Cottage & Countryside Living
Bonjour!
I didn't think a week could be overfilled with things to get done but alas I have been proven wrong. We closed on the new farmhouse on Wednesday and it of course had some hiccups. The seller's notaire was having computer issues so we had to do things old school….pen & paper. 44 pages later and a slight cramp in my finger, we got the keys! So off we went to our new digs to make a to do list & start bringing things over from the cottage. Boy is the to-do list long…between the inside of the house, the gardens, the orchard, the outbuildings and oh the flower farm land, it was hard to know where to start.
We knew the first priority is getting the flower farm up and running as this is going to be a main income source for us. Our game plan is a divide and conquer: do the stuff we know we can do and hire out the stuff that is a bit more than we can tackle. We decided to first get all the overgrowth tackled. The previous owners didn't cut the grass at all this year so it was ridiculously overgrown and in some cases as tall as me. I found a rental place just a short drive away to get us a brush mower (tondeuse à gazon) and a rototiller (motoculteur) and they delivered it for me. It took us 3 days between the brush mower, our battery operated lawn mower & weed wacker to just get the the grass cut down as be able to access everything. In the flower farm area we discovered a ton of peonies and bearded iris which I have started to dig up. I'll be dividing them and placing them in their new permanent homes in the flower farm. I know what colors the peonies are as they are still in bloom but the iris will be our mystery crop for next year. But it's about 3k worth of plants that I don't have to buy for the farm which is a win/win.
After long days at the new house, it was back to the cottage to complete our punch list as we have our first Airbnb guests for the season staying this Friday. We needed to finish tile, paint, trim and more. But it's really coming together. Our stuff from the US finally arrives on Tuesday so we will be playing switcheroo (furniture) between the cottage and the farmhouse. This week's is going to be another busy one:
Finish punch list
Move kitties to the new house
Prep for Airbnb guests
Get quotes for tilling the farm
Order appliances (had to push this off from last week)
Movers! (They'll be there for 2 days)
Oh and it's also my birthday week. Of course the hubby wanted to do something special but I told him when we are all in the new house, the cottage is ready and all the flowers are in the ground, then I'll have some cake.
à bientôt
Jenna
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