Bonjour 'tout le monde' from a Scot from Central France!

[Jooliree]

Hi all,
I'm Julie, originally from Aberdeenshire, Scotland but now living the self-sufficient life in Central France. We have a small-holding of 1 hectare where we grow all our own veg and have three milking goats and 4 breeding ewes for meat and milk, as well as the usual poultry , cats and dogs!
We have a woodland of two hectares for firewood, building materials, basket-making materials etc, etc and just because we love to camp out there too! We have started building a round-house from the materials there - roundwood with a reciprocal frame roof with wattle and daub walls. This will provide housing for us when we are coppicing during the winter.
We supplement our home-raised veg and meat with foraging/fishing and occasionally roadkill and deer maimed but not killed by hunters.We do all our own killing and butchering.
We enjoy green woodworking, spoon-carving etc and I am currently learning the traditional local peasant methods of basket making using hedgerow materials.
We are renovating the old farm-house using natural and recycled materials which will not have any inside flushing toilets. We have a very successful composting toilet and will have a reed-bed and willow waste water system.
We enjoy learning and practicing a whole range of bushcrafting/survival/ natural-living skills and I hope to learn and maybe share a whole of stuff here!
A Bientot!
Julie

 

[garethw]

Bienvenue au forum Julie,
From a fellow Celt, but living in the North of France near Reims.
I'm certain you'll find this an instructive and friendly forum... where there's loads to learn and share, I certainly have. Even if it is frequented by a sacré paquet de Sassanachs!!! LOL!!
Amicalement
Gareth

 

[Barn Owl]

Welcome to the forum Julie.

 

[Stringmaker]

Welcome.

It sounds like you're living the life most of us here can only dream about; good for you!

 

[bert333]

Hi all,
I'm Julie, originally from Aberdeenshire, Scotland but now living the self-sufficient life in Central France. We have a small-holding of 1 hectare where we grow all our own veg and have three milking goats and 4 breeding ewes for meat and milk, as well as the usual poultry , cats and dogs!
We have a woodland of two hectares for firewood, building materials, basket-making materials etc, etc and just because we love to camp out there too! We have started building a round-house from the materials there - roundwood with a reciprocal frame roof with wattle and daub walls. This will provide housing for us when we are coppicing during the winter.
We supplement our home-raised veg and meat with foraging/fishing and occasionally roadkill and deer maimed but not killed by hunters.We do all our own killing and butchering.
We enjoy green woodworking, spoon-carving etc and I am currently learning the traditional local peasant methods of basket making using hedgerow materials.
We are renovating the old farm-house using natural and recycled materials which will not have any inside flushing toilets. We have a very successful composting toilet and will have a reed-bed and willow waste water system.
We enjoy learning and practicing a whole range of bushcrafting/survival/ natural-living skills and I hope to learn and maybe share a whole of stuff here!
A Bientot!
Julie

WOW that sure is a lot of oui oui oui's!!!
welcome whatever the weather!!
-had to make a quick dash to the en suite after reading all those!!

 

[oldtimer]

Bienvenue a la monde du BushcraftUK. Mes amis francais m'apprennent beaucoup des bonnes choses a manger dans la foret.

 

[Dreadhead]

welcome Julie, im fae aberdeenshire myself sounds like your really living the dream out there, im interested tae hear about your house building etc

Hamish

 

[tartanferret]

Bonjour Julie, welcome to the forum !

 

[udamiano]

Hi and welcome to BCUK

 

[sandbender]

Welcome. Some pictures please, what kind of poultry?

 

[Mesquite]

Hello and welcome to the forum Julie

 

[bushwacker bob]

mange tout.

 

[Ed]

A warm welcome to you

Ed

 

[crosslandkelly]

Sounds like you're living the dream, good on you. Welcome and enjoy.
Colin.

 

[Biker]

mange tout.

Hehehehehehee! That's about the extent of my french too, well sort of.

Welcome Julie from a Londoner/Kentish man up here in Calvados, Normandy. Does ineed sound like you're living the dream most here would want. Congrats on actually achieving it and welcome to the forum. Hope to see some pix of this idyllic place sometime.

Aaron aka "Biker"

 

[John Fenna]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Jooliree]

Hi all!
Thanks for the warm welcome
@ Hamish - Furryboots in the @Shire ? We were between Insch and Huntly near the Glens of Foudland. We are renovarting the old house which dates from around the end of the 19th century, built by the grandfather of the woman we bought it from. It is built of local fieldstone and clay/mud/lime mortar. It originally had only two rooms on the fist floor with the standard grainstore in the attic floor. There is a large woodshed to the rear and three small animal houses tacked on to the side that we are incorporating to create more rooms. All this is being done using the same natural materials as the original construction; the timber comes from our own woodland. The other construction going on at the moment is a roundhouse we are building in the woodland with the help of our friends who have camped and worked in the woodland. It is made of Sweet Chestnut in the round with a reciprocal frame roof. The walls will be woven with hazel and then coated in clay/mud/straw mix aka cob! We hope to eventually put on a Sweet Chestnut shingled roof . So if you fancy making hundreds of chestnut shingles...!!!!
@ Sandbender - We have the usual assortment of hens that go broody each year and appear with a mixed bunch of chicks. They are a mix of Light Sussex (le Coq!) and Maran and a black and copper/gold French breed and the usual Rhode Island reds! The ducks are what the French call 'sauvage' a bit like domesticated Mallards. Ours have semi-reverted to the wild as there is a large pond where they spend a lot of their time!! The last of the geese (the gander) fell foul of a predator, we think probably a Marten of some kind-there are lot around here, during the Winter.
Until I manage to rootle around my two external drives worth of photos (photography is another of my passions!) -there are some on my blog (which I am ashamed to say has been woefully neglected) and my Flickr pages ( which is restricted as I can't afford to upgrade to a 'Pro' account!!
www.lifeatlaforge.blogspot.com
www.flickr.com/photos/jooliree

 

[Jooliree]

******That should be http://lifeatlaforge.blog.com/ ********

 

[Dreadhead]

Hi all!
Thanks for the warm welcome
@ Hamish - Furryboots in the @Shire ? We were between Insch and Huntly near the Glens of Foudland. We are renovarting the old house which dates from around the end of the 19th century, built by the grandfather of the woman we bought it from. It is built of local fieldstone and clay/mud/lime mortar. It originally had only two rooms on the fist floor with the standard grainstore in the attic floor. There is a large woodshed to the rear and three small animal houses tacked on to the side that we are incorporating to create more rooms. All this is being done using the same natural materials as the original construction; the timber comes from our own woodland. The other construction going on at the moment is a roundhouse we are building in the woodland with the help of our friends who have camped and worked in the woodland. It is made of Sweet Chestnut in the round with a reciprocal frame roof. The walls will be woven with hazel and then coated in clay/mud/straw mix aka cob! We hope to eventually put on a Sweet Chestnut shingled roof . So if you fancy making hundreds of chestnut shingles...!!!!

Inverurie and then near bucksburn when i was at the agricultural college for my degree. its the roundhouse that im interested in as its a dream of mine ever since i went tae archeaolink just up the road! id love tae fire over and help but operations have kept me grounded but good luck with it, hope tae hear updates on how the shingle roof goes.

Hamish

 

[garethw]

******That should be http://lifeatlaforge.blog.com/ ********

La Creuse... I know it well. One of my mate used to live in La Souterraine. Went fishing down that way regularly.
I reackon its almost as rural as L'Aisne where I live.

Amicalement
Gareth