Weeds Weeds Weeds

It's a long time since i last wrote, this is our busy season........weeds weeds weeds. Dan and Suzanne from America helped with weeding the onions, I guess this was one of their main not very glamorous tasks. They left about two weeks ago. The following Tuesday I picked up Ricardo from the bus (half Brazilian, half Italian), he became like others before just very naturally part of our family, he left this morning - we will miss you. A more dedicated weeder we couldn't have wished for and such good company. I have few photographs Ricardo. Just never seemed to get round to taking shots outside.

Sam & Ralph

We've been so busy that I just haven't felt I had the time to keep up this diary. We are now on the eve of Sam & Ralph leaving, well what can I say?! We will miss you, you rapidly became part of our family, helped us with all you could. We enjoyed your cooking and hope to meet up again. You know there is always something to be learned here. Their first day they were thrown into the last of the onion 'repiquage', followed by putting up more fences to keep our sheep out of our produce, irrigation of potatoes. Our friend Yura from the Ukraine arrived and suddenly we have a building site. The roof is coming of La Clede. At times our kitchen turned into a cyber-caf leaving me either bemused or irritated. The first Tuesday Sam joined me on the market, helped me cook the onion bahjees, the next week it was Ralphs turn to lend a hand. Today we planted tomatoes. I am sorry we never had a chance to put up the 3rd yurt. Well perhaps another time when you come to learn more about carpentry. My camera seems to have had brain damage so cannot find any shots right now, hope to remedy this shortly.

Growing Oignons Doux des Cevennes

In January/February we seed our onions, they are then planted out in Mai, harvested in August/September. To get the seed we plant some of our best onions from last year in march/april and let them grow a flower, which turns to seed. We harvest the flower at the end of the summer.


Boxtree terrace onions.












'Oignons fanes', these are onions we harvest at the beginning of the harvest with their green leaves on. (end June) They are then sold in small bunches with the green leaves but the earth removed.








Sam, Pete, Tess and Kathryn over at Breau crating up onions, everything is manual, hot dusty sweaty work.
Thanks to you all we got them in just in time!
The next day rain was forecast from midday. Sam Pete and me crated up at la Clede, Paul took Kathryn and Tess to La Maison neuve to get the rest in, we just managed it.

Wwoofers quarters

This is where our wwoofers sleep at the moment, we are going to move the tent though to a more shady spot. The bathroom is not the most celubrious of places BUT there is a shower with hot water, from the tent you walk through the box hedges into La Clede.

Rachel and Michelle

Rachel arrived on the bus a few days ago, followed by Michelle the next day. Two girls from California. It was our onion 'repiquage'. This is when we pull up the seedling onions and replant them wider spaced. I guess they really got a taste of manual farming.

An outing with Martin

Two weeks ago we decided to take Martin on a walk, Martin is our donkey. We walked about 24km. Left the farm, via our cable bridge, Martin not very keen to cross it!!, went down to Le Gasquet where we climbed the mountain, to arrive at the ridge, followed the ridge to Above La Clede, took some photographs, had a picnic on our land! Then followed the path down to La Bessedel, then to Valleraugue for a beer......Martin had one too! Another 3 km and we were back home. What a good day we had.

Wwoof corner

Our wwoofers from Canada arrived a few days ago, Tara & Ross. I must say it's extremely satisfying to be a host. The communication is good, lots of exchanges and we have got the work done. We have planted out many more of our tomatoes into bigger pots, planted out the peppers into the polly-tunnel.Jamie (our son) and Ross cleared the rest of the new terrace we call 'Beyond', Jamie ploughed the new terrace, we all spread the muck, and then we planted potatoes. Ratte, very yummy variety. Today we had a lazy day to start with, set up big table under market umbrellas on Riverhouse Terrace and had sunday roast, invited my parents. then Jamie and myself together with Tara and Ross planted more potatoes on Hebrard's lower terrace, M ona Lisa this time. Now they are sitting with their feet in the river below the Riverhouse, while I try to keep up this diary.

Thank you so much for all your help Tara and Ross and your great company. Hope we meet again soon.

Good Intentions

It had been our plan for many years to keep an online diary. So here we are, we shall see whether we can keep it up.
We have wanted to sign up with Wwoof for several years....and here we are- today our first wwoofers arrive. Jamie and I have set up the belltent at the end of the box hedges, above the onion terrace we call Boxtree.
Another good intention was to officially register our farm as an Organic Farm, we did that earlier this year too. Although pesticides had never been used, we used a certain amount of weedkiller and treatments agains diseases. These were gradually filtered out. I now try using natural plant extracts and fermentations. I guess Ii always had a little 'witch' in me.

Some more history

We had know the place (La Clede) for years, even stayed there one Easter holiday, it started raining, we all moved into one room as a river ran down the corridor.) But never having been put off by a bit of a challenge and 'Mission Impossible' we bought it. We saw there were large terraces just waiting to be cleared and cultivated. January 2000 we got our official farming statute. The farm had been abandonned in the 1930's, the house had since served as a family summer retreat, but it rapidly lost all its glory. No repairs were ever done, no trees cut, the jungle invaded the house from all sides. The family stopped coming. It was damp, smelly, rotten beams, heavily leaking roof and it still is!!!. We lived in the house the first winter (while doing up another property to rent out as a summer holiday home). We then started our semi-nomadic life, winters in the 'gite', summers at 'La Clede'. This all involved a lot of moving, we donot travel light! One thing I forgot to mention, we have no vehicular acces, the only way of reaching us is an 'Indiana Jones' type bridge. But................. now after ten years of paperwork we have authorisation to build a passage in the river. Already the tractor and diggers have made their way across and it is changing our lives rapidly.

The Forest Garden

Welcome to our farm.