The last month has been filled with unexpected events which have made those weeks quite busy. First came Alejandro and Jonathan from the Work Away program. They stayed about 2.5 weeks and gave a push on the renovation of the 280 m2 roof. At first, the plan was to open part of the roof, then fix the structure, make it water tight and then move on to another section of the roof.
So, one day, the guys started removing the numerous tiles using this handy ramp construction. Once the tiles were off, we discovered the real state of the wooden construction.
This roof needed to be done long time ago! Mike discovered a rotten beam at the ridge which was infested with carpenter's ants and needed to be changed immediately. So the plan changed and ALL the tiles had to be removed at once!
The new beam was installed and the work could go on.
And then ...
Dan fell through the floor of our attic onto a set of stairs meters below. He was brought directly to the hospital: broken shoulder blade, 4 broken ribs and on top of all a pneumo-thorax which mean that he needed to be kept under observation to avoid collapsing of his lung. They kept him 5 days on observation in the intensive care before discharging him to the medical ward where he stayed another 2 days. His situation stayed stable and on Friday August 31st we were able to bring him home: that was the good news. The bad news was that he is not allowed to fly for 3 months ... How can he get back to Canada... by boat? Up to this date we are still trying to find the best answer to this complicated situation. In the meanwhile, Dan is healing well and that is the most important. He is "back to work" :)
The roof is in full action for about 6 weeks. The old wood have been removed, beams have been replaced, re-enforcement have been done where needed, new wood have been laid, a vapor membrane have been installed and the strapping have been carefully measured to ensure the right fitting of the tiles.
The roof in now straight!
Numerous tiles.... at one point, there were tiles everywhere! We are cleaning them, sorting them and bringing them back on the roof. Labor intensive! And thankfully we have had amazing help during this whole process. Richard have help us nearly every day: this is quite amazing ! BIG APPLAUSE !!!! Paul is a local artisan which have been there to help Mike with organizing and the detail aspect of building a "french roof". He has spent long hours in the full southern sun as well. Beside our 2 young work away'ers, Vivian (colleague at the Biocoop), Gari (our Spanish friend) and our neighbors Ed and Linda have all offered to come help us. There is a saying: Many hands make light work. I am not sure about "light" but it certainly make this kind of work possible.
The front of the house is finished, the scaffolding can go. Mike and Paul are installing the solar panels on the second half of the house. Those panels will serve to heat water for the floor heating system of the main house. There is a chimney for the wood stove in our apartment.
To this date: this chapter is closed! Thanks again to everyone who have been there for us, greatly appreciated !
Visitors
Once again, we have been lucky to get visitors from abroad. Dan came from Canada and Eveline arrived in September for 1 week. I am really happy to share my daily routine with a girlfriend such as Eveline. Eveline chose to come while I was on vacation which allows us to do many activities together.
We took care of the chickens, harvested (cherry)tomatoes and potatoes, made a 5 liter batch of peach leaf "apéritif", went for walks and had good chats. With Eveline, we finally met the owner of the Café de la Place in Aulon. Her name is Marguerite, she will turn 90 next year! This lady doesn't serves coffee... At Cafe de la Place you get a beer, a glass of wine or some liqueur. If you are lucky, you can probably have a Coca-Cola served in a glass bottle.
The garden
Our garden have been producing a bit of everything we had planted. The plants that were attack by hail earlier this year have grown somewhat stronger. Some harvest will serve as seeds for the coming season: think mostly about chickpea and dry beans. One vegetable that just keeps on coming are the zucchini's !!! and ya, what do you do with zucchini's that weigh 1 kg each? Daily, we have a vegetable soup, in which a zucchini have been added. Beside this, I have made zucchini fritter which I have stored in the freezer for "emergency meals".
I have made a couple of zucchini cakes which were quite nice. And, I have rasped nearly 10 kg zucchinis to let then slowly ferment in jars. Fermentation is an easy and cheap way to preserve food.
Something special in the green house: a Siam Squash.
I had not planted that one, it just appeared and I had to look on the internet to find out what it was. This squash in enormous! I have read that once cooked, the texture of the flesh is like vermicelli. With half of the fruit I will make "angel hair jam", a Spanish recipe. We will eat the rest as a vegetable, just like spaghetti squash. It will be an experiment.
In the green house I have also planted a kiwano, an african cucumber.
The fruit is heavy. It will have to mature and turn orange before being able to eat them. I'll talk about it in the next blog.
Ya, I guess, it always could be worse :)
