EWhat if children’s stories told nonsense? I will explain to you how this strange questioning came to me. Once upon a time there was summer vacation. On a hot August morning, my wife, my two sons, my parents, my sister, my nephew and I, authentic smala embarked in two cars with thermal engines, took the road to visit a cousin, who had just moved in with her companion (physiotherapist-osteopath-ski teacher) and their two young children (a boy, a girl) in an old mill in the Pyrenean foothills.
There, in the heart of this promised land, this young couple, having left the Bordeaux conurbation, was going to be able to live a new life closer to nature, more frugal, reconnect with old know-how whose transport-work-consumption logic mostly keeps away. They didn’t really explain it to me, but I also see it as a way of giving meaning to their existence as parents, of coming to terms with the world they hope for their children. And to be honest, I find it truly admirable. In town, even if you can try to grow cherry tomatoes on your balcony and wish for a less carbon-rich tomorrow, you always end up buying an industrial turkey cutlet, an imported kiwi and barbecue sauce at the Monoprix.
We finally arrive in this amazing place and park on a carpet of crushed tiles. There is a beautiful little stream there, permaculture plantations, chickens. While the two other couples in this fledgling community chose to restore the main building, my cousin and her partner undertook to build their straw house themselves, not without watching a few tutorials and following a training course. After pouring the slab and erecting the wooden structure, they began to pile up the bundles that form the base of the walls, regularly helped by volunteers who come to train in this ecological and collaborative construction method. “We had a great summer, full of encounters! », rejoice the neo-builders. When it has sufficient density, straw, in addition to being 100% natural and economical, is an excellent insulator. It is also a durable material, since the Feuillette house, built with this technique in Montargis (Loiret) more than a hundred years ago, is in good shape.
Questioning
After visiting the site, while we have lunch in the shade of a tree with an excellent pasta salad, I try a little joke: ” Ultimately, The Three Little Pigs told us nonsense! » My cousin’s companion smiled knowingly. Could it be that a simple tale told to generations of children, where straw and wooden houses are systematically swept away by the breath of the wolf, has contributed to the disqualification of eco-responsible construction methods? Are the Three Little Pigs horrible agents of influence in the pay of the world of construction? Some are convinced of it.
You have 60.78% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.