Rebecca Lavallee

When we bought our property in France we too had a wish list.

At first, we were okay with a fixer-upper house but eventually, we realized we did not want to spend all that time making a place liveable especially if we wanted to develop the land. So we wanted a house that was ready to be lived in even if it needed a bit of polish. Next, we wanted outbuildings-- we ended up a huge attached space with a huge stone barn, a large garage, a space ready to develop into a second living space and a 5 bedroom house.

We wanted water- a stream or river access but we ended up with access to a spring on our neighbor's land, not soo far away from our place but unfortunately, not on our property. We plan to store a lot of water that falls on our roof--there is a lot of roof!...and a lot of rain in the fall and winter but not that much in summer, so storing water, wither in the soil or in storage containers will be a priority for us.

We wanted fairly decent growing soil--we looked at the farming nearby and figured it must not be too bad. Most of our land has been covered in grass for many years, so we have a clean slate more or less to do with it what we will. We did not realize it was as rocky as it is but we are working with that as do all the farmers in the area.

We wanted to make sure it was not downstream from a farmer who used pesticides. Since we are on the crest of a hill, I think we are safe there.

We were looking for at least some of the property facing south--the area where we plan to put in our kitchen garden is so, though we also have to deal with the shade of large trees from the neighbors.

Speaking of neighbors, our place is in a hamlet. We have very sweet French neighbors who are very helpful to us. I did not want to be isolated but we are finding the neighbors are a bit too close so we are redesigning the driveway and planting a green barrier to give ourselves more privacy.


We live a 2 km walk from our town that has a grocery store and a few other shops, and the bigger town is about 22 km away, two cities are 60 minutes away. Having access to civilization is important to us--and also, since we do not live there full time, getting there from the nearest airport-either 2 hours or 5 hours drive away.

One more thing, beauty and/or cuteness or potential for it.

Anyway, once you find your place, you live with it, good stuff and not so good, but you make it your own and start loving it because it is yours

Hi Leigh,

The title of your book really resounds with me as we also have 5 acres and a dream. We bought a 5-acre property in France 3 years ago...but we live far far away in the United Arab Emirates. How can we "do" anything? Well, for one we have arranged for a local tree surgeon to dump his wood chips on our property while we are not there. When we do visit, we spread them in the area where we hope to have our "potager" or kitchen garden to build good soil. So far we have also planted trees and perennials, dug a few swales, The first year we owned the property, I attended a permaculture course,..but while taking the PDC increased my knowledge, it also highlighted so many areas where I lack knowledge or skills. For now, I read read read- I am an armchair farmer with big dreams.

I realize starting small is so important. as is doing one thing at a time. I get so distracted with all the options-pastured hens, intensive grazing, silvo pastured pigs or sheep, orchards, ponds, and on and on. We might eventually be able to do a bit of some or all, but I know, start small. and until we live there full time it is hard to start much at all.

BTW, we also homeschooled my 5 children from 1993 to present, in Canada and in the UAE.

So I look forward to reading your book and applying much of your expertise and wisdom to my situation.

Best,
Rebecca L

Hi Leigh,

The title of your book really resounds with me as we also have 5 acres and a dream. We bought a 5-acre property in France 3 years ago..
Best,
Rebecca L

I know this an old post, but it so happens I have been thinking of fava beans as I think about planning my kitchen garden.

I added them to wish list because I use them instead of chick peas to make hummus. That might sound sacrilegious to some, but I prefer them.

Hi!

This topic discussion is so timely for me. I took a permaculture course where the site ahd a grey water reed bed that led into a pond with fish . Though it was discussed briefly, I did not glean enough information about it to put it into play.

I have a property in the French countryside with a septic tank that is said to need replacing ( according to the inspector). Seems like the right time to be looking at all the option before we decide what to do! I love the idea of cleaning water in a natural way.  So I am looking forward to this discussion and the information that will be offered.

Thanks!
Rebecca

My place is in France, growing zone 9b

I have a large courtyard defined by  light-stone buildings. My half of the courtyard space is about 1/4 of an acre,

The area slopes south/southeast, is in full sun for most of the day, should be protected from the northerly winds, and should get some warmth off the sun hitting the stone walls.

I REALLY want lemon tree. Any chance a it would survive the winter? Other citrus?

I would love for people to share their experience with growing citrus successfully (or not) in temperate areas.

Thanks!

Hi!

My husband and I have 5 acres in France, mostly grassland, on which we will not live permanently for another 2-3 years. In the meantime we plan on visiting it only 1-2 times a year.

My husband will be visiting this fall, which could be a good time to plants some bare root trees (fruit and nut) and shrubs(hedgerow and berries) since they will be well watered by winter and spring rains.  We thought he might plant up the "super guild" with the walnut and apple trees described in Gaia's garden book since we already a mature walnut tree. If we mulch the baby trees well,  could this be okay,  or are we wasting out time and money? ...they will be ignored until at least late spring.

How about now in summer: could I plant potted trees if I cannot water them after mid-August but mulch them really well?? The next time they would be checked would be October/November.

Other suggestions of we might plant that will survive our neglect?? We are anxious to get things started but it is really hard if we do not live there!

Thanks for any advice.
Rebecca

I am glad to see this post thread about rocky soil.

My husband and I just purchased a 5 acre property in France with very rocky soil. The whole region is rocky, but the land is obviously fertile as lots of crops ( sunflowers, corn, wheat etc) being grown.

We are not going to be moving on the the farm for a few years but want to at least improve/prepare the soil when we spend a few months here now and then. I have planted a grape vine and a few other perennials, shrubs etc, mostly to get a feel for the soil, see how things grow. I am happy to say plant are doing well at this point, so there is something good i the soil . Thatsaid I think I have seen two worms in all my digging!. Just that bit of planting was a lot of work: for every plant we put in the ground we removed an incredible amount of rock--I am surprised to find any soil in between sometimes! I used some of these as mulch but mostly we just removed them to make a pile for possible future use.

I have an area of about 900 m2 for a kitchen garden. It is currently covered in grass and weeds a few trees. Initially I thought of doing a compost/cardboard/mulch treatment, but after reading and listening to all sorts of opinions, and realizing I am not ever likely to be able to get a broad fork or shovel into the soil because of the rocks, that perhaps digging through it once to remove the bigger rocks ONCE and them building up the soil would be a better option.

My husband are also thinking of getting a complete profile of the soil. However this is expensive--the testers come to the property to dig a pit etc etc. Since we are not  that young, we want to get things started up right--we do not want to experiment and tweak too much, but start things up as best we can right from the start. Has anyone ever done this kind of analysis? Did you find it useful?

I would a appreciate more ideas and thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Thank you Marcus

I am hoping we could make some use of the cedar but the prospect of lumbering and storing the wood seems daunting. In any event we will probably have to pay for tree removal of at least two of the trees.

I have the video Beyond Organic Orchard from a farmer in Quebec  but I have not seen the Permaculture Orchard. I will check it out. No matter what I view or read on the subject, pruning a fruit tree feels like a mystery. I think I will cut too much and the the wrong branch.

Hi All,

My husband and I just purchased a 5 acre property in southwest France. The previous owners were obviously in love with pine and cedars.  Many of them are planted too close together on the east or south side of the property, and as such shade each other, shade either the south side of our house or prime flat gardening space. My impulse is to cut most of them down...what a shame to cut down a tree,, even a cedar.

Mostly I want to cut down the huge cedars that shade the house on the south side of the house, right on the spot we probably with place the greenhouse.Also, along two driveways/small roads along two side of our property lined with several kids of pines/cedars, we are thinking of thinning them out considerably, leaving only about  So suggestions, caveats, and so on before we reach for a chainsaw would be appreciated.

We have a long neglected English walnut tree (I am pretty sure that is what it is) but I am not 100% sure as there are no nuts on it this year. I speculate that it might be a combination of a rather large ivy growing all over it, a late frost this spring, and being planted in the shade of two trees blocking out some morning sun. Is that possible? In any event we have removed the ivy, thinned out the two shading trees ( we will cut down eventually) and  pruned most of the dead branches. I really would like to bring this tree back to full health but do not really know how. I would appreciate advice/pointing me in the right direction.

What is the best resource for pruning fruit trees? We have 3 cherry, a prune, a pear and a few unknown as they have no fruit this year.

Any sage advice on any of my issues appreciated. Thanks for your time in answering!