About Roche Fleurie

The Building of  Roche Fleurie

 “Roche Fleurie”, which can be translated as “Rocks in Bloom”, refers to a house and garden built on an alvar, a limestone plain with little or no soil over the bedrock, in the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, about three and a half hours north of Toronto. In early summer, these expanses of limestone are covered with the yellow flowers of Sedum acre, a stonecrop (the roches fleuries).

The Bruce Peninsula is the narrow stretch of land between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.


At first sight, it is not a prepossessing place for garden making as the soil is very poor and shallow and winters are severe. However, although in USDA hardiness zone 5, it has a special climate that allows the growing of plants such as Agapanthus and Nelumbo which do not normally survive in such cold climates.

The organic garden is surrounded by a low stone wall on top of which is a 6 foot trellis. It includes perennials, annuals, rock garden plants and vegetables. Some plants are also grown outside the wall. Most things are started from seed.



The house


In 1992, visiting the peninsula for the first time, we (the writer, Alain, now a retired French translator and conference interpreter, and Lorne, a retired second-hand book dealer) were very impressed how "rocky" the place was. Not only did the limestone come to the surface in many places, but there were piles of rocks that farmers in previous generations had gathered up in the fields.

On holiday the previous summer, we had read "The Good Life" by Scott and Helen Nearing, in which this American couple explains how, without experience, they had built themselves a stone house. We were very impressed by that book and without much consideration, after having seen the Bruce, we decided to buy a property there and build ourselves a stone house!




We were without any experience in building. Had we stopped and reflected upon the whole project, we probably would abandoned the idea. However, fired up with enthusiasm, in 1992 we bought the piece of land that had the greatest number of rock piles. Since the Middle Ages, I doubt this has often been a criterion for selecting a building spot.

Alain gatherig stones


The summer of 1993 was given over to assembling the stones we would need. We would each set out with a wheelbarrow and bring back stones that were sorted in three piles: natural corner stones, stones with one flat face for the wall facing, and "uglies" to be used as filler inside of the walls. In 1994 we kept on collecting stones. In the end we used about twice the number of stones we had collected in those two years.

Stones came in all sizes, the big flat ones were used for the livingroom floor

In the summer of 1995, we started building the walls using the Nearings's "slipped form" method. We had built the wooden forms at home in the previous winter. The exterior stone walls took just over two years of summers to built. We finished building them in early part of  the summer of 1997. While we were there, we lived in a small trailer we had moved to the property.

Roche Fleurie Garden, Ontario
Stone pile and forms set up to build the wall
Roche Fleurie Garden, Ontario
Alain wiring forms in preparation for a "pour"


We had a small cement mixer and a generator to run it, but the generator produced a deafening noise, and before long we abandoned it. In the end, 98% of the concrete used (many, many tons) was mixed by hand by Lorne in a wheelbarrow. He would pour the cement just made into a bucket which he would take to me up the scaffolding where I had previously piled up all the rocks I would be needing for a "pour". I would place these rocks in the form with the concrete. This work was very demanding physically, as the forms and the rocks were heavy, and much of the work was done on scaffolding. In those years, we referred to our building project as "the Gulag".

Lorne mixing cement (one of the few thousand loads he mixed)
Roche Fleurie Garden Ontario
The house wall going up with a pile of aggregate for making concrete


In the summer of 1997, we build the roof. This was the most difficult and most stressful part of the whole project. Instead of buying ready-made trusses (we did not even know such things existed), we built the roof from scratch in the traditional method. Part of the stress was due to the fact that the roof had to be completed before winter set in as we did not want to leave an incomplete structure exposed to the elements. Another great source of stress was the fact that neither of us is good with heights, and nailing the roof beams meant hammering at the top of a stepladder set up on scaffolding about 5 meters high.

Building the porch roof


Once the house was enclosed, we worked on the flooring, then on the partitions dividing up the rooms. Over the previous winters we had bought doors and windows, mostly from Habitat for Humanity. In winter, Lorne took a course in wiring at a community college, and I took out from the public library all the books I could find on plumbing.  I had drawn myself the plan for the house and had kept the plumbing and wiring as simple as possible.

As we had chosen to build the house far from the road, getting connected to hydro was a very expensive proposition. For the same price we could get an off-the-grid system, which is what we did. All our electricity comes from solar panels supplemented when the days are short by a generator.


The trailer we lived in while building the house

By around 2004, we had given away the old trailer and had moved into the house. There was still a fair bit of work to do, but we were able to work at a more relaxed pace. In 2007, I retired and we moved permanently to Roche Fleurie.

 The Garden

I have never worked in horticulture, but I was a Master Gardener for over 15 years and, when I started gardening, I took a few courses in horticulture from Guelph University. I used to write articles for gardening magazines in the U.S. and Canada, and our old city garden was featured on two television programs.

The summer of 2007 was mostly given over to moving to Roche Fleurie, but in 2008 we were able to start building the garden. That project went much faster than the building of the house as we lived on the spot and were able to work full time at it. Given our experience in building with stone, we decided to surround the garden area with a low stone wall topped by a trellis. The stone wall rests on the bed rock. This meant digging a trench for the wall foundations.

Building the fence around the area that was to become the garden, once the house was completed


 
 All the garden beds are raised and those closest to the house are enclosed by low stone walls that were also poured using the slip form method.


Building of the stone paths around the stone raised beds
We also decided to lay flat pieces of limestone on the garden paths. By the time the paths were paved, we had used just about all the stones readily available on our 35 acres (plus most of the stones on one of the neighbour's property who had given us access).

Some of the stones used on the paths were quite big

These paths and the garden walls took about two years to build, but the walls save us a great deal of work. The garden is deer-, groundhog-, and skunk-proof (but not raccoon- or chipmunk/squirrel-proof). The greatest advantage of the stone wall is that weeds can come in from seeds blown in, but not from weed roots along the perimeter of the garden. So weeds can be brought in, but cannot move in.

The builders - their building days over
This blog is in most part a diary of the seasonal activities in the garden.


21 comments:

  1. Though I know most of the story already, it is lovely to see it told from start to finish with photos. You've both done an amazing amount of work, and the result is a beautiful and truly wonderful place.

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  2. It's lovely to see your story written out and illustrated, Alain. What a tremendous accomplishment the building of this house has been!

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  3. That was fascinating! A very interesting story that I can easily relate to. As a prof with little building experience, i built our original log cabin here, though thank goodness I wasn't building it out of rocks and concrete!

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  4. Bravo, you two. What a story! The best part about a crazy idea, c'est la fierté que l'on ressent à sa réussite.

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    1. It still remains a madness! We would never have attempted it had we known how much work was involved. For me, working with stones outside was the best part of it. I really enjoyed that.

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  5. Hi Alain, what a wonderful story of a true adventure! Chapeau :). I admire your energy and it must be very satisfying to look at your home and know you've done it all yourselves. Gardening on rock wouldn't be my thing (i'm on loam which can be a challenge too at times) but you've done a good job. Taking on 35 acres means you'll never be bored. Do you have animals too or is most of the land left to wilderness? Best wishes and enjoy your little piece of heaven, Annette

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    1. Thank you Annette. We do not have animals (domestic, that is, there are lots of wild ones) as we are away much of the winter. The land was two third meadow and one third forest. It is now reverting fast to forest except for patches where the soil is too thin.
      It is satisfying to know we built the house ourselves but at the same time it is hard to believe!

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  6. I am awe struck:-) Your story is such a hardworking beautiful story of a home you built with your hands. I can't even imagine doing that from the bottom up. Truly an amazing story. Thank you for sharing. Your home is stunning + your gardens are just beautiful. My parents live in the Northern part of illinois one of the highest points in Illinois where their property is all rock. I would assume you had no choice but to place the garden raised beds. I know in their place they can't even put a shovel in the ground.
    The rocks are something I wish we had in the city for our homes. We have a stucco home, but we have river rock for our fireplace. I sure would love to have all your beautiful rocks:-)

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  7. What an amazing story. Your home looks gorgeous and your raised gardens look fantastic.

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  8. Outstanding. You have created a beautiful home -- and garden.

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  9. What you have both created there Alain is incredible. In an ideal world I'd be doing the exact same. Maybe one day I could have such a dream.
    I think I'm going to enjoy your blogs :)

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    1. The problem with building one house is that you know what you are doing only once you have finished building it. An architect would have organized the space much better and professional builders would have made a much better job of it. However when you have made it from scratch yourself, it is a bit like a child, you love her/him wart and all.

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  10. Bonjour, je suis venue visiter votre blog suite à votre visite sur le mien. Vous avez accompli beaucoup de travaux dans votre jardin, pas évident avec des pierres et une terre rocailleuse. C'est une belle histoire ce jardin. Bravo à vous deux.

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  11. Wow ! What an inspiring story. You must have the hearts of lions to undertake a task of that magnitude.

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  12. That is one astonishing story! I am in awe....RESPECT!!! xxx

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  13. I was thrilled to read this history of your house and garden on the Bruce. Congratulations to both of you! Here's hoping we get to see it one day.

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    1. Let us know when you are next in the Bruce and we will arrange it.

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  14. I've only just now read this fascinating story, what an accomplishment! Funny just how much some of us are capable of when we don't know exactly what we're getting in to. From here on I shall read your blog with a new respect!
    Frank

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    1. You are quite right that we can do more when when we don't know exactly what we're getting in to! It was an experience I enjoyed very much but I would not recommend it!

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  15. I am amazed and in awe of this accomplishment. My husband and I read the Nearings book but we are definitely city folk. He built our stucco Tea House while working full time and teaching himself how to do each step. He also mixed cement by hand so I know what a job that is. You must enjoy the results so vey much.

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    1. We enjoy the results but I think personally what I enjoyed most was working with stones.
      Looking at it all over a decade later, you wonder about the energy you had!

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