Inconclusive conclusions.

Oh this busy life... I certainly don't have time to be bored.

I have managed to test one sample for NPK - and I'm afraid to report that the only conclusion I am able to come to is that I am incapable of coming to a conclusion about the colours! grrrr.

I have waited more than enough time (it says 24 hours) for the water to become clear after mixing it with the soil, but that hasn't happened, it is still cloudy.

I think that the results are showing a total lack of nitrogen.

The Phosphorus appears to be adequate as does the Potassium - I asked my teenage son to confirm as maybe younger eyes are superior!

I shall hopefully test at least some of the other samples this weekend, in between making a cake for Ivor's 8th birthday!

 View from my bedroom window...

Ivor introduces himself

soil testing continued

It was quite exciting today, discovering the pH of the soil. Ivor and I took 10 samples around the garden, in different spots, and after leaving the samples to dry out I spent most of the day crushing soil into crumbs (yes, I have a blister to prove this), while he was out mushrooming with a friend.

Then came the pH test :

 I have only tested two areas for pH so far, and apparently the soil, which is 'argileuse et fine' - fine clay, is also between 6.5 and 7pH so, only very slightly acid. Good for pear trees, and raspberries and strawberries according to the leaflet I have read - more research to be done, as I really want to plant apples. Hopefully the top part of the garden will be slightly more acidic. Next stage, take the dried, painstakingly crushed soil - not allowed to touch it with hands - add distilled water and shake for one minute (I did time it!) and allow to settle. This stage may take 24 hours due to the type of soil. So here are the samples, ready to be tested tomorrow (if I find time) for NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium).

A year's anniversary

Wow, the first 12 months have simply flown by, I am finding it hard to believe it has been a year. It has been... interesting, lots of learning has gone on, changes in the boys lives and mine too. Salix has completed his chef qualification and is working full time. Fabien is doing work experience, which is apparently pushing him towards going back to school although the jury is still out on that, and Ivor has improved his reading and has a new teacher this year.
I felt inspired to write today, as Ivor and I spent half an hour digging up soil samples from the garden to test the acidity and NPK levels. Then I can decide which rootstock is best for the trees, which we have been researching. The results will also tell me which flowers and shrubs and so on will be happiest in the type of soil. I am already noticing certain plants struggling, and others doing very well.

As you can tell from the photos it is all quite scientific - and those are not sweets, as I hastened to tell Ivor, but chemicals for the testing! He helped me label the jars. The research into which trees comes down to me reading lots about grafting - very exciting stuff, I can't wait; plus the boys trying lots of apples and telling me their favourites 😀.  Crunchy and acidic seem to be key words here. I bought a couple of grafting knives for myself for my birthday, and intend on planting some rootstock and grafting onto them myself. I am eagerly anticipating grafting from my mum's tree in London, obviously the apples won't be the same, as they are affected by terroir and climate.


Sadly the Rose I bought is not looking too happy!

The baby raised beds - of which there are three which are in production - are doing alright, again, it is early days so I didn't expect too much.
Of the four Yes trees planted, only three have survived, the cherry seems dead, although hope does spring eternal so I shall await the winter before pulling it up. It never took. The three apple trees are fine, thanks to (somewhat erratic) watering through the dry season.
The late frosts which followed an unseasonably warm Spring killed off most of the fruit at the farm up the hill, and the pear tree here in the garden suffered too. Not a lot of jam has been made :(
On a happy note the chickens are all still alive, and had a great time being looked after by family whilst I had a short break over the summer. The eggs are fantastic.

Poisson d'avril

The following post was written in April 2016, and published in September the next year!


Well, I knew it was going to be eclectic, but I didn't realise quite how erratic it would be, my only excuse being a total lack of time between school and bring up boys and local council work, oh, and the odd minute to myself,  there are really very few of them!

Over four months later, I find time to sit down and update y'all on the project. I was invigilating the mock exams the other day, and thought I would seize the opportunity to  make a list of subjects to write my next blog entry about. I filled a page and a half of A4.

Some of the difficulties we have come across has been naming the farm. Or is it a project? There are several fields anyway, so it would be useful to find a name for each of them to avoid confusion.

Good news -  Four yes/fruit trees have been planted, three apple (two golden delicious - not my favourite apple, but very popular, and one reine des rainettes - a local apple) and one cherry tree (sunburst variety).
More good news - Two raised beds (hug-le culture) are on their way, thanks to me, Anne, and mainly Salix and Fabien, who have done some major digging. I have been up to the old garden 'stealing' plants, raspberries, strawberries, hazel trees, origano, marjoram, nettle, lemonbalm, comfrey, and poppies.
Seeds have been sown, and are starting to peep through - basil, chives, lettuce, tomatoes.
Cuttings have been taken - yellow buddleia, christmas cactii, red and white varieties, and the aloe vera babies are doing well too.

More excellent news, the chicken palace,  as it is rightfully named has been completed and eight beautiful, happy and free chickens have been duly bought and brought onsite to be loved and cared for as chickens should be, so we can steal and appreciate their eggs, and make cakes and pancakes and endless egg-based recipes.

I truly feel as though we are starting to land and rebuild my dream, food shall be coming from our smallholding, and maybe, just maybe one day self sufficiency can once again be an attainable goal. I remember leaving the UK, in the year 2000, 17 years ago, and someone saying that I was crazy, giving up my corporate life when I had my feet well on the bottom rungs of the ladder, and instead moving my pregnant self into a truck having sold my home in Sydenham. Well, I must still be mad, as I still see society's goals as twisted, and mine as the only way forward for the planet and thus for the human race if we wish to survive.

And yes, I still believe that each and every one of us can change how we live and that will make a difference. Obviously. We must all stop voting for their society by removing our money (read energy) from their system. Don't buy nutella (Nestlé, Monsanto...) - not even on a Sunday.

Alex has been busy as a bee creating and designing a Fibernacci spiral for one part of the garden, I only hope I can do justice to the hours of work she has put in, I must remember to always take the right hand turn :). The Fiberanacci spiral is based on the mathematical series of numbers on which a pine cone, an artichoke, and human heritage dna are based. Alex has created four spirals which interlink coming from a central point where I am hoping to grow a pagoda/picnic area inspired by my Aunty Tessie's outside eating area, where we would sit and eat grapes dripping from above our heads, surrounded by colours and smells and variety provided by plants grown with love.  The spirals will hopefully be themed, colour, genus, time of flowering, One of the ideas is that the garden needs a wild path crossing its entirety - wild hedging - to enable the hedgehogs, and all other necessary animals/bugs/beasties to traverse, so one of the spirals may be made up of 'wild' hedging.

Another important addition to the garden is the compost area, which has been improved immensely.
How important is chocolate?

The works begin

The project will consist of several parts; the eco-fying (yes I have made up a new word) of the modern house, the design and planting of the gardens and the refurbishment of the 'château' for want of a better word - it does have a turret after all :D
The garden is really my passion, and making the house eco-friendly thus cutting down on the bills is an absolute necessity, for the planet and the family - think globally act locally. The ruin/château/presbytère will wait until the funds are available or the universe provides.
I promised myself that for the first year I would resist making any major changes, such as planting the garden or creating the first raised beds ('yeah right' said several friends), in order to get a feel of the land, the wind, the light... That does not mean that we can't clean up. So, away with the clinging clematis - both here in the village and up at the farm thanks to Alex, down with the dreaded ivy, free the trees, the walls, the features that we discover as we rip, pull, cut and tug. So far, we have removed plants to discover pathways, a sun on a wall, a stone slab - is there treasure underneath? Pulling the ivy off the walls of the ruin was great fun, as was the fire afterwards.
Click here for a video : The pear tree freed from the clematis and ivy
Here is a picture of the completed work, you can see the piles of removed 'weeds'!
 

The clearing of the secret garden (yes I know, it is not very secret, Ivor loves showing it to people and the irony of course escapes him entirely as it is frequently the first thing he does) was begun by mum as she wielded the secateurs, defending the balcony from the honeysuckle and the turret from the ivy. The works were painstakingly completed by Hannah, who spent a few days patiently working her way round the walls, exposing them to the sun for the first time in a few years, with Hills, Fabien and Ivor removing unnecessary (imho) pines and cypress (sorry, don't really like them - at least not at this altitude) and joining in with the ubiquitous ivy removal.
Look, Alex and I found a path ;)

Hills helping Ivor - all security and safety precautions duly taken into account, of course!

The secret garden before Hannah and the secateurs and Ivor and the loppers

half way (ish)

after

yes, that is the same wall. Thank you Hannah and Hills. click here for a video :D

The front of the barn, before (spot Alex sewing):

and after - ivy on the floor now:

 

Salix dragging the ivy to the fire pit - on Moses' bike! click here for a video :D

A new project

We started our new life in a new home, a dream come true, moving in on the ninth of September this year, 2016. I still, two months and ten days later find it hard to believe that we are actually here. I really am sitting in this house, next to the fire, typing this story. I visited these gardens in the year 2000, when they were for sale, it was a farm back then, a market garden, with greenhouses, watering system and chemicals splashed and sprayed copiously. I couldn't afford to buy the place. I got to know the lucky buyers, we planted some lavender that I grew from seed in this garden! Time moved on, and so this year did Sue and Jon, who kindly accepted my offer and have allowed me the opportunity to dig in and start a new life project. And so I have become the owner (or shall be in 25 years) of an amazing piece of land, flat, walled, sandy loamy soil and untouched for 15 years so organic. A blank slate (Sue and Jon will be the first to admit that they are not gardeners), one hectare (2.2acres) on which to unleash my energy and dreams. Orchard, worm farm, herb garden, chickens, butterflies, ladybirds, hedgehogs and bees here we come, not necessarily in that order.

Why multifunctional life? I believe that is what us women are supposed to be capable of, and I guess as a single mum of 3 boys, a full time teacher (that's 20 hours a week in front of students this year) and a member of the local council with a passion for planting and global politics, any peruser of this blog may expect to read about anything and everything. #eclectic :)

Thank goodness I have help and support in the form of my ageing spinster friend Alex, (her words, not mine) my ex-neighbour Ann, and more recently Hills and Hannah, who brought their beautiful energy to park in the driveway in their spot on, kitted out van (to be proud of Hills). These four wonderful individuals remind me how empowering it can be to have people around that are easy-going, relaxed, and efficient.
So, welcome to my life, hope you enjoy the trip and let's get cracking!

Hills and Hannah with Fabien and Ivor