Wwoofer Cecile

Cecile stayed for 5 weeks in April and May this year.  She has a degree in biology and environmental science and recently decided to leave a Masters course in environmental studies to discover the practical world of autonomy and permaculture through volunteering on  projects.  This was her first wwoofing experience and she threw herself wholeheartedly into permaculture gardening, furniture making with pallets and recuperated wood.  She also spent many hours creating wonderful dishes in the kitchen.

In the Garden and on the land

Creating a raised bed with a keyhole
entrance.

Surveying the paths that she dug out and then
put three layers of cardboard onto ...

Hum .... a good job ....

Adding woodchip on top  of the
cardboard paths ...

Playing with GreyCat

Helping me to pot up seeds

Not quite sure what she's doing here ... certainly
not watching my digging demonstration!!


 

Earthing up potatoes that she planted a month
earlier ...

Working with wwoofer Julie in the
potatoe patch.

Clearing branches to make brushcutting the nettles
easier .... the nettles will be used as mulch in the
garden.

Transplanting mint into the forest garden.

Weeding .... putting the edible weeds
into a container to use for cooking.

Chopping wood.

Shovelling horse manure from the trailer into the compost bay.

Shovelling horse manure onto sheets of cardboard -
first layer of a new sheet mulch.

Putting sawdust into bags for the dry toilet.

 

Cecile the furniture maker

She learned how to use a number of woodwork tools, dismantled pallet wood and used old wood from the barns - and made a fabulous piece of furniture for the kitchen.

Creating in the kitchen

Thank you for all the wonderful cooking.

 

 

Service with a smile

 

Thanks for all your help, enthusiasm and good humour and good luck with your wwoofing adventures and service civique ... à la prochaine ...

Wwoofer Camille

Camille stayed for a week in May.  She is spending some time wwoofing  in France before heading off to Canada in June.

With her scarf matching the leaves
behind her, Camille filters some
earth for seed sowing ...

Taking a little break from weeding around the turnips ...

Collecting wild plants to make a soup ....

Marking out for sowing seeds ....



Transplanting mint into the forest garden ...

Serving a wild food soup ....

Making sushi ......

Bon voyage and bon aventures!!

Wwoofer Thomas

Thomas stayed for the month of April and immersed himself with great enthusiasm in lots of different projects.  A seasoned wwoofer - he has been volunteering around France for around 2 years with a view to gaining skills to set up his own project as a 'paysan boulanger' and to live autonomously.

Woodwork

He started his stay in the woodworkshop - creating furniture for the kitchen from recuperated pallet wood and wood found on the land here.  He quickly learned how to use various woodwork tools and created cabinet doors, shelves and supporting structures ...

Working with me to create cabinet doors ...

He quickly became independent
and knocked out several more
doors .......
 

Using the circular saw .....

He measured, cut and fitted shelves
for this unit as well as cut and finished
 planks for the side ...
 

Working on the Land

Burying the plastic edges of the
greenhouse .....

Working with wwoofer Cecile to create a raised
bed with a keyhole access ....

..

Putting collected sawdust in bags for the dry toilet ....

Working with Kevin to empty the trailer ... shovelling
horse manure into a prepared bay ...
 

 ... and then Cecile ...

Cutting logs for use in the garden ...

Creating a keyhole entrance into
a raised bed using wood chopped
from the land .....

Creating paths with cardboard and
woodchip collected from a local
saw mill ......

Creating log edges for paths .....

Brushcutting a bank in preparation
for creating a sheet mulch ...

Adding woodchip to a path ....

Working with Cecile to shovel manure onto layers
of cardboard - the first layer of the sheet mulch ...

 

 Food and Rest

 

An accomplished 'boulanger', Thomas
creates delicious rolls ....

Not sure what is going on here ..

 .... à table avec Cecile ....

Cracking walnuts with wwoofer Camille ....



....  et tout seul ...

A well earned break with Cecile ....