Be the change you wish to see in the world
Change is a regular part of life here at Les Vignes Basses. Whether it be changes to the straw bale house, the permaculture plan, the off-grid house systems, how we grow food, or our mindset, change is always an adventure. We love to share these changes in our approach to life in the hope that more people will find the motivation for an adventurous lifestyle that is both rewarding and more at one with the world around us.
Happenings at Les Vignes Basses
As we and the land at Les Vignes Basses evolve, so does our way of engaging with people. We run courses, or perhaps retreats is a better word, in an effort to empower people to take back control of their own lives through building with natural materials, Yoga, meditation, and fostering a sense of community.
Check out our upcoming ‘Intro to Off-Grid & Debt-Free Living’ courses. Based on a need for both simplification and resilience in our lives, we are offering three one-weekend course in each of September, October and November. Click here for more details.
Ferrocement Water Tanks
Whilst building our own Ferrocement Water Tanks with many helping hands along the way, we realised that if we could do it, anyone could do it.
Having lived with two of these water tanks providing all our water needs for three years now, we decided to create a little ‘how to guide’ with the beautiful visual help of illustrations from our friend, Berre Daneels.
The book was published by Permanent Publications and is now available.
We hope it will be useful for those who are thinking about building their own domestic water storage as it is suitable for most climates, except the harshest cold regions.
Consultation
Following on from our Ferrocement Water Tank guide, we thought it might be useful to offer a consultation service if you are thinking about or are in the middle of creating your own water storage tank.
Guest Appearance on The Lifestyle Entrepreneur Podcast
We are deeply humbled to have been twice invited onto Sue Parker’s Podcast ‘Lifestyle Entrepreneur’.
Over the course of the two podcasts, we talked about the whole spectrum of love, life and the universe, but focused particularly on:
Shaping your own destiny / Finding freedom and joy in simplicity / Realities of living off-grid / Abundance in life and what that can mean / Self belief and empowerment / Resilience in our modern times.
We hope you enjoy the conversations and would love any feedback you may have to share.
Sue is a good friend of ours, along with her family she has been a part of our project from the very beginning. We truly much enjoyed exploring the subjects together and feel immense gratitude for her energy and openness 🙏
Featured in Permaculture International Magazine
We have been lucky enough to have had a couple of articles documenting our project published in Permaculture Magazine. It is great to be able to tell the story of the straw bale house and share it with people all over the world.
The articles look at both the straw bale house and its building as well as the off-grid nature of the house, most especially the water system.
Our most recent article features in the 2022 Summer edition – PM 112 and is outlining why we chose the ferrocement water tanks and what they have brought to our lives. It is the back story of how we came to create the Ferrocement Water Tank book, which guides readers through the process of creating their own.
Guest Appearance on ‘Lose Ur Blues’ Facebook Live Webinar
During the height of the pandemic we were asked by an old friend Hema Bajaj to come on to her innovative live show and talk about a debt-free lifestyle. It was an enlightening exchange and one which we enjoyed muchly.
Who are we?
We are a couple (triple with the cat) of dreamers striving for a more sustainable life in the French countryside.
We love the adventurous side of life, believing every new challenge is just a new adventure waiting to happen.
Living harmoniously with both nature and within ourselves is very important to us, as is sharing, hosting and meeting new people from around the globe.
Musings…
Les Vignes Basses 