Green Goals 2019

I am not a great one for New Year's Resolutions. For example I'd love to lose a bit of weight but I have been pretty much the same weight for the last 30 years so I accept it isn't going to happen however many times I add it to a list of Resolutions. I don't really drink that much alcohol and there's no way I'm giving up dark chocolate!!  However I do like the idea of having some green goals for the year to come so am happy to promote those.

Green Goals 2019

Finish our extension

We are building a new kitchen extension and changing our existing kitchen/dining room into a living room ... and we have tried to make the new extension as green/sustainable as possible:

• Construction is in natural materials including clay bricks, wood and slate tiles and it will be highly insulated.
• It will include solar panels to heat the water in summer ...
• and a woodburner with integral oven and hot plate that will also have a back boiler to heat water in the winter.
• Both the panels and back burner will also link through to the gite water supply.
• We will use as many recycled and pre-loved materials and goods as possible. For example our existing table is one I inherited from my parents and is well over 100 years old - we won't be getting a new one!
• We plan to re-purpose old items we no longer need. We have a very old cupboard and drawer unit that are rather damaged so they will get downgraded to the feed store where I am very short of storage space.

Our woodburner/cooker with water heating back boiler
Image from Modernstoves.co.uk

Develop our Orchard 

We are going to cut back on the number of sheep we have but have already increased our chicken numbers and we want to have them run through the orchard as well as the chicken run.  Previous sheep (and pigs) that have been in there have damaged some trees so we plan to plant new ones and hopefully the chickens will be less destructive.

Eat more veggie food

I am planning to serve veggie food every other day which, bearing in mind I am Mother to one very meat loving son could prove a bit of a challenge.  Any ideas for filling veggie meals that will help satisfy this rugby playing lad who has a large appetite will be greatly appreciated!

Grow more vegetables/fruit

To help me cook more of this veggie food without having to buy more ingredients I want to increase productivity in the veg garden.  I am already trialing method of adding leaves and kitchen compost straight into deep trenches to encourage deep rooted plants and will be contacting our local farmer to get him to deliver some more manure.  I also want to try and grow tomatoes outside as well as in the polytunnel. If we have a poor summer they may well succumb to blight but if we have another hot one like last year they should do just fine.  I also have some kiwi plants to get going and another grape to go in the polytunnel.

Grow some new vegetables

I always like to grow something new each year.  in 2019 I'll be trying Amaranth and a weird shaped pumpkin called Lagenaria vulgaria ... known in English as Bottle Gourd.  Apparently you can either eat the young fruits or let them mature before drying them and using them as storage containers. Maybe I should add - make a bottle from them to my goals! 

Image from wikipedia

Build new compost bins

My old ones are about 8 years old ad are falling to pieces. New ones are planned to be made from pallets left over from deliveries for our house extension.  And I am hoping the tomatoes will like growing where the old ones were - it should certainly be rich in nutrients!

Make sourdough and soda bread

I love both sourdough and soda bread - now I need to be making them myself as you cannot buy either easily here in France. Anyone got any tips for success?


There you have it, my green goals for 2019 - hopefully my weight will naturally go down a it with some extra renovation work/gardening although the bread may rather offset that!

Do you have any Green Goals for the coming year?