Friday 31 July 2009

Chicken (d)evelopments

The chickens have noticed a few changes since we moved onto the land full time. They enjoy even fresher cuisine.


Free range even more freely.


With access to ball sports.


Spend time with the dog.


Sleep in a newer, bigger, nearly finishter chicken house.


Just up from the chicken nursery.


Where five fluffy chicks (and hopefully more to follow) are now going cheep.

Monday 20 July 2009

Devolution accomplished

The last few steps down the devolutionary ladder were expectedly frantic.

We attempted to build the bathroom extension and, thanks completely to English mafia Nick, made an excellent start. But we didn't have enough time, so we focused our efforts on: waterproofing and laying a floor in the Shack basement for Stuff Storage; putting a joisted floor in one half of the tractor shed for Yurt Storage; sanding and oiling an 18-foot yurt frame and setting it up in the field for Other Stuff Storage; building an emergency bucket compost toilet; taking yet More Stuff (we seem to have a lot of it) to Jackie and Chris' barn; turning the caravan into a kitchen; and keeping two small children relatively happy.

Then more of the English mafia (and one Belgian: 'We don't have mafia in Belgium') pulled together to help us move - despite the heat (high 30s and beyond) and we drove away from conventional accommodation for the foreseeable future.

It's only taken three years since having the idea, two years since moving to France, countless drops of blood, floods of sweat and the occasional tear, but we've done it. Finally, legally, we're living in a tent in a field. (The devolution is so complete, I'm actually writing this on a piece of paper on a table in the shade, in biro. It probably should be a pencil. Give it time.)

Obviously, this would be an excellent time to bring this blog to an end. But I'd only have to start a new one to tell you what happens after the devolution. So I've settled instead on a simple name change. You know how I love parentheses.