The rainy season

Well at last we have rain,it was needed for the crops on the farm .In the high winds of Friday one of our plum tree split and is now lying on the ground; we still hope to be able to gather the fruit. All of our other crops are still growing well.

We have fitted a log burner in the lounge, it makes such a difference to the comfort of the house.

As it was with no access to the chimney, we still have to locate that and then connect into it.

Maureen helps out.

It is really well built.

Fitting a cowl to the chimney stack, its quite high up here.

 

In the warmth, with our own wood.

How time flies

Wow, almost too busy living the dream to find the time to chronicle it. But now I'm back.
Busy, busy weeks, no stress, just lots to do.

We enjoyed the branch Main serviable (helping hands).We cleared the beach of  dechete (rubbish) in a bay at St Brieuc, the weather was beautiful and we had a picnic before we started.I found an old tyre and used it to drag our rubbish bag


We enjoyed having the missionaries visit,I think they enjoyed the change, working in the garden, collecting the eggs, cycling, catching up with their e mails (it was p day)

Last week we attended a District Activity held in Vannes, it began with the societe de secours (Relief Society) meeting to collect all the baby quilts we had made, there were as many sisters there as we would have in most of our Wards.Such sweet and friendly sisters.

We then had a buffet with our families, une petite promenade (stroll) a very long stroll beside the Golfe de Morbihan and 2 crazy soeurs anglais sneaked a quick swim (no photo!!). We then returned to the chapel (a small unit in a business park)  to hear Pres. Stahli the mission president speak. He had been Pres.Hinckley's secretary for 15 years and so had wonderful experiences to share.

We made our first 'brew' of elderflower cordial last week, very easy, very delicious. Although citric acide over here has to be ordered from the pharmacie and cost E10 !!

Drama last night! In the small barn next to us there are 3 bays. With 2 of them having the new calves in maman chat gave bith to her 3 beautiful chatons 2 weeks ago, we have enjoyed watching them grow but when John went to visit last night 1 of the calves had escaped from his bay and only 1 kitten was still there. We called the farmer, and his wife and children arrived, we had great fun trying to get the calf back into the stall.Jonlan aged 13 drives the tractor like a pro and brought in a huge hay bale to keep the calves in while we searched for the kittens. We think maman had moved the 2 and by this morning the third one had also gone. Sylvan 12 and Alban 9 came over for a chat yesterday, we all had fun trying out the others language I thanked them for helping me and we laughed when Alban said she had been riding a chicken!! We agreed that we ride horses and leave the chickens to lay eggs. They are delightful children.

The cows are often brought in for milking right beside our house and last week one thought that she would take a 'deviation' through our garden, they are big that close up.

The vegetables continue to grow rapidly, I took my eye off the courgettes for a couple of days and now I have a marrow! Our beans are the only crop which aren't doing so well. Everything looks so green and lush. We have been so blessed, Mark (the farmer) said we could use the water from the farm for our veggies, we have to pay for our water he doesn't.

My efforts to lose weight continue, I've now even published my weight on our family site hoping it will shame me into trying harder, I have to get used to the fact that there will always be bbq's, picnics, munch & mingles & temptation.

Amy and my mum are arriving on Saturday, I am so excited, it was announced in church today that there is a District day out next Monday so that will be fun.

We have started on 2 new projects a wood burner and new gates. John has been so brave climbing up to the chimney, it's a long way. We decided to do it ourselves, we bought the stove on e bay, had it deliverd here, and now it's almost installed we think by tomorrow night we may have a log fire burning - how exciting.The gates were an unexpected project.When we saw a very large crate which had put on the bonfire pile we asked if we could have it and Sylavan delivered it on the tractor and we realised it was the width of our drive, one day later John, never one to leave things for too long had built a very smart new gate. 

We are looking forward to more visitors this summer, Andrew and Sue Mason in July, some friends from Crawley at the end of July, Isaac and Jacob mid August, Eveymartine and Naeem (date to be confirmed) and Evey and Tony in Sept. We love having visitors and we love being here on our own so we win both ways.
We hope you are all keeping well.

Next time, hammocks,gates, log burners and veg! I bet you can hardly wait, can your lives get more exciting than reading our blog!?!?

Oooops!

Aaaaah,I think this blog has a mind of it's own. You will see 1 very large photo on my last entry and it's not even the right one.So I will now add the correct finished swing set.

Also when I went to see the cow this morning she had disappeared but I found another cow who had just calved. Bye.xx

Weather, wedding and latest project

The dream continues.We have had a change of weather though with 2 amazing thunderstorms and some rain on the last couple of days. The plants are doing so well, everything is growing so quickly.I've never been so aware of crops growing you can almost see the cucumbers and courgettes growing as you watch them. We have so much to plant that John's had to make another raised bed .

 We loved the wedding.8 of us Brits got together and watched it. We then had lunch, visited the local brocante (large secondhand warehouse, lots of junk but always some little treasure to be found) John took our friends to visit the salon de traite (milking parlour) and we finished the day with English tea, scones, trifle etc., with Marie the farmers wife and the children.

We recently saw a garden swing set for E300 (best I can do for euros!) I then saw a second hand one for E85, but after some thought I decided we could make one for ourselves,after all we do have one or trees!! So I went into the woods found some little pines that weren't growing well,pushed them over carried them out of the woods, not that easy as they were about 25ft.long. 

I then went to tell my DIY specialist of my plans and we started straight away.As you might imagine it was quite difficult to prop the uprights up and we had one 'timber' moment and we both had to run out of the way as they fell.

Undaunted, we continued and it just grew and grew as we thought of more we could add, we now have 2 swings, a ladder, climbing net, deck and den.There will also be a slide, once we've decided what to make it with. With the rope, hooks and replacement drill bit it has cost us E40.

 Although we have 20 grandchildren we are only expecting 4 to visit this summer, Elliot and Harvey (2 & 3) are coming at the end of this month and Isaac and Jacob (9 & 11) in August, we hope they will spend many happy hours here.
We were welcomed into the St.Brieuc branch last week, John is Sunday School class president and I am teaching RS next Sunday.
On Thursday evening we went for a long walk and saw this cow waiting to give birth

I've been to see her 4 times since then and poor dear she's still waiting, I'll keep you updated.     

We hope you are all well, au revoir.                                            

First crops, tree fella's, and DIY

Today, we ate the first lettuce from our garden, this is all new to me, what a delight to pick vegetables and then eat them.I've also made a rhubarb crumble for dinner, our rhubarb plants were given to us by our Stake pres.and by one of my nephews, thank you.We also have strawberries.

We have 'taken down' thin,tall pine trees in the past,but yesterday was different, we have (had ) the very large limb of a tree in the front of the house which was keeping the morning sun from our lounge window, so it had to go.  After some thought and planning we did it, John loves using his chainsaw and with me holding on a rope to help the tree fall in the right direction,which was right across the lane (fortunately only about 6 cars  a day use it), John cut a wedge in the trunk...we've watched axe men so we know it all!!! Then a cut above that and hey presto it slowly toppled, unfortunately we don't have a photo of the moment as you can imagine our hands were full.

I couldn't help thinking that I'd have been worried to death if I'd heard my children were attempting this,so sshhh, don't tell my mum.  

I decided to try some DIY, I wanted a small deck in the woods, it's peaceful and quiet down there and sheltered from the sun, these are the materials I started with (all recycled) and ....after a few hours, some sweat but no tears and with some help from John, this is the result .

I've also pickled some eggs,I've just put cold, shelled, hard boiled eggs into vinegar,is that the right method??
Hope you are all well, enjoying this wonderful weather.We are having a street party (in our garden.) for the wedding, we've invited the other 6 brits from our branch and our farmer and his family.I just need to find some red,blue and white bunting! Au revoir

La jardin

We are loving the garden, lots of work, but the weather has been wonderful. We have work to do inside and keep waiting for a wet day, but it hasn't happened yet.
We visited a flower show in the gardens of a chateau in Josselin last Saturday and I got some ideas for our garden, besides plants and flowers,so I made use of some stuff just lying around the garden and house i.e. an old apple press (for cider making) part of an old farm implement, an old chair and some palletts.Always looking for ways to do things inexpensively I mixed some of the paint for the outside of the house with some of the front door paint for the pale blue I wanted.You'll see the results  below (or above,I seem to have no control over where they appear!!)
John is a great DIYer hence the many flower boxes, fences, bird boxes etc.

Well after an hour catching up with 'stuff' the garden is calling, I must go,I shall be back......

18 April. We visited the new milking parlour and were able to try and milk one or two of the cows. It is fully automated with each cow coming into a milking station, all the operative has to do is offer the milking cluster to the animals udder and the rest is history.
20 April. the weather is still very hot and we have to water the garden each day to keep our crops growing, it is surprising how long this takes. Our chickens are producing well, almost up to full production.

The start of our adventure

Well, we have arrived. We always enjoyed watching 'The Good Life' on television and now we have decided to try it for ourselves.

We left England on the 17th March with everything but the kitchen sink.And arrived in Brittany the next morning glad to find our home still in one piece.

We have had wonderful weather for the last 3 weeks and have worked in the garden every day.John works methodically all day, I work in great bursts followed by a rest or a change of scene. We have conquered the thistles,brambles and dandelions and now just mow the lawn 1 a week  - but with 1/2 an acre it takes a while.

One of our first priorities was to buy our chickens so off we went to the first Tuesday market in Rostrenon and bought 12 beautiful birds.They have settled in well and are laying about 8 eggs a day.We had a mass break out yesterday but they were rounded up without too much difficulty.

We've built 2 raised beds 4m by 1m with wood,manure and earth from the farm and have already planted carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, strawberries, peas, beans, beetroot & lettuce (some under plastic to avoid the frost).