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SuomiDifficult to believe we are less than a month away from the official midsummer's day in France - June 24th this year, interestingly close to the UK/EU Referendum date. Well, at a rather more local level we have the 2016 'BruelFest' to celebrate/commiserate these events. And, as planned from last year, we are renovating the old bread-oven at the house, so we can bake and serve pizzas and bread.
Over the last couple of months we have been looking more closely at the oven to see just how much work is required:
Over the last couple of months we have been looking more closely at the oven to see just how much work is required:
In one barn there is both the bread-oven and the machine for grinding the grain for the flour. We have looked at the grinding machine, and once we had removed a lot of the dust and mud (we think there must have been flooding at some point) we've found it is in surprisingly good condition. As you can see from the pictures, there is a hopper into which the grain is poured and this feeds down and is ground between two grinding stones - these are in good condition. The mechanism is driven by a wheel that is attached by a belt to a steam engine or tractor attachment:
Anyway, this renovation is a slightly longer-term proposition - but seems quite realistic. The immediate plan is to get the bread-oven working - again, as you can see from the pictures, it is in a good state:
The interior and roof (a brick dome, beautifully built) and the ventilation systems are all in place and, once we had checked these, the next stage was to unblock the chimney:
Again, no problem and in the autumn we'l use some of the old stone tiles to build a 'chimney hood' in the old style, to prevent water getting in buit avoaid having to re-block the chimney. But over the next couple of weeks, Remi (he's the one on the roof and the 'spark' behind getting the BruelFest going), will do some pointing work and then do some test 'firings' (including a sort of steam cleaning - whereby the oven is heated up to a high temperature and then water poured in - and then all the gunk that the steam shifts is scraped out). Then we'll do a couple of practices shots, making some pizzas, and we hope that by the day of the BruealFest we'll be offering oven-baked pizzas and aperos for folks on arrival! That's the plan!!
After the BruielFest, assuming all has gone well, we'll see what will be required to renovate the oven to 'permanent working' status, so we can use it on a regular basis - and it can be a feature for guests and, we hope, particularly fun for children who can help making their own pizzas and design their 'toppings'. Ever the optimists.
In fact, the ovens used to do a lot more than bread - and there would be a 'firing sequence' that would start with bread, but then include meat and, finally, cake baking. So, one step at a time, but we want to make it part of what we do for the 'Nichoir Chambres D'Hotes'.
In the barn next to the bread-oven and flour grinder, there is a forge - and we have been looking at that and what sort of state it is in. More of that in the next Blog post - but we hope to have it working for the BruelFest and be making iron nails as a 'mark 1' venture.
What has been remarkable in this development is how genuinely interested our young neighbours have been - they have been pro-active in this and we would not be doing it without them. There is a hands-on commitment to learning about and gaining expertise in the 'old craftsmanship' - and a real hope that this can be preserved and will be integrated into a viable career. One can only hope that this is somehow supported. We are too ignorant of what state/regional/local aid is actually helping and how 'smart' the policies are in capitalising on this commitment and integrating with new technologies. Can't help being interested in what's going on - old habits die hard, and maybe we can do something practical in encouraging and facilitating these 'energies'.
We will now do an occasional 'blog post update' specifically on the bread-oven and forge restoration.
What else then? Well, a bit more prosaic - but can't resist updating on how our garden plans have been going. As we have related, we have been less than pleased with how our 'wildflower area' and its millions of seeds has been progressing - but, there has now been a little bit of progress ... it is looking a little more like a wildflower area ... and the view across the pond to the area is starting to look a little like we intended:
After the BruielFest, assuming all has gone well, we'll see what will be required to renovate the oven to 'permanent working' status, so we can use it on a regular basis - and it can be a feature for guests and, we hope, particularly fun for children who can help making their own pizzas and design their 'toppings'. Ever the optimists.
In fact, the ovens used to do a lot more than bread - and there would be a 'firing sequence' that would start with bread, but then include meat and, finally, cake baking. So, one step at a time, but we want to make it part of what we do for the 'Nichoir Chambres D'Hotes'.
In the barn next to the bread-oven and flour grinder, there is a forge - and we have been looking at that and what sort of state it is in. More of that in the next Blog post - but we hope to have it working for the BruelFest and be making iron nails as a 'mark 1' venture.
What has been remarkable in this development is how genuinely interested our young neighbours have been - they have been pro-active in this and we would not be doing it without them. There is a hands-on commitment to learning about and gaining expertise in the 'old craftsmanship' - and a real hope that this can be preserved and will be integrated into a viable career. One can only hope that this is somehow supported. We are too ignorant of what state/regional/local aid is actually helping and how 'smart' the policies are in capitalising on this commitment and integrating with new technologies. Can't help being interested in what's going on - old habits die hard, and maybe we can do something practical in encouraging and facilitating these 'energies'.
We will now do an occasional 'blog post update' specifically on the bread-oven and forge restoration.
What else then? Well, a bit more prosaic - but can't resist updating on how our garden plans have been going. As we have related, we have been less than pleased with how our 'wildflower area' and its millions of seeds has been progressing - but, there has now been a little bit of progress ... it is looking a little more like a wildflower area ... and the view across the pond to the area is starting to look a little like we intended:
Aren't those water-lilies beautiful by the way? Up they slide from under the water and, within about three weeks they are just in full flower - lovely:
Along the walkway structure that we built, the climbers that we planted are obeying orders and starting to clamber up .... so, we'll see some progress this year and then we hope that by next year the structure will start to be 'clothed' in the roses, honeysuckle and jasmine that we planned. If it's one thing that gardening teaches it's patience!
And lastly, we have in the last couple of weeks - to time with the warmer but still wet earth - completed all the vegetable garden planting ... and are very pleased with the results ... things seem to be thriving and we have planted a much greater variety than previous years - so, we'll see how things go and we hope that our visitors can enjoy what we have grown:
Oh, by the way, in the last post there was an audio file with our frog songs! Unfortunately if you access the Blog through email you cannot get that file - the only way is to go directly to the website Blog at www.lebruel.net ..... you know it's worth the visit .......
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