Open Thread - Homesteading in France
Night Skies
When we first arrived in the rural center of France, we were so surprised to see the intense night skies. The stars are brilliant, and the constellations are easy to pick out.
There are some reasons for this. One is that not just in France but rural areas of Europe have been emptying of people, so even less density of population and night lighting.
Throughout France in villages and townes there is a widespread practice of turning off the town street lighting between designated times from late evening to early morning.
Going home after an evening out with friends can mean that the 'extinction eclairage public' is in use.
It is very, very dark. This is the time for the Leonids (h/t) Snoop. But we have had a low almost marine-like layer of hanging clouds and slight misty rain. There has been almost no wind, so our wood smoke is sinking around us. We are using high burn stoves, but we can't keep them full throttle all the time.
People in France have a fairly cohesive daily schedule. In by ten at night is usual, with house lights out by eleven. There are swathes of fairly darkened areas. You can be on a highway and slide right by a town or hilltop village after certain hours, and you won't know there is a village of 2-3000 souls just off to your right.
We went past the fairly abandoned hamlet of Vezelay where 'Chocolate' was filmed, and didn't know we had passed it until we consulted a map later.
Another source of darkening at night, is the almost universal use of shutters (volets).
Volets are used for privacy, retaining heat in the winter and keeping the house cool in the summer.
In France and Germany, all houses have exterior shutters. However, they differ in look and material. In France, shutters hang outside to the right and left of each window. In larger buildings, they are folded into the outside window frame. They can be made out of wood, metal, or—in the case of newer constructions—out of vinyl. They’re frequently solid in color, which also provides a visual identity to the houses. For example, in the region where I spent my vacations as a child, the houses were white, and the shutters were blue.
Using the volets in the sunny weather is good for security while still allowing breezes to come through at night. This doesn't prevent bug and insects, so we have a mosquito net over our bed, which works very well. Bats are my only concern especially in Fall when they might follow a moth into the house.
In cold weather shutting the volets each evening to retain heat and provide security is a routine we all are used to.
Each volet has its own hardware which usually has arms which slide into notched or drilled holes reachable from inside the house to allow full or partial closure of each half of a window or door shutter.
There are many stories about using the volets to hide belongings in a house from the tax man and the inherent sense of a secure habitation that is a sacred realm of the individual. Interiors of houses are regarded as very personal, and French people do not go into a house without specific invitation to the inside. Once there, the communal rooms are public and the bedrooms and baths are private.
The ritual of opening and shutting volets, is a way of feeling connected to the rest of France on any morning or evening. All around France people are opening or shutting their volets.
Cycling News: 2022 Tour de France
Comments
Enchanting, fairybook lovely
The hanging garden along with the volets in the final picture----just gorgeous.
NYCVG
Hey there. It looks like it's
south France. The type of stone and colors, plus the tiles.
This was fun to put together.
We need beauty in these dark days.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Shutters are a great idea!
For warmth, cooling, and storm protection.
There are several dark sky places around Earth.
https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/finder/
Full day yesterday...four loads of gravel spread and a truck load of horse manure ready to spread in the garden tomorrow. Light rain expected this afternoon.
and for something fun...(37 min)
These kids are competent and healthy!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7flqYaVi8jc]
Have a good day everyone!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks so much for the
links. That video is for this evening.
Your energy and daily work puts us to task! Enjoy your homestead.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
I remember seeing a wonderful YouTube video
about people repopulating old deserted villages in Spain--picking up the land cheap and founding what are essentially communes. Great show; if I find the link again I'll post it.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
A beautiful film
Thanks LO!
I used to ride bareback as well.
The pony didn't like the saddle
or humans much either. It was
always a battle with that one.
Your color scheme is great
Very lively looking. Violet volets.
Something I found this AM re: French Dictionary
https://www.rt.com/news/540626-france-words-language-politics/
The darkness of night is brightened by the hazy clouds backlit by the full moon lately. Should be a partial lunar eclipse tonight, go goodbye night lights.
Merci bien nos OT
À bientôt
The news about the education
minister is very welcome. I hadn't seen it before.
What we really need is to shake off the grip of globalism, the hypnotism, and viewing the US as the shining object to reach for. This path still lingers.
Macron needs to go.
I do hope you get to see the eclipse. It should be beautiful.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Wow, that's beautiful.
I loved the movie Chocolate, though I thought it should have ended with them joining the gypsies. A perfect compromise all around!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
You can see the window the mayor ends up
in at Vezelay. I liked that movie. The first time we saw it we went out afterwards and drank chocolate steamers. Yum.
Good to see you.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Bonjour DM. Love the shutters, esp the fact that they are
functional. In CA a lot of homes are/were built with fake shutters bolted to the exterior wall beside the windows, which are also widely promoted as an aftermarket visual enhancement. I would wan't regular window screens inside them however. I don't get along well with the classic over the bed mosquito netting, and it isn't simply unfamiliarity, I've spent sufficient time in Africa and central+South America to be past that. It's just the way I toss and turn, getting up at night and getting entangled and such. Pretty such that the bot fly I got in Panama did the deed in a place where we were relying upon such netting.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
We have rigged the netting so that it is above our heads
and stretches to our knees. Screens can be roll ups inside the flower boxes. We must have flower boxes.
The link in the shutter section has something about US fake shutters and how Europeans make fun of them.
With our deep window and door cavities we have room for a lot of things in our sills.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
That was beautiful,
thank you. Love the photos as well. The thick walls and wide window sills remind me of adobe style construction in the southwest.
Shutters are a great idea. We use a pulley system to raise and lower 2 of our shutters. One is off of a screened-in porch which we only lower when the rain or wind is coming from that direction. The porch stands up high off the ground so we wouldn't be able to reach the shutters otherwise. I enjoy your example of the different solutions to the same problem (i.e. keeping the in inclement weather out) that are used in your area. Most people don't use shutters here and I think they are a good idea. I like the shutter hardware photo, I'm not sure I could find that hardware here.