Permaculture | Les Vignes Basses

International Women’s Day is a demonstration that our modern world fights the good fight daily in terms of equality, anti-discrimination and liberty to transcend gender boundaries. Some areas are making this transition in leaps and bounds whilst others are laggards stuck in their traditional ways with little or no thought towards progression. Thinking about this started a reflection process about our house build and the stereotypes which I unwittingly fought (and still fight) against on a daily basis.

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Posted on March 8, 2019 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

action, building, confidence, construction, diy, ecobuilding, empowerment, energy, fitfam, fitness, gender equality, greenbuiilding, International Women's Day, Les Vignes Basses, life affirming, mental health, Natural Building, permaculture, permaculturedesign, permaculturedesigncourse, selfbuild, selfsufficiency, straw bale building, StrawBaleBuilding, sustainability, Sustainable, wellbeing

With winter well and truly behind us I find that now is the time to reflect upon some of the successes, failures and surprises which the winter and spring had in store for us and our straw bale house.

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Posted on June 6, 2018 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

auto construire, building, community, countryside, diy, family, france, house, learning, Les Vignes Basses, Natural Building, natural materials, nature, permaculture, selfbuild, selfsufficiency, spring, Straw Bale, StrawBaleBuilding, strawbalehouse, Sustainable, volunteering, winter

Shakespeare knew where it was at; windows really are making all the difference to the house. It’s starting to feel like an indoor space now. Surprisingly we found the windows super easy and satisfying once we had all the right components. At the beginning, as with each stage of the house, it took a while to get our heads around it, and of course things weren’t standard because it’s a straw bale build! Despite the fact that everything else on the house is non standard, we decided to use standard, off-the-shelf windows and frames which made assembling the two together quite taxing at first, mainly due to the window ledges.

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Posted on January 16, 2018 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

autoconstruire, diy, doityourself, ecobuilding, france, learning, livingnaturally, maisonenpaille, Natural Building, permaculture, permaculturedesign, selfbuild, selfsufficiency, strawbale, StrawBaleBuilding, upskilling

To Render Or Not To Render

Earlier in the summer we really thought we wouldn’t be able to render the house until spring 2018. Everything we had read pointed to the fact that lime render needs to remain frost-free for three months after application. We were told by our straw bale building guru, Barbara Jones, that the only way to effectively protect it is to wrap the house up in bubble wrap each evening to protect it from the ice. So, we decided in September that it was too late and we wouldn’t be able to get the three layers on in time around the exterior of the house.

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Posted on November 24, 2017 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Guests, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

alifelessordinary, diy, ecobuilding, education, france, learning, lesvignesbasses, Natural Building, natural materials, nature, no debt, sharing, strawbale, StrawBaleBuilding, Sustainable

Anyone close to us will know that for the last couple of years our lives have been dominated by our straw bale house. After the foundations got underway and finished last year, we began building upwards in earnest on July 15th this year. The aim was to have the superstructure of the house completed by winter time.

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Posted on October 15, 2017 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Guests, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

brightonpermaculturetrust, building, ecobuilding, learning, Natural Building, permaculture, strawbale, strawbalehouse

3 Comments

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

alifelessordinary, carbonneutral, diy, ecobuilding, ecofriendly, france, lesvignesbasses, lime, limeplaster, limeputty, limerender, nature, permaculture, quicklime, StrawBaleBuilding, Sustainable

4 Comments

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures, Teaching English Online

diy, fieldlife, flexibleworking, france, lesvignesbasses, livefree, outdoors, permaculture, ratrace, Straw, StrawBaleBuilding, teaching, working

It was spring 2016, and into the vast world of growing veggies we plunged. Dan and I built raised veggie beds out of recycled pallets during the autumn of 2015, with the wonderful help of our friends Tez and Helen.

Once constructed, we created what is known as a lasagne bed. A layer of compost placed directly onto the untouched ground, followed by a layer of unbleached cardboard. Another layer of compost after this and then a lovely layer of mulchy mulchy (in the form of straw) as the final layer. This was all left to settle in peace over the winter and following spring.

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Posted on December 31, 2016 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

autumn, beer, compost, diy, france, growyourown, lasagnebed, lesvignesbasses, nature, nodiggardening, organic, organicgardening, palletrecycling, pallets, peace, permaculture, permaculturedesign, raisedbeds, recycling, selfsufficiency, spring, sustainability, Sustainable, vegetables, veggies

Once the foundations and box beam of the straw-bale house were completed, we focussed on a quick project to create a beautiful space for yoga, meditation and general chill out. The foundations for this area were made during the summer with lots of help from our friends and they served as a practice ground for the rammed-tyre foundations we used to make the house foundations. Read More

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Posted on October 17, 2016 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures, Yoga & Meditation

decking, diy, lesvignesbasses, rammedtyrefoundations, wood, Yoga

Tyres and gravel have been a consistent theme at Les Vignes Basses over the last few weeks. With a lot of help from our friends, many bad backs and copious amounts of alcofrol (surprisingly, it has come out level!), we have completed the rammed tyre foundations and the structural box beam. Read More

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Posted on October 14, 2016 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

alifelessordinary, beer, doityourself, ecobuilding, followyourdreams, foundations, france, gravel, lesvignesbasses, levelling, music, naturalliving, organic, permaculture, rammedtyrefoundations, shovel, StrawBaleBuilding, Sustainable, tea, tyres, wheebarrow, wood, wool

A major part of Permaculture is using what is naturally around you with a keen eye on reducing all waste and producing what you need sustainably. This post might not be everyone’s cup of tea but the aim is to highlight an under-talked about issue in the Western world; HUMANURE.

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Posted on July 27, 2016 by Kungfuflee

Eco-Building, Permaculture, Sustainable Futures

composttoilet, Environmentally Friendly, humanure, lesvignesbasses, loo, Low Impact, permaculture, permaculturedesign, Sustainable