Stay in village house and help create a food forest in Pyreneus, France

Detalles

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  Descripción

  Introducing the place. I live in a little village. It is less than 3 hours by public transport from Toulouse. It's a small home and a great Food Forest in construction. I am passionate by this garden since I moved here not a long time ago. I prepared everything little by little but it's truly some challenge for me. There is so many things to do every single day. I planted hundreds new plants and trees, I'm installing a chicken house, fruit trees, water places for animals and I try to find ways to create more food starting by more soil, fast like with the Syntropie agriculture... In that forest, I also take new born tree and I transplant them to save them from getting dry in Summer. They could form more soil layer, or bonsaïs or I can give them away after two years. The list of plants as the list of work to do is infinite! Concretely just now my food forest is becoming very interesting with some wild forest garden, a mountain stream down and three constructions. A new vegetable "potager" (vegetable and fruit garden) is like a bubble inside primal untouched forests all around. I have also a fire place in my home, therefore I should prepare wood for heating my 5 months winter... Home is 1mn far by the road from my food forest. It makes the Forest Garden even more silent and wild 300 far from road. You will find peace in this garden, I love that life! It is simple. My small comfortable house is where I can be welcoming people in a peaceful environment for having beautiful life time.
  
  Introducing myself. Hello I'm Cyril, 55 springs old. I live in center Pyreneus in a small house. I am building a food forest on one 2000m² forest land 1 minute far from my house. We are 2 but only me is gardening. I have a lot to do! That's why I decided in May 2024 to start sharing the knowledge and the adventure of building my food forest. It's totally new, I never did such a thing. However it's my second year here after one year of observation. I have two half-wild cats sharing my home in an half-empty village which is 6km far from closest town, on a fast road down a valley towards high peaks. It is just after biggest city called Saint Girons, therefore I used to call it the suburban Saint Girons 😋. There is a public bus 6 times a day to go in 6 towns around. Surrounded by wild green mountains, the remote place brings me peace everyday, while it is big heat in summer in Saint Girons, here we can breath and enjoy shadow and fresh air on the magical hammock.
  
  Forestry and so. Building a food forest consists of planting or seeding various 120 new species of plants and see. This is how I try some best way to keep plants alive and test my future food forest. I observe each capacity of providing me food, at least they should give more biodiversity every year to my garden through Syntropie powerful cultivating. The soil always needs to be improved. This second year is mostly focus on some flat part of 400m² food garden. People didn't planted or cultivated it before. It is advantageously been untouched. What remains off this flat zone is mostly one kind of 25 y.o. forest. It is 1600 m² of sloppy good soil. It has lot of local biodiversity. Some part of it (300 m²) was a prairie for donkeys. Almost two years have passed and I have observed and improved the food garden near water (stream). On this flat part I'm always experimenting a kind of syntropic agroforestry. For the forest part, I'm beginning to let dry the cutted wood in order to be able to be heating during 5 months my small house in winter. In my forest the number of trees are infinite as there are every spring hundreds of baby trees growing up. They are in many varieties. I started to save them from summer dryness and I have a collection of ''bonsais'' now.
  
  Your organisation. During 4 days you will have tasks of gardening during 3 hours morning and two hours afternoon. I will provide discussion and explanations before andit will be only about creating the food forest nothing else. I decided to offer 3 days (at place of 2 normally) each week in order for you to discover the Pyrenees by yourself. You can use it for trekking, painting, writing or visiting... Because I know that Pyrenees is good for that. Profit of it!
  
  Bedding and shopping. About life outside the food forest, in my small home, I like to cook, I like to be helped while cooking and I also can provide the best ingredients you like if you want to cook. I have no car but I shop 6km far in Saint Girons every week thanks to my ebike . Hitchhiking is also particularly easy all around Saint Girons. Atm I can provide only one couch for one woofer but I plan to install more for two woofers in the future. You can also help for doing this space more woofer friendly if you like. I already share my home with some dear friends (like writer Veronica Perez -- see the hammock photo) during 15 days with happiness and confort.
  
  Conclusion. I am a peaceful person and I think you understood already that I love calm and silence. That's why I chosed this green and full of birdsongs place. However I'm also happy to share some music or some stories, as well as other skills, like cooking, painting (I have an oil painting atelier), languages, and even meditating/yoga or why not writing a book? I am native French with fluent English. In addition, during 20 years travels, I mostly lived with local people with whom I learned, at least during a few months and even sometime years, various languages. Hopefully I remember something and can share a few sentences in 7 other languages: Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish, Spanish and Italian... Nearby my place there are great towns with swimming pool, spa, cultural events, many festivals in summer, good local products, many neo rural people with permaculture interest like me and other sustainable activities to visit or participate... My home being on some road for hiking in high mountain, I will offer 3 full days every week for you to do trekking, painting, writing or to simply visit all the beauty around... Marvellous inspiration and great trekkings are infinite all around! Profit of it! Pyreneus is famous for it in all France.
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  Intro. Bonjour. Du haut de mes 55 printemps je vis en plein coeur des Pyrénées. Là je construis depuis bientôt deux ans une forêt comestible sur un espace de 2000m². J'ai commencé seul pour le moment. Maintenant je peux partager cette merveilleuse aventure avec quelqu'un d'autre. Mes chats (2) trouvés lors de mes voyages et moi sommes dans un village proche d'une petite ville bien connue localement Saint Girons. Ce village est facile d'accès par la route. Il n'est qu'à 6km de Saint Girons sur une route de montagnes qui mène au coeur de hauts pics parfois enneigés. Mais ma forêt comestible n'est elle qu'à 400 m d'altitude. Le vert des forêts sauvages qui m'environent et ce village très calme m'apportent toute la tranquilité dont j'ai besoin chaque jour. Alors qu'à quelques kms les villes et villages sont plein d'activités diverses et variées. Toulouse est à moins de 3 heures en bus ou en trains.
  
  Forestrerie. Construire une forêt nourricière consiste pour moi à planter et à semer régulièrement une centaine de nouvelles espèces ou variétés de plantes et à les observer. Ensuite j'essaie de comprendre comment les garder en vie. Dans l'idéal je compte sur elles pour me donner un peu de nourriture saine chaque jour toute l'année. Si elles s'installent elles devront au minimum améliorer la vie du sol grâce à la Syntropie. Le sol n'ayant pas été destiné à la plantation au départ, ma première action a été et reste toujours de sans cesse créer plus de profondeur de sol pour un meilleur succès lors de les nouvelles plantations.
  Je me concentre cette deuxième année sur un espace plat de 400 m², une sorte de verger/potager. L'avantage qu'il n'était pas prévu pour être cultivé c'est qu'il a une grande biodiversité de plantes et arbres locaux qui peuvent déjà me servir pour pratiquer la Syntropie. J'ai le nouveau livre de Anaëlle Théry si ça vous intéresse. Les 1600 m² qui restent sont en pente et forme une forêt de 25 ans environ, entourée d'une autre sorte de forêt, plus vieille ou plus primaire et quasiment pas entretenue. Une autre partie de 300m² est formée d'une prairie très en pente où poussent des arbustes en bonsaïs depuis quelques années. Vestige d'un temps reculé où deux ânes y pessaient. La forêt commence à être plessée et à être coupée pour me servir de chauffage l'hiver en formant des bûches que je dois laisser sècher deux ans.
  J'utilise également les méthodes de la Syntropie depuis bientôt un an pour améliorer le sol et planter mes nouvelles plantes nourricières, en partie basse, avec le maïs et le tournesol sur de petites parties, avec moins d'ordre que la Syntropie demanderait mais avec un certain succès l'an dernier...
  
  
  Vie quotidienne. Pour la vie à l'extérieur de la forêt comestible j'aime cuisiner, être aidé quand je cuisine et donner les ingrédients de ce qu'on souhaite cuisiner si désiré. Je n'ai ni voiture ni permis de conduire mais un vélo électrique, c'est suffisant pour faire quelques courses à 6 km en roulant sur du plat. L'auto stop est facile aussi. Ma petite maison est confortable été comme hiver et j'ai déjà invité un ou une amie (comme Veronica voir photo) à rester jusqu'à 15 heureuses et confortables journées. J'ai un bon lit à fournir et j'ai passé mes nuits au salon plutôt que dans ma chambre sans inconvénients pour prêter ma chambre. Je vais aussi dans doute pratiquer du woofing à la journée. On peut discuter d'hébergement ou de camping en forêt (voir photo).
  
  Conclusion. Vous l'aurez compris le calme et la vie paisible est d'une importance cruciale pour moi. C'est pourquoi j'aime tant cet endroit choisi il y a un an et demi. Le vert et le chant des oiseaux forment le quotidien dans la maison. Et j'aimerais les partager avec vous. Ça ne m'empêche pas non plus de beaucoup aimer partager des moments de discussions, de musique, à cuisiner, à raconter des histoires de voyages ou autres récits fantastiques... La peinture à l'huile est aussi une autre passion, mais elle reste optionnelle cette fois, la plupart du temps réservée à mes longues veillées d'hiver. D'ailleurs il y a des sortes d'ateliers dans le jardin forêt à aménager si vous voulez. C'est la peinture qui a formé ce que je suis devenu aujourd'hui, et cela depuis 15 ans. Pour les langues et les voyages, ils ont aussi façonné ma vie depuis plus de 20 ans. La randonnée aussi. Quatre journées pourront se dérouler avec 2 heures le matin et deux heures l'après midi dédiés à la création de la forêt comestible, après discussion et explications. Je prévois de laisser randonner, écrire, visiter ou peindre durant trois autres jours par semaine au lieu de deux. Je sais que les Pyrénées s'y prête à 100%.

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  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos

  Jardinería

  Construcción y bricolaje
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  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  I have a oil painting atelier if it's interesting for you to learn to paint art in oil. In Saint Girons, small but famous city, you could learn all around about its "neo rural" activity, if you are interested by permaculture and biodiversity. I live by my paintings and when I moved here, I immediately focused on having new plants, and following permaculture and syntropie for a future food forest. This became my passion and I paint much less than before for that reason, for the moment. If like me you want to learn how to create Forest Garden you are more than welcomed. I hope to learn new stuff from you because I would love for sure the energy of new skills, new ideas and daily enthusiasm of my guests!

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  Proyectos con niños

  En este proyecto podría haber niños. Para obtener más información, consulta nuestras directrices y consejos aquí.

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  Ayuda

  Plants, tree, wood, chicken or ducks, creativity or construction and isolation in the house, totally making my space more useful and beautiful. It will be our task and I like to receive ideas and new knowledges from others. In addition to many plants in two flat small gardens, there is 1600 m² of sloppy forest and stream space. It is enough to create many things like treehouses or other sustainable experiments in the middle of oaks, pine trees, other unlimited various trees and plants, big and tiny. I would love that you want to share your knowledge of nature, animals, but also maybe music, oil paintings, building, wood constructions, yoga, meditation... But most of all I need your help in order to create a great start of Food Forest.

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  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido
  Francés: Fluido
  Español: Intermedio
  Italiano: Intermedio
  Czech: Principiante
  Portugués: Principiante

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  I was a French teacher abroad. Now language exchange is not compensatory. Just an option.
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  Alojamiento

  One room to sleep with comfortable bed.
  
  I like cooking, being helped while cooking, any food is prepared by you sometimes. We will shop food together and I'm ready to provide ingredients of what you prefer eating. At the moment food doesn't come a lot from my new garden but there are some kind of aromatics and so. Chicken or duck eggs production still need to be installed. I have many stuff from my neighbour for building one chicken house. But I need to deal with the fence and fixing it a bit. Then I'm ready to buy chickens or ducks, but having no car I can't go very fast with this task. Help with some car at the beginning would be awesome for that reason. For buying plants too. But having a car is not compensatory.
  
  All normal comfort is in the house with one guest room or a comfortable bed in the living room. As it's a shadowy village here, therefore the airco is only for heating in winter along with some big fireplace. Therefore your guest room is a bit cold from November to April. It is green at the window with birds all remaining of time and not too hot in summer. You guess it is an ideal place during hot times.
  
  Note : There is also another possibility to create and isolate some other room space in the attic. You need to help sorting and installing this if you like this place. The house is 80 m² with this now messy attic space. But this only an option, another idea that I had, if you'd like to participate in this isolation / construction by building a second guest room in the attic it's marvellous!

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  Algo más...

  There are buses passing by and going to small city Saint Girons 6km far. I have bikes. Mountains with famous extraordinary trekkings are everywhere around. The village is 400 metres only altitude. I'm all right if you go and have time to visit around during 3 days a week. I totally understand it. It's a fantastic and very touristic wild place around, huge and high. Mountains are everywhere. People are hitchhiking very easily all time of the year. I often see them even walking on roads because the views are beautiful. At the end, my only principles are peace, silence and wildness acceptance for the garden. Be ready to climb sometime up in forest with good shoes. At the end I put some hammock at the most beautiful part of my place! The Magical Hammock for one to have some resourcing peace.

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  Un poco más de información

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    Acceso a Internet

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    Acceso a Internet limitado

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    Tenemos animales

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    Somos fumadores

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    Puede alojar familias

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  Puede acoger a nómadas digitales

  Internet is wifi, fast but no internet or signal in garden.

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  Podría aceptar mascotas

  I have to cats therefore small animals only are possible. Please ask before.

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  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Uno

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  Horas esperadas

  5 hours, 4 days