the rest of his short stay helping to construct a greenhouse from recuperated pallets and plastic ......







Simon at Leisure


Ever the philosopher - here wondering whether the leek
 still exists if he closes his eyes

An accomplished and confident
cook ...........

A charming if rather strange smile ...

Preparing crepe batter ....

Preparing to toss the crepe ...

 

... et voila ....
 
Kitchen camaraderie ...

Simon the musician ....

Thank you for all the shared songs ...

A la prochaine ......