In at the deep end...
- Alice Abbott
- Barbara Good
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:06 pm
- Location: Charente Maritime, France
In at the deep end...
I'm hoping to pick up lots of tips and advise from this forum.
We are definitely living a self-sufficient lifestyle at the moment, although I sometimes have reservations about what we have got ourselves into! I am American so grew up being used to having everything working at a touch so I DO sometimes struggle with this new regime of ours.
15 months ago OH and I gave up our decent but boring jobs, sold our home in the UK, packed up a few possessions in our car and headed south. We added a dog, two toddlers, a guitar and a laptop and bought a run down farm (as it turned out, far more so than we first thought) in France. We had a five year plan and allocated our available capital to do the renovations and keep ourselves until we are ready to launch the little business we have in mind.
We arrived in June 2008 to crumbling walls, a leaky roof, missing or broken windows, a battered door with a foot square hole in it but no glass, no electricity, no running water (we DO have a well though), no real drainage other than a suspiciously swampy area at the bottom of the garden, bare earth floors on the ground floor and no floors at all on the first floor, two rickety ladders, one to the upper (floorless) floor and the other to the cave (cellar) under the original "kitchen" which had two old wooden doors as a floor. Modcons are an ancient wood burning range and a tiny calor gas fridge plus an old tin bath. We spent the first winter living in a large frame tent pitched on the bare living room floor - the only way to keep ourselves and our possessions dry. Fortunately there is an enormous fireplace in that room and we kept a log fire burning throughout. We have plenty of wood in an enormous, although slightly rotting, oak woodpile at the back of the house so fortunately that will not be a problem for the next couple of winters. We also have a great neighbour who lets us use their wifi connection and charge our laptop so we can watch DVDs in the evening.
We set to and repaired the roof and windows, boarded the area over the cave and made that room secure and dry and bought some nice oak for the ground floor. Fortunately, all the beams in the house are also oak and look fit to last another couple of hundred years. Then we did our sums and realised we had spent TWO years worth of our budget in one year! So, after much soul searching we decided to see if we can live VERY cheaply until June 2010 and get ourselves back on budget. This involves growing our own, swapping and foraging. We spent the last €200 on some pretty basic foodstocks ( including big bags of dog chow), then allocated €5 a week for "luxuries" (toiletries, petrol (although we rarely go far) clothes for the girls from our local Red Cross shop. So far we have spent €46,34 of the weekly allowance so we look to be well on target so far. We aim to spend no more than €500 for the whole year.
I'm growing and preserving like mad, we have gallons of wine brewing, we've spotted figs, walnuts, hazels and apples in the woods nearby, I've negotiated for four free hens for eggs (they were supposedly at the end of their laying cycle but seem to be producing an egg a day each since they have been given the freedom of our enormous garden) and we are given goats milk by a neighbour for whom I do some washing and ironing. You have no idea of the sheer pleasure I get from going into her kitchen and plugging in her iron, then watching that little red light come on!
I will definitely be back for recipes and ideas as I worry we will not be able to grown or preserve enough for the winter. I suppose we can always bite the bullet and dig into the budget but I suppose I'm enjoying the challenge too much to give in too easily! In the meantime we plan on laying the floors and channeling out for electrics and plumbing so we shall be kept really busy.
We are definitely living a self-sufficient lifestyle at the moment, although I sometimes have reservations about what we have got ourselves into! I am American so grew up being used to having everything working at a touch so I DO sometimes struggle with this new regime of ours.
15 months ago OH and I gave up our decent but boring jobs, sold our home in the UK, packed up a few possessions in our car and headed south. We added a dog, two toddlers, a guitar and a laptop and bought a run down farm (as it turned out, far more so than we first thought) in France. We had a five year plan and allocated our available capital to do the renovations and keep ourselves until we are ready to launch the little business we have in mind.
We arrived in June 2008 to crumbling walls, a leaky roof, missing or broken windows, a battered door with a foot square hole in it but no glass, no electricity, no running water (we DO have a well though), no real drainage other than a suspiciously swampy area at the bottom of the garden, bare earth floors on the ground floor and no floors at all on the first floor, two rickety ladders, one to the upper (floorless) floor and the other to the cave (cellar) under the original "kitchen" which had two old wooden doors as a floor. Modcons are an ancient wood burning range and a tiny calor gas fridge plus an old tin bath. We spent the first winter living in a large frame tent pitched on the bare living room floor - the only way to keep ourselves and our possessions dry. Fortunately there is an enormous fireplace in that room and we kept a log fire burning throughout. We have plenty of wood in an enormous, although slightly rotting, oak woodpile at the back of the house so fortunately that will not be a problem for the next couple of winters. We also have a great neighbour who lets us use their wifi connection and charge our laptop so we can watch DVDs in the evening.
We set to and repaired the roof and windows, boarded the area over the cave and made that room secure and dry and bought some nice oak for the ground floor. Fortunately, all the beams in the house are also oak and look fit to last another couple of hundred years. Then we did our sums and realised we had spent TWO years worth of our budget in one year! So, after much soul searching we decided to see if we can live VERY cheaply until June 2010 and get ourselves back on budget. This involves growing our own, swapping and foraging. We spent the last €200 on some pretty basic foodstocks ( including big bags of dog chow), then allocated €5 a week for "luxuries" (toiletries, petrol (although we rarely go far) clothes for the girls from our local Red Cross shop. So far we have spent €46,34 of the weekly allowance so we look to be well on target so far. We aim to spend no more than €500 for the whole year.
I'm growing and preserving like mad, we have gallons of wine brewing, we've spotted figs, walnuts, hazels and apples in the woods nearby, I've negotiated for four free hens for eggs (they were supposedly at the end of their laying cycle but seem to be producing an egg a day each since they have been given the freedom of our enormous garden) and we are given goats milk by a neighbour for whom I do some washing and ironing. You have no idea of the sheer pleasure I get from going into her kitchen and plugging in her iron, then watching that little red light come on!
I will definitely be back for recipes and ideas as I worry we will not be able to grown or preserve enough for the winter. I suppose we can always bite the bullet and dig into the budget but I suppose I'm enjoying the challenge too much to give in too easily! In the meantime we plan on laying the floors and channeling out for electrics and plumbing so we shall be kept really busy.
- red
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 6513
- Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:59 pm
- Location: Devon UK
- Contact:
Re: In at the deep end...
welcome - certainly sounds like you have a lot on your hands
Red
I like like minded people... a bit like minded anyway.. well people with bits of their minds that are like the bits of my mind that I like...
my website: colour it green
etsy shop
blog
I like like minded people... a bit like minded anyway.. well people with bits of their minds that are like the bits of my mind that I like...
my website: colour it green
etsy shop
blog
- Milims
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 4390
- Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:06 pm
- Location: North East
Re: In at the deep end...
Hello and welcome!
Let us be lovely
And let us be kind
Let us be silly and free
It won't make us famous
It won't make us rich
But damn it how happy we'll be!
Edward Monkton
Member of the Ish Weight Loss Club since 10/1/11 Started at 12st 8 and have lost 8lb so far!
And let us be kind
Let us be silly and free
It won't make us famous
It won't make us rich
But damn it how happy we'll be!
Edward Monkton
Member of the Ish Weight Loss Club since 10/1/11 Started at 12st 8 and have lost 8lb so far!
-
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 8241
- Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 9:16 pm
- Location: Kincardineshire, Scotland
Re: In at the deep end...
Hi Alice - a challenge indeed! What kind of business were you planning on starting once you've got the basics sorted?
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
- Green Aura
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9313
- Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:16 pm
- latitude: 58.569279
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- Location: North West Highlands
Re: In at the deep end...
Hi, and welcome.
Sounds great - what's the business you're planning?
Sounds great - what's the business you're planning?
Maggie
Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin
Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin
- Millymollymandy
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 17637
- Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 6:09 am
- Location: Brittany, France
Re: In at the deep end...
And where in France are you? Yes we're a nosey lot - welcome!
http://chateaumoorhen.blogspot.com/boboff wrote:Oh and just for MMM, (thanks)
Re: In at the deep end...
Welcome to ish, you'll find a lot of support and advice here.
... and next time I feel like complaining about having 1 toddler, no hot running water, holes in the roof and mould/rot on just about all the downstairs walls... I'll come back and read about your progress.
Keep on keeping on, it must be really tough but it WILL be worth it, one day.
... and next time I feel like complaining about having 1 toddler, no hot running water, holes in the roof and mould/rot on just about all the downstairs walls... I'll come back and read about your progress.
Keep on keeping on, it must be really tough but it WILL be worth it, one day.
Ann Pan
"Some days you're the dog,
some days you're the lamp-post"
My blog
My Tea Cosy Shop
Some photos
My eBay
"Some days you're the dog,
some days you're the lamp-post"
My blog
My Tea Cosy Shop
Some photos
My eBay
Re: In at the deep end...
Hi Alice, welcome to ish......your plans and lifestyle sound excited to this wannabe....i hope you'll keep us updated on your progress.
Re: In at the deep end...
Hi
The very best of luck with your project... It sounds fab! Hang on in there.. It'll be worth it in the end!
Fifer
The very best of luck with your project... It sounds fab! Hang on in there.. It'll be worth it in the end!
Fifer
- Alice Abbott
- Barbara Good
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:06 pm
- Location: Charente Maritime, France
Re: In at the deep end...
Thanks for the welcome!
We are in the Charente Maritime, although not particularly close to the ocean.
We are hoping to do some sort of B & B (we will have 5 ensuite rooms once the barns are converted) with a small restaurant attached. We had the idea from a wonderful place we visited a few years ago in Asturias, Spain.
So, I'm already on the trail of preserving recipes on another part of the site...
We are in the Charente Maritime, although not particularly close to the ocean.
We are hoping to do some sort of B & B (we will have 5 ensuite rooms once the barns are converted) with a small restaurant attached. We had the idea from a wonderful place we visited a few years ago in Asturias, Spain.
So, I'm already on the trail of preserving recipes on another part of the site...
-
- A selfsufficientish Regular
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- Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:13 pm
- latitude: 52.643985
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- Location: Leicester, uk, but heading to Ireland
Re: In at the deep end...
Welcome to ISH
Count me in the nosy camp too & I'd love to see piccies
MW
Count me in the nosy camp too & I'd love to see piccies
MW
If it isn't a Greyhound, it's just a dog!
Re: In at the deep end...
Hi Alice
I know some of you pain! I'm in France and have had to live on very very little. Not being able to feed the kid(s) was the biggest worry with me - its amazing what you can do with cheese, onions and potato!!!!!
Have you considered that dogs are scavengers and you can feed them on cooked vegis, rice, causcus and some meat scaps! Thats probably what you dried dog food is made of anyway! Our Intermache sells out of date meat and scaps for animals at 1euro a kilo - butchers will do too. Or road kill or rabbit - if anyone is good with an air rifle, the old chickens can go their way too!! - Cook it up outside though (all yuk if you are a vegetarian)
Anyway the reason for me adding to this was because - once I got the vegi patch big enough it all become very easy (ie possible with lots of work!!) Pray for gluts and process it immediately into something you can eat in the winter and especially the "hungry gap" (for me its march, april and some times first week of may - but you further south than me).
The freezer has really helped this - you neighbour may run one for you if you pay. If you invest in one buy new - far more efficient and stays at -20deg - v v important you don't want all you hard work ending in a sick family. I do bottle as well and this is great for food in their "basic form" eg tomatoes, beans, pears, plums but I freeze what I call "bases". These are whatever is a glut at the time cooked up (with some though) that I can then use in vegi shepards pie (shepardess pie!!), lasagne, with pasta, with rice, with baked potato, in a pie or add stock for a soup..... just add some curry powder or chilli, or more tomatoes, or some beans, whatever fresh veg is around at the time of "final creation". This way they are compact to freeze and versatile.
The bases can include things that you can't bottle or freeze on their own but also gives longer life to anything that is stored but won't keep for as long as you want it too. I make more bases in the winter when the "grand frosts" start and everything has to be dug up. Damaged parsnips, swedes and carrot get used then. They are great for quick meals too - you put all the effort into the cooking when the food was fresh! I use a 10litre sausepan when I'm making the bases... Well this has got me through several winters now and I'm feeling smug beacause this year I've got a vast amounts of tomatoes to work with (over 100kg).
I'm not sure if you've been through the 18month low period - lets give up stage - watch the sun rise and eat another tomato off the plant - (and keep your health) -
from my heart - good luck!
I know some of you pain! I'm in France and have had to live on very very little. Not being able to feed the kid(s) was the biggest worry with me - its amazing what you can do with cheese, onions and potato!!!!!
Have you considered that dogs are scavengers and you can feed them on cooked vegis, rice, causcus and some meat scaps! Thats probably what you dried dog food is made of anyway! Our Intermache sells out of date meat and scaps for animals at 1euro a kilo - butchers will do too. Or road kill or rabbit - if anyone is good with an air rifle, the old chickens can go their way too!! - Cook it up outside though (all yuk if you are a vegetarian)
Anyway the reason for me adding to this was because - once I got the vegi patch big enough it all become very easy (ie possible with lots of work!!) Pray for gluts and process it immediately into something you can eat in the winter and especially the "hungry gap" (for me its march, april and some times first week of may - but you further south than me).
The freezer has really helped this - you neighbour may run one for you if you pay. If you invest in one buy new - far more efficient and stays at -20deg - v v important you don't want all you hard work ending in a sick family. I do bottle as well and this is great for food in their "basic form" eg tomatoes, beans, pears, plums but I freeze what I call "bases". These are whatever is a glut at the time cooked up (with some though) that I can then use in vegi shepards pie (shepardess pie!!), lasagne, with pasta, with rice, with baked potato, in a pie or add stock for a soup..... just add some curry powder or chilli, or more tomatoes, or some beans, whatever fresh veg is around at the time of "final creation". This way they are compact to freeze and versatile.
The bases can include things that you can't bottle or freeze on their own but also gives longer life to anything that is stored but won't keep for as long as you want it too. I make more bases in the winter when the "grand frosts" start and everything has to be dug up. Damaged parsnips, swedes and carrot get used then. They are great for quick meals too - you put all the effort into the cooking when the food was fresh! I use a 10litre sausepan when I'm making the bases... Well this has got me through several winters now and I'm feeling smug beacause this year I've got a vast amounts of tomatoes to work with (over 100kg).
I'm not sure if you've been through the 18month low period - lets give up stage - watch the sun rise and eat another tomato off the plant - (and keep your health) -
from my heart - good luck!