Ted and Cyrils' Cheese Farm, Laugraulet, Southern France

Oh yeah....ahhhhhhhh we find ourselves back in the country-side, this time with the fresh air and the splendor of Southern France!

Day Three on the farm

My first impressions of Ted and Cyrils’ farm were; the beautiful 300 year old barn with long drop toilet (pictured left), the cold tiled floor and huge fire-place of the kitchen dining area, the simple dinner of soup, hard home-made bread and cheese (both hard and soft goats cheese – yum), and the apparently sparse, cold, dusty dark caravan that would be our living quarters for the next 10 nights, surrounded by sheep and their poo!  Geez I thought, for the first time on our journey we’ve arrived at a place where we’re going to be roughing it for a while......

Two days later things appear very different - my first impressions were well off.  Actually I feel quite silly for ever thinking that - we’re not roughing it at all.  The weather is gorgeous, the countryside is stunning, our caravan is incredibly cozy, and the work on the farm is varied and interesting (4.5 hours per day – very reasonable in exchange for great food and board).  We wake up with the sun (and the sound of the milking machine) each morning, work for a bit, have a lovely breakfast of bread with various home-made jams, cheese and coffee, work a bit more, have a fantastic lazy long three course lunch (including dessert), read all afternoon in the caravan, have a walk in the stunning countryside, a lovely hot shower, a yummy usually salad dinner, more reading and then a cozy nights sleep in our very comfy double bed with the curtains and window open, a light summer country breeze tickling our skin..  We then wake up to the soothing morning sun (or lovely cool breeze) to do that all over again.

Ted cooks up amazing meals from whatever she has from the garden, the cheese room, the market or the neighbours at the time.  I have been busily scribbling down ideas and ingredients to try out myself one day.  Cyril also cooks at times and has a host of other ideas.

I am inspired.  I’ve been dreaming about my future box system garden business…  I have a lot to learn but I keep being inspired by the idea and it’s great to be trying on some of the jobs/activities that it would entail.

Today we visited a local market – we bought ½ kg of the biggest sweetest cherries I’ve ever tasted for 2 Euros (+ dried fruit and almonds).  We also folded on the ‘full style’ farm living and got a stash of choccie bikkies from the supermarket for our afternoon reading sessions (I was a bit torn about this one as it was lovely to eat such healthy natural food after travelling and being in the city – but there’s just something about a choccie bikkie in a caravan when you’re having an afternoon reading session that sealed that deal).  I also found my pad of white paper to begin my life as a Proprioceptive Writer (see Reading Log 2010 June blog for further info on this one) – very exciting (I hugged it on my way out of the shop)! Cyril shouted us a coffee in town as we all hung out with their Thursday market day mates (and dogs).

So far we’ve cleaned out the stables, cleaned and turned the hard cheeses, hung CD’s in the cherry tree to ward off the birds, cleaned up branches and stacked firewood, added grass mulch to the vege garden (my favourite job so far), weeded the potatoes, relocated roofing tiles, and trimmed the hedges.

I love the ingenuity that Ted and Cyril use every day to use the space and resources they’ve got to the best use possible, and I have been picking their brains for cooking and gardening ideas left, right and centre! They also great company, and we’re all getting along just nicely.

Day Eight

I just milked two goats, successfully!  The effort Dad put in with me as a youngster teaching me how to milk our house cow served me well (thanks Dad).  I picked up milking a goat very quickly and only got a few squirts on my socks.  It was much easier this time, which I assert has something to do with the size ratio of my adult hands to the udder (vs my child size hands before). What a wonderful experience.  I know that in many countries goats are valued as prize possessions.  After my own experiences with our childhood goat Fritz eating everything it came near, and my own cute little ‘calf club’ goat growing into a mean and dangerous bum butter, I now have a broader understanding of why these animal are so prized and valued around the world – a lot of milk came out of those goats and they get milked twice a day!  And these goats so far have been very gentle with us.

 Well one day left (tomorrow) at Ted and Cyrils farm.  It has been wonderful here.  Since the last time I wrote I have: picked and de-podded all the gardens’ broad beans and pulled up the plants; scribbled down many new recipes thanks to Ted’s incredible imagination; we’ve pruned the area surrounding the farms electric fence; staked the tomatoes; swept up several wheelbarrow loads of goat manure; wiped and turned many hard goats cheeses; disconnected an old fence using pliers to prepare it for demolition; and had an educational tour of the garden.  Cyril has picked me some lemon herbs to dry (currently hanging from the caravan awning) and take with us to enjoy natures’ tea in Rome!

We’ve enjoyed meeting Ted and Cyril’s son Paul.  He pops in for lunch most days (who wouldn’t if given the chance!) and very generously took us to the swimming pool for the afternoon in a small town near Condom, which is across the road from his work. We walked to nearby 'Condom' a pretty wee place - check out my arty pics of our nice afternoon stroll.

Paul has also very openly shared with us the impacts of a serious rugby injury he had nearly 7 years ago, which although he is still dealing with, he has overcome many hurdles.

Snowdon spends a lot of his spare time playing with Jeanne the younger of the two dogs.  She is a very talented (and very persistent) fetcher and catcher of tennis balls, sticks and pinecones!  And I have also enjoyed humoring Jeannes’ fettish!

My most memorable moment so far has been sitting shelling beans in the afternoon sun and thinking, ‘this just feels right’.  In order to make a difference in the world all I really need to do is live a life that I believe in, and for me a life that I believe in, includes living from the land, being right there with nature every day….  I’ve had many more thoughts of this future farm.  Snowdon often seems like such a contradicition: one minute counting down the days to get back to the buzz of the city, one minute loving being in nature and feeling completely content.  Currently he says that he’d like us to have a small garden that we can live off, and some chickens. And I’m very happy that he wants that!  Re: the contradiction, when I reflect I’m still bouncing ideas around too, and am busy formulating my own side of that dream life.  At the moment my dream oscillates between just the same (garden for home use only + chickens) with outside jobs for a decent income, vs all reserves in on the farm with a bigger ‘selling’ garden, maybe several goats for milk and cheese or even setting up a mini-commune (which Rach and I have been mulling over and dreaming about for a few years now….).  Along with the dreams all the possible stops, hurdles and fears are coming up to.  So I’m ‘observing’ them as well!

I did learn how to make this yummy cheese (just got to wait till I live in a house to try it out)!

 

 Ted and Cyril, I have found you very generous, kind and peaceful and during our time here and I thank you for the many opportunities you have given us that allow us to mull upon our future lifestyle.  Thanks also for all the meal ideas - I hope to replicate them some day in the future with my own home-grown goods!