The day started today with a beautiful rainbow, which was captured in the featured image.

During the past two weeks, we have been working a lot on our plans. The design for the first Gîte was revised together with Florian Hartmann. Today, we have received the final plan.

In the garden we discovered four artichoke plants while making our compost and pruning area. 🙂 We looked for a sunny spot for them and found a protected, warm place in the sun in front of the old dry stone wall. Using an earth auger, Andreas dug a 250mm diameter planting hole for each of them down to the water-bearing layer at a depth of 1.5m, and filled them up with composted stable manure. This way, the heavy-feeding artichokes not only receive light and warmth but also have access to water and nutrients in abundance.

We are very excited about the results. It is new for us to learn that artichokes develop taproots with a length of up to 2-3 meters. These young plants are still far from that. 😉

In addition, the planning for our first vegetable beds is underway. For this purpose, we will divide the present terrace with slope by an additional step. This will create two flat areas for permaculture.

The tomato covering is also in planning. After all, the approximately 150 tomato plants, grown from lovingly sent seeds from Aunt in Botnang, need a covered outdoor space. However, we are currently waiting for the plant pots so that the seedlings can be pricked.

So that we can cook and bake more in stock, after bricking a base in the earth cellar, our freezer was put into operation.

Heike is in the process of importing the Swabian pretzel and pretzel roll culture to the Ardèche. The second attempt with a modified recipe is already promising. Once the bakehouse is ready …

Andreas baked the first leek quiche in the Ardèche. To add some magic to the dish, Heike transformed a simple salad with fresh chives from the zinc bathtub into a delightful creation.