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

[sandbender]

"...@ 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..."

Thanks for that, I'll look through the links later, I once had a cat who could keep Beech Martens at bay, he was one of a kind though and I'll never find another.

 

[Totumpole]

Welcome to the forum from anoter Scot! It's been said but... sounds like you living the dream! THe pictures on your blog only corroborate my suspicions.

 

[Silverback 1]

Hello and welcome

 

[Jooliree]

Thanks for all the great welcomes! What a lot of fellow Scots there are here! Yep, we really are living the dream, but it's bl@@dy hard work! ( Well some of the time...Anyone read "How to be Idle" by Tom Hodgkinson?? That's kind of how we are now! I thoroughly recommend it.) Also , we welcome volunteers/helpers via HelpX (Help exchange) and WWOOF throughout the year to come and help and learn, and it gives us a bit of a social life
@ Hamish - Have you come across Tony Wrench's "Building a low Impact Roundhouse"? A very good place to start, even if it is just for reading for now!!
@Garethw - We used to live near Dun le Palestel-not too far away from La Sout- I have promised myself that I am going to start fishing in this area as I would like to supplement our diet with fish. I also plan to build a smoker/smokehouse to smoke all the lovely fish i am going to catch ;-) Anyone got any top tips for designs? We have an assortment of old oak barrels and I wondered about recycling propane/butane gas tanks. But then maybe good old cob and bricks and stones etc.....

 

[garethw]

Thanks for all the great welcomes!
@Garethw - We used to live near Dun le Palestel-not too far away from La Sout- I have promised myself that I am going to start fishing in this area as I would like to supplement our diet with fish. I also plan to build a smoker/smokehouse to smoke all the lovely fish i am going to catch ;-) Anyone got any top tips for designs? We have an assortment of old oak barrels and I wondered about recycling propane/butane gas tanks. But then maybe good old cob and bricks and stones etc.....

Most of the waters in your region will only have coarse species that are not always very good eating. We actually fish 'Catch and Release' (if you click on my signature you'll see they are big fish)
The best species to eat would be pike & zander which shold be fairly common. I guess the large Catfish (Silure) will be pretty common too, they are ok eating also. As for smoking, sorry I ca,n't help with a design, I never took up smoking... but I'd be wanting to smoke trout, which you may find in some of the smaller "1ère Catagorie" rivers.
bonne chance
Gareth

 

[Totumpole]

I also plan to build a smoker/smokehouse to smoke all the lovely fish i am going to catch ;-) Anyone got any top tips for designs? We have an assortment of old oak barrels and I wondered about recycling propane/butane gas tanks. But then maybe good old cob and bricks and stones etc.....

I bet you can fashion a good cold smoker out of those ingredients! Firey component in an old gas tank, some kind of piping into the oak barrel and hey presto.