Guest Post - Andrea from Little Buckles








Hello. I'm Andrea from little buckles blog


Here are a few snippets into our daily life in rural France, where we've been for 6 1/2 years now - trying to live as self-sufficiently as possible. Whilst my husband Scott is working hard running his carpentry business, it's usually just me, Sam and Bella (Sam attends the village school 4 days a week too). On a good day, this is more or less what we'll be doing. On a not so good day, you'll find us in our PJ's until after lunch :) 


After Sam is dropped off at school, we'll drive into the village where we'll nip into the boulangerie (Bella's favourite food is bread and pasta) and a weekend treat are the best cakes from the Patisserie. Back home, we tend to the chickens. Bella absolutely loves them and isn't scared to handle them either. They follow us everywhere and roam free around the garden. We feed them all the food scraps (and chicken food too) and in return we get regular eggs. Which follows on nicely to baking, which is Sam's domain. Cupcakes are his favourite, but on a healthier note we try and do things such as fruit ice lollies and smoothies. This year we hope to harvest lots of fruit and veg. We've already planted quite a bit and now it's the monotonous job of weeding and watering. My little helpers love mud, so hopefully they'll pull their weight too! 

We try and do a little drawing, painting or a craft project in the afternoon. After 5 minutes of complaining that I've turned the television off they do enjoy it. It took Sam a while to get into drawing and I find books such as the anti-colouring book help his imagination. Now, he gives me the best artwork. We have an art line on one wall to display all his work. 

If I'm lucky and Bella has a sleep in the afternoon whist Sam is at school, I get a couple of hours of sewing in. This 'onesie' dress was a project I found via http://www.aprettycoollife.com . If it involves vintage and upcycling, I'm hooked! I love searching for vintage clothes and fabric, but that's another story.

Around 6pm we have dinner together. If Scott is working late then we have our dinner when the children have gone to bed, but we try a few times a week to eat together. I've recently started a weekly meal plan which is going well. I'm much more organised with cooking times and having the right ingredients. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner! Sam has a 4 course (!) meal at school, so we don't pressure him to eat at dinner time on a school night. p.s. I've sampled a school dinner and they really are fantastic here. 

Finally, bath the kids, read a story or two and lights out!

Thank you Lou for giving me the opportunity to guest blog. I've really enjoyed it. Andrea x

Blog: http://the-buckles.blogspot.co.uk/
Etsy Vintage Kids Clothes: http://www.etsy.com/shop/petitbonhommevintage?ref=em
Etsy Vintage Homewares: http://www.etsy.com/shop/rhubarbandapples?ref=em


*sigh*
I think I could do with some French self sufficient life.
Andrea's blog is full of beautiful images like these and a real snippet into life in France.
Her son Sam is now bi-lingual and they are fully embracing all things Francais! 
A real inspiration.
Go have a look and feel like you are on holiday...
Oui oui... alez!
x