Fox News

So we have discovered a fox hole. It’s quite amazing. It looks fresh and it’s certainly big. We have not seen the foxes or seen any evidence of them, other than their home.

I think the general perception is to get rid of foxes as they are perceived to be pests - but we are starting out on our permaculture journey and therefore we have to learn to embrace, although perhaps not literally, these foxes.

We intend to have chickens and sheep and therefore lambs, goats and pigs. We are considering ducks in the future as well. Chickens, ducks, lambs, kids and piglets are all a tasty meal for a fox and her cubs - so perhaps we are being naive and stupid city dwellers, come farmers, but we believe in permaculture and we therefore need to learn to work with our foxes. Living in Provence where farming is in the blood, we are used to a few raised eyebrows over our project.

Foxes are great for pest control. We know we have rabbits. We haven’t seen them, but Simba loves to eat their droppings - which are abundant. Ironically they are always on the space that will become our vegetable patches. Rabbits will eat our crops and they will also scratch at the bark of our newly planted fruit trees (again - still only at planning stage). It can kill the trees when this damage is done. So we need to do what we can to protect our crops - especially as this will be a source of income to us in the near future, therefore we must protect it in anyway we can. Foxes also eat mice, rats and birds - they will just have to become part of our eco system.

I have done some research into what will keep the foxes at bay, as I was concerned that they may be top of the food chain, therefore creating an imbalance and make us regret our decision to work alongside them. And who knows - we may still - we know that it may be worse before it gets better - as it takes time to create the perfect balance.

We live in The Alpilles and we are just north of The Camargue, which are both renowned areas for ornithology, so we are blessed to have eagles and owls here, both of which will relish a fox for dinner if necessary. Every evening we hear our resident owl, so here’s hoping that they can help keep the system in balance. With no animals here other than ourselves and our dogs the foxes are free to roam. We will obviously have to think very carefully about housing our chickens as I think they will be the first animals to arrive at Maison Provence.

In terms of looking after our goats, we will consider getting a guard animal. Many farmers around here protect their large herds of sheep with the Pyrenean sheep dogs. The issue we have with this is the level of training and the dog would need to grow up with the herd. As we are a small holding we are only looking at low numbers of animals - and my dog training experience is not great. I’m not strict enough to train an animal to perform a specific task, that could be essential to the well being of our sheep. Of all the aspects of running a farm, dog training is not something I’m that religious about. Donkey’s and Llama’s have both been recommended. A donkey would be great for the farm - we have many brambles which I’ve heard they are great at eating (as will the goats) - although some people disagree. As I make soap and creams I will experiment with using the milk in my products. So they will bring something useful to the farm for sure.

Our neighbours have chickens that freely roam - we see them on the road outside as we are lucky enough to have very few cars pass by, so I’m not too sure how they will feel about our resident foxes. I don’t know what systems they have in place to deal with predators, but we assume that as we live in the countryside they will have protected their animals well enough.

Freddie putting his hand over the hole for perspective

We had to hold Lola, our Jack Russell back. Her natural ratting instincts were leading her straight down the hole!

As with our all of our blogs this is a work in progress on our new way of life - so we will be back with updates on Fox News.