Bonjour,

Jacques is, I think, a vocational teacher. I would love to spend a year with him learning all about the things he knows and does just around his house. I don’t know the exact level of his self-sufficiency, but I was quite impressed by his home, garden, basement, and lifestyle. He hunts, fishes, gathers, grows, makes, cures, cans, dries, and has, for me, an enviable lifestyle. I will give a few examples of his work around his house.

1. This is his greenhouse where he grows vegetables all winter. In the photo, he has tomatoes, peppers, chard, potatoes, some other items, and strawberries in the pipe up on the left side.

2. He had a tub of lettuce growing in the back corner of his greenhouse. All the lettuce is growing in water, or hydroponically, and was growing with great abundance.

3. His fishpond is down in his lower yard by his garage. Karen is showing it to us. He raises trout and at least one other fish in his concrete tank.

4. Now we’re down in the basement where he has homemade deer and wild boar sausages hanging. He also has a plethora of various wines, brandies, essences, whiskeys, and aperitifs.

5. These are wild boar hams hanging and curing in the sacks and loads of canned goods from his garden on the shelves.

Voila,

Bill