Project Gratitude #update 19

Well the worst bit of the roof is now sealed! No more rain pouring in, no more wind ripping off what ever tiles were remaining, no more lying in bed at night as a storm tramples over us hoping that the plastic sheet won't blow away! Ah...it's wonderful.

Without the help of the generous few who donated to Project Gratitude through GoFundMe it wouldn't have been possible...so our heartfelt thanks go out to all who made the roof repairs a reality - we're one third of the way there now roofwise and I can't say I'll be sad when the last tile is cleaned and replaced. But...that's a little bit further in the distance as we need to be able to put new insulation in as we go along the rest of the roof space. No point doing a job twice!

I've decided to reduce the amount of time spent online so I can concentrate on the important stuff...so I'm bringing the fundraising over to this blog. There'll be a 'donate' button on here soon.

NEWSFLASH!!!
Plus, if you're interested to see how we get on as we continue our journey then please do subscribe to the blog as I'm also going to follow hubby's lead and go cold turkey on FB very soon...eating up way too much time and without any benefit. It's time to concentrate on infusing light into the way we live. I seem to have many 'friends' on FB yet it all feels very superficial. I've found some great articles and gathered some useful knowledge via others posts, yet they simply end up distracting me and before I know it 2 hours have passed. It's not the same as it was years ago and I hate that they appear to be filtering what you see according to what they think you want...they even messed up Farmville 2 without asking, lol. So, after 9 years I'm going to close my account at the end of the month. If you're a FB freind and reading this, don't worry I'm going to send a message to everyone with my contact info very soon and hope that if you are a 'friend' you'll actually put pen to paper and send me a postcard or letter...yes a real letter!

Hoping to be adding some Mermie's Permie treats soon - recipes and things you can eat in the garden other than the usual fruit and veg.

Love & light for now!

Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude #update 15

Well, winter's definitely here! The last week has been extremely cold and we had some terribly high winds too. The safety of the roof is quite worrying!!! The plastic covering billowed like a hot air balloon, the wood creaked and cracked, the tiles (those remaining on the end bit) shifted, then the rain poured and the barn flooded..not a drop came through the new roof though so that's something! Seems there's a source under the land which is fit to burst because of the sheer quantity of water falling, and while the swales around the house are working well there wasn't enough time or manpower to fix a drain around the barn.

A rare duo-selfie :)

Oh yes...and the wheelbarrow got a puncture! Can you believe they make them with inflatable wheels...most stupid idea ever unless you intend to only roll it across a well manicured lawn! A new, non-inflatable wheel is 35 Euros...it's daylight robbery.

The other day was so cold (-5 degrees) that the washing I put out in the hope of it at least dripping out the excess water so I could bring it in to dry (washing machine broke - lol it's been one of those months!) that when I went to collect it at 4pm my pyjamas could stand up on their own...literally. I laughed so much, waving a t-shirt with the arms standing vertical, it was hilarious, lol.

What everyone in the country is wearing this season, lol...

Yesterday was a lovely sunny, but frosty day and as it was also dry it gave us a chance to trim some trees and chop much needed wood. The log fire is our only source of heat so it's important to keep it going once you start it in the morning...it takes an unexpected amount of effort! I've taken to watching the old Catherine Cookson adaptations to see if I can get some tips on rural life, lol.

Home-made wood cutting stand (reclaimed wood)

My watchman in India taught me well...

The new pup is settling in well and in just a week she's learnt "bed', 'allez' and 'come'...she's bi-lingual now too ;).

So we remain in hope of help and that there are at least a few friends out there who would buy us a coffee...is that you?

Love & light for now and wishing everyone on GoFundMe a great deal of success with their fundraising.


Happy New Year!

Louise (aka Mermie)

PS. Don't forget to share the link after you've deposited your 'coffee money' wink, wink: http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Project Gratitude - update 5#

27.10.14

When we first arrived at the house there was this lovely door from the kitchen through to the bathroom. Except...at the other side it was just a huge hole which had been knocked out of the foot wide stone walls, with no bracing, no support...just huge stones dangling in mid-air and a weightbearing beam on top supporting the attic floor!

The 'Hole' that folks had been passing through (over the water pipes - now defunct due to too many 'holes' lol) to get to the bathroom...

I mean...would you walk under this knowing it was holding up the floor above - and the roof!

Needless to say we decided it must be secured as top priority as we didn't want a brick falling on our heads when we went for a pee, so JC got to make his first 'wall'

Now you see him...

Now you don't :D

 Unfortunately, there was one thing we forgot to do (I use 'we' though I didn't really have my say in the matter, lol, if you know what I mean ;))...and that was to remove the door and frame. We can still do it, but it might be a bit more tricky now the wall's behind it. I may just make a feature out of it.

A lot more walls have materialised since 'The Hole' was filled. I think JC's found his new vocation; from 'IT professional' to "Bob the Builder'. Can he fix it? Yes he can! :D,

Don't forget to share, share, share...and DONATE! Would love to get the roof on soon.

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light,
Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude - update 4#

27.10.14

A few pics to show what we've already been doing in just the last 5 months.

The gable end...needs attaching to the roof now

Managed tomatoes, carrots, radish, salad, courgettes, potatoes...not bad for a small space

Here were salad, carrots, beetroot, basil, corriander, parsley, gherkins and now many, many cape gooseberries are getting ready to be harvested!

  
There's not a single day passes when we don't do something productive...It's starting to get cold now though and it would be great if we could raise enough funds to finish off the roof so it actually meets the new gable end...covered in a huge plastic sheet now, but with the high winds we seem to be having a lot of there have been a few sharp intakes of breath I can tell you, wondering if it's going to fly off.

In fact since I posted this update just 17 days ago a small hole has already appeared in the cover on the top corner...grrr.

It's not just the house and garden that gets a make-over either. When there's enough extra cash available I splurge on the odd tin of paint...

Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Satprem's work all snuggly stored in a nice clean and light cubbyhole - even a small space for 'Mermie's' creations ;)

What looked at first sight llike it needed burning is now a core storage space in the kitchen that has no 'cupboards

 Lots more before and after pics to create, it's just balancing the time between needs and fancies.

Don't forget to share our journey and dream of creating an EMF Free Retreat (it's already EMF Free..just not much of a retreat unless you've got a tent or a caravan - in which case you could still contact us if you really need to get away from the waves and ground yourself...Ps. no alcohol allowed and we're vegetarian too, lol).

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light until the next update.
Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude - update 3#

Sometimes I just need to be creative, this was one of those days :D

26.10.14

A day indoors today for me...and a bit of creativity. I made the house sign out of a piece of old wood. Feeling very grateful!

Starting with the bare basics...old wood, paint, pencil, sandpaper and the design sketch

Starting to take shape...had fun with my fingers for the background colour

A new sign is born...taking front and centre stage are the latest pumpkins from the garden

 The 'hand-writing' of 'gratitude' was inspired by the handwriting of the Mother, mine's nowhere near that neat. Mental note to practice writing better, lol.

Until the next update don't forget to share and donate if you haven't already done so...just 1 Euro = 1 brick!

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light
Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude - Update 2#

20 days ago we received our first donation from a complete stranger!...

I posted:

Our first donation...thank you sooooo much! It came just in time as we ran out of cement yesterday :)

What we started with...

The barn renovations are coming along nicely and hopefully we'll be able to get some chickens installed within a month! I miss eggs a lot - only once in a blue moon have I caved in and bought so called 'free range'...though I know they're far from free or out on the range.

Actually it's only possible to post 3 pics on Gofundme so I'm happy to add some more here...

Tyres to absorb heat...

The chickens are gonna have a stronger front door than us...

The reclaimed tyres are coming to us for free from local garages who normally have to pay to get them removed...so our investment in the big white van was worth every euro. Plus, we have some very generous neighbours who've let us take away their unwanted materials, or sold us some second hand stuff like tools really cheap. We had only a small hammer and a screwdriver when we arrived, lol.

Home-made scaffolding

Despite constant cries from JC (hubby) that he 'needed' some scaffolding he managed very well without once he saw how much it cost - almost 1,000 for a decent and sturdy set! Bricks on the other hand are multi-functional, strong and resistant and 1 Euro each...

Polly le Poulet

We did get an early visitor from across the lane. Polly le Poulet (Polly the chicken), an ex-battery hen, decided to come and test out my succulent salad leaves. Since her first visit she comes every couple of days for an inspection and sometimes brings a friend or two...needless to say I planted more salad because we have been privvy to the odd delivery of their super fresh and tasty eggs from GG the neighbour. This is what we call the social aspect in permaculture ;)

Don't forget to spread the word and the funding site link:

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light
Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude - Update 1#

Just 3 months after the project page pic and you can already see the difference a bit of hardwork, some recycled materials and some sand and cement can do...the roof panels on the barn were purchased new. Still need to get real windows for the veranda to replace the plastic sheets.

The gravel areas in front of the house are actually 2ft deep berns to help restock the water table with rainwater runoff after the water collectors are full.

The circular 'green' area is my 'herb' circle, presently planted with black radish, salad, rosemary and some flowers.

Love Louise (aka Mermie) & Jean-Christophe

'Project Gratitude' is born!

After returning to Europe in 2012 after living in India for 7 years I very quickly began to develop EMF sensitivity to the point where I can no longer support being in an environment where there are mobile phones, wifi, dect phones...and the like. As you can imagine it means there aren't many places left other than home. Home in Ile de France, Paris for almost a year was the in-laws 3rd floor apartment 50 metres over which loomed 3 mobile phone masts. There were 2 'smart water meters' in the toilet...and that was just our apartment. The minimum RF(microwave frequency) measurement, all day long, was 0.25vm2 (Bioinitiative safe level being 0.02vm2!) Needless to say I was tired all the time and didn't go out much.

Hubby is also a sufferer and his lymph nodes had swelled to a worrying size and neither of us are able to work outside home because most places (offices, trains, planes and even the local doctors surgery) now have wifi and nearly everyone has a smartphone/tablet...all of which causes me to get an instant headache, nausea and worst of all heart palpitations which can be very frightening. It takes a day to recover from a short supermarket trip. It's a debilitating and very real malady, and it causes us to be severly disconnected from the world.

So, we finally managed, by the grace of the divine, to find an old farmhouse in the remote Auvergne countryside, 4km from the nearest mobile tower and with a calm 0.01vm2 reading. However, using all our funds to purchase we have run out of resources to repair and to build our dream - which is to create a self-sustaining, profit generating homestead where other EMF sufferers can take long or short term refuge away from the waves (nearly all hotels now have wifi too!).

Here's the deal....There's just the two of us; we survive on around 500 Euros a month (from the state, which doesn't pay me because I'm not French) - which is ok and we're very grateful; I've managed to grow enough food to sustain us in the 5 months since we came and am studying permaculture and medicinal/wild plants; and we've repaired as much as we could before our budget ran out. We're recycling all the materials possible and have found free sources for certain things like wood and tyres for future building.  We're not lazy and I try to get freelance editing/VO work but it's slim pickings I can tell you.
Project Gratitude is a project being built on thanks and with love and sincerity.

We desperately need funds to:
- fix the roof - 15,000 Euros
- get the bathroom plumbed and a shower installed (presently taking bucket baths and flushing toilet with waste kitchen water) - 3,000 Euros
- create an income generating food forest and aquaponics system (a la permaculture) - 2,000 Euros
And then, if we are blessed to do so and because we are so thankful that we have a safe environment, we would love to be able to offer others a microwave free place to stay which would consist of four double occupancy solar powered cabins with individual shower/toilet - approx 20,000 Euros.

As it seems that crowdfunding is the way to go to raise cash for viable projects I searched around and found 'Gofundme.com' which seems less comercialised than the likes of Indigogo.com who seem to send marketing only for the techie projects, nearly all of which are based around 'wireless' (read 'wifi and microwave emitting') techology. And so 'Project Gratitude' is born! There are a few updates I posted there which I'll continue to repost here for now until we set up a separate blog - not having time to sit at the PC much (nor the inclination to be honest).

Check it out and please, please, please donate and share the link...if you can spare the price of a cup of coffee or lunch we'll use the cash for cement and roof tiles :D

Every euro, every cent, every blessing is received with gratitude!




DONATE NOW!

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & Light
Louise (aka Mermie)