Living in a Hansel & Gretel tiny home often breezes the air of fairy tales through our busy days. It tempts us into giving more than average attention to romance by using the abundance of wild flowers to charm each other and having full evening sunset dinners frequently. Adding to that, this is George Sand’s territory, author of the famous words “Il n’y a qu’un bonheur dans la vie, c’est d’aimer et d’être aimé.”
Before letting all the pink rise to our heads though, this is also farmland and these two characteristics often don’t comfortably mix. I fondly remember our first dinner outside, right after having acquired this place. We both put a lot of effort into creating the perfect atmosphere, but just as we sat down the neighbouring farmer decided it was his time to start spraying his crop. Chemicals, we feared, immediately moving the party inside. As we are a bit more at ease with local customs nowadays, it was probably a mixture of something natural with cow piss. A mood changer, nevertheless.
We have learned to live with these discrepancies in French rural live. Practical matters have come to dominate our thoughts and have changed our daily routine. I still do love a man bringing me flowers, like I. did the other day when he returned from his morning walk. Not for a minute do I think he was surprised nor mortified that instead of reciprocating this expression of his love for me, I send him right back to get me lots more. I mean, the man brought me Chamomile. Why on earth would I want to waste those on a vase when I can dry them into tea?
Practical matters have come to dominate our thoughts
Trying to make ones life sustainable is more than a personal choice and almost automatically leads to a multitude of decisions you have never even thought of before. On this website we share what works for us, or woefully no longer works, obviously without claiming the same for you.
We hope that our journey towards a supplementary comprehensive celebration of nature’s beauty might just clear a pathway forward for you too, perhaps challenges a revealing reconsideration, or simply provides for an equally indispensable diversion.
Can we change the world through food? We believe we can and we support Slow Food, a global movement of local communities and activists across more than 160 countries. Together we defend cultural and biological diversity, promote food education and the transfer of traditional knowledge and skills.
Beautiful photos! 😊👍
Thank you, very kind.
How far from Paris? Or a town…looks lovely.
Hi Jena, we’re about 3 hours from Paris by car. Thanks!