France
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27.11.2022
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Our project is the brainchild of Paul & Yvonne, a Dutch couple (in our late 50’s) who (will) emigrate(d) to the South of France in late 2022, to get out of the corporate rat-race and become 100% self-sufficient in food, water and energy.
We have bought a 5ha 'green valley', surrounded by forests, in the South-West of France, close to Montauban (50 km north of Toulouse), to build our farm/food-forest, based on 100% renewable (solar) energy and zero-waste!
Based on the concepts and ideas of Martin Crawford, we are building a food-forest with a large variety of nut and fruit trees and various species of berries and herbs; all in a controlled forest environment. All our 1-year edible food (salads/tomatoes etc.) is available from our ‘no-dig’ vegetable garden. A part of the valley will be for a small animal-friendly farm with a rare breed of pigs (Noir de Bigorre / Berkshire / Tamworth), some hens, ducks, bees and our 2 dogs.
For the last 30 years we have worked as ex-pats in many countries across Europe; Paul as a commercial director in large global IT-companies and Yvonne as a teacher in primary school. as expats, we have lived in Germany, England, the Netherlands and from end 2022 we will settle permanently in France; we are fluent in all these languages and can help anybody getting better in any of these.
We have just started, so (in the first half of 2023) a lot of construction/preparation work is still underway, both in the food-forest (clearing-mulching/planting), the gardens, the farm (fencing – buildings) and the energy infrastructure.
After 30 years of contributing to CO2 emissions and pollution, we want to spend the next 30 years reversing that damage and become CO2 negative and wasteless. With our own solar farm, we will generate (almost) all energy for the house and the farm and by stocking energy during sunny days, we will have enough for the nights.
We hope you will join us on this mission! Paul & Yvonne
Aide avec des éco-projets
Jardinage
Bricolage et projets de construction
S’occuper des animaux
Aide dans une ferme
Being experienced in life and international environments we can help with languages, help understanding cultural differences (work and life) and encourage some soul-searching. We are parents to two mid 20-ers so we have seen most of it, first or second hand.
For late 2022 and early 2023 it is mostly:
1) priority number 1 is fencing the orchard / vegetable garden (some 220 meters of fences of 2m high) to make sure the deer from the forest don’t eat the vegetables and fruit-trees we will plant
2) infrastructure for the vegetable-garden: preparing / making the vegetable beds - composting, building polytunnel and greenhouse
3) water-infrastructure; we have a small lake on the property and need to build the irrigation from there
4) the smallholding/fencing for the pigs needs to be constructed (another 280 meters of fencing / 1,20m high)
5) making pathways (800meters) and fill them with gravel (295 tonnes)
6) forestry: clearing parts of the existing forest for the foodforest
7) assembling the chicken coop (and chicken fencing)
8) and after this a lot of planting (trees, shrubs, vegetables)
Langues parlées
Allemand: Courant
Anglais: Courant
Hollandais: Courant
Français: Intermédiaire
Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
We are fluent in 3 languages (and Yvon is even a teacher for expats in Dutch-English) and we would love to learn better French (and some Spanish).
For our guests we have 2 modern rooms (approx. 24 m2 each) with kingsize beds in each room; a shared bathroom w shower/bath for the 2 guest rooms. All meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) are shared 'family' meals with a typical French breakfast with eggs from our own chickens .... (all free of course).
Our eco-farm is in a secluded, private valley, although only 5 minutes by bicycle to the town of Monclar-de-Quercy (with some basic shops and a small Carrefour Contact). At less than ½ hour are the beautiful medieval cities of Montauban and Albi. Nearby are many towns with lovely farmers markets, with the one in Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val being the most famous one. The Mediterranean is a 2 hr drive, as is the Atlantic and it is also only 2hrs to the Pyrenees. We can provide 2 e-bicycles.
Accès Internet
Accès Internet limité
Nous avons des animaux
Nous sommes fumeurs
Familles bienvenues
We have a separate room on the ground floor which can be used 'as an office' some hours of the day, the guest rooms are private with adequate seating. The Wifi is ADSL high-speed and will be fiber in summer 2023.
Free parking on site (facilities with water and 220V in-house).
... depends on the dog ... (no cats as Paul is highly allergic for them).
Plus de 2
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
