Peter Shield

If you are registered as Exploitants Agricole then you have the same rights, and obligations, as French citizens.

As for the cob house, it depends on whether it is classified as a temporary structure or a permanent one. This makes a big difference so it is worth trying to find out. A temporary structure, such as my poly tunnels, do not need a building permit. You have to make a declaration du travail, this can still be turned down by the local Mayor or planning authority, but usually only in environmental grounds.

FYI agricultural land sells at 500E per hectare here in the Haut Corbieres. Check with SAFER who will tell you the average price per hecatre of land in ech department of france

All the best

Pete

Sorry to hear your news. This year in Southern Europe has been hard. Don't give up on the olive trees. Prune them back hard and see what happens.

Our neighbours had a similar experience last year when 1,200 hectares of land on the other side of our mountain went up in fire. We organised a series of working days to help them out and were amazed at the level of support, both from the alternative community and from locals, the local Mayor, usually a pig headed mule of a man, made all sorts of municipal equipment available. We had a couple of nights of music and food to raise a bit of money, local wine makers gave wine, the hunters gave a deer and a pig to roast, their fellow stand holders in the markets gave vegetables and cheese in such quantities that we had to give some away at the end of the evenings.

They are now back on their feet and growing again.

Reach out to local friends, our experience is that people want to help if you give them solid tasks to do.


All the best

Pete

David Livingston wrote:Here in France you can off set things that increase your properties efficiency against your income tax . Which would be great if ever I earned enough to pay income tax

David

David, as a certified organic farm in France I get a 2,500 euro tax break, as my revenue is below the minimum wage they send me a cheque for 2,500 every year_ which is very well received.

Pete

As already suggested, watch out for them there buds, but give it ago. A shady spot to the north of the house might slow things down t a more normal rate as well

Pete

Joy Oasis wrote:I actually do not eat gluten for several years already and very rarely eat other grains as well. Aspirin never helped me with migraine at all, but meadowsweet might have different compounds too. But so far -no headaches with magnesium use, so it seems, that the main cause then for me was magnesium deficiency. Maybe that's why if I wouldn't eat the whole day, I would get bad one. I always thought it was detox, but now I think it was magnesium levels.

Sounds like you have nailed it. As a ceoliac I find a gluten free diet much healthier than a gluten diet, especially if you avoid the 'Guten free' processed food and actually make your own.

Best of luck

Pete

If you don't suffer from asthma then Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria, is a natural aspirin, and easy to grow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipendula_ulmaria

Good luck

Pete

For box schemes, and markets,one of the most important thigs I have found is recipe advice- the simpler the better, as well as a few words about the nature and benefits nutritional and medical of the product. I sell organic herbs and find that people's knowledge outside of parsely and basil is quite limited but a few words of advice and pointers on the hows and whys helps folks to experiment.

All the advice I have been given seems to indicate that the most important ingredient is patience, the general rule of thumb is that it takes five years before you really know if you have a sustainable business, that is the time it takes to larn the profession, build up a loyal clientele, both individual and professional. Find the right markets and outlets and, most importantly, find the right balance between production and marketing. (I'm at the three year point).

One more thing about markets, it is important to find a spot and stick in the same place-it is amazing how blind people are, loyal clients will bithely walk by without a hello if you move about in a market. It is better to have a bad spit consistantly than be bouncing about. We stay in markets in our off season as well, mainly to remind people we still exist, talk to folks about what they intend to plant next year- and because we live in a remote rural location and an important part of our social life is talking to clients and other producers

Here in France quite a lot of work has been done on BRF- bois raméal fragmenté- roughly translated as fresh small branch wood chippings. If you read French here is a good allround information site http://www.brfgeneration.fr/ and of course wiki https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bois_ram%C3%A9al_fragment%C3%A9

My experience has been very positive, with a few things to watch out for. My land is typical south of France garrigue, thin top soil on a calcium bedrock, very rich in minerals and totally lacking any vegetable humus. So the idea of BRF instantly appealed. It also helps that I have 50 acres of youngish green and white oak forest that I am slowly trying to whip into shape by cutting down the smaller trees and trimming the older ones.

As I work though the forest we chip up the fresh, and it has to be fresh branches, mainly anything under 5cms width, only the oak and chestnut as pine resine is a big no no. We primarily cut in Autumn and Winter because of the heat and fire risks of Spring and Summer. The woof chippings are then scattered on herb banks and garden as well as the vegetable patches up to a depth of 20cms. This is best done in Autumn, November is good. What we have found is that at the start of the process the chippings suck up nitrogen before they start to break down so a quiet period is essential to start the process.

After 5 years of doing this every Autumn we now have a good depth of rich soil, equally important for us is the water preservation qualities of a good mulch as well as the heat protection it offers the roots.

Happy gardening

Pete