a wwoofing update

A couple of explanations, first.

One, I am a bad traveler and forgot my power adapter. The one I bought at the airport doesn't work. Therefore, my connection to the outside world is a bit more limited than imagined.

Two, I have a beautiful, new-to-me digital SLR that I am getting adjusted to. However, no laptop means no pictures, yet. Sorry to all who are waiting.

Three, I was hoping to launch a separate blog for my wwoofing adventures and keep this one for more personal reflections. Alas--time lacks for this wwoofer, as do the photos I would like to anchor said site with. Maybe next month.

I set off three weeks ago from Kansas City, intending to spend the growing season (March-fall) traveling from farm to farm in France. My mission is to explore various varieties of farming activities and areas of this country I love. To do this, I'm using WWOOF France, an association that provides a directory of organic farms who are willing to host people like me with room and board in exchange for work. No money is exchanged, only ideas, skills, cultural identities, and other intangible treasures.

Upon my arrival, I spent a week amidst my Parisian friends. It was so joyful to reunite with the Chapuis family (the kids being 9 months older and wiser than when I left them), house-church friends, and the YWAM Paris team. I was able to practically prepare things like my French bank account and cell phone, and arrange transportation to my first host farm.

I'm nearing my two-week mark here, here being La Ferme des Vignes, La Grande Verrière, Burgundy, France. I decided to come here because of the hilly landscape and because they raise goats for cheese-making and bees for honey--two areas of production that intrigue me but that I knew nothing about.

Olivier and Julie, along with their 22-month old daughter, Colline, have enthusiastically integrated me into their home and professional lives, including a rigorous schedule (They have, however, given me the luxury of a day off on Sunday, which is not the case for them). For the curious:

7 Wakey-wakey
7:15-8:30 Milking the goats, feeding and inspecting the kids
8:30-9 Little chores or preparing breakfast
9-10 Breakfast (locally produced artisan bread, home-made jam, herbal tea)
10-1 Putting the goats and cows out to pasture, cheesemaking or other work
1-2 Lunch
2-3 Rest
3-5 Work outside or in the barn
5-5:30 Snack break
5:30-8 Milking and kids
8-9 Little chores, dishes (a once-a-day hoopla for one of us), preparing dinner
9-10 Dinner time
10 Down time and bed time

Several times a week, there are interruptions for either Julie or Olivier, such as the CSA delivery on Monday nights or the market at Autun on Friday mornings. This week I was able to accompany Julie to the market and participate in selling their artisan cheeses.

Although the schedule and amount of work have taken some getting used to, I am thankful to be pulled into what they're doing. They often insist that I do the more interesting or challenging activity in order to learn; they, on the other hand, will do the dishes or other grunt work once I am capable of doing the trickier stuff on my own.

So it is that I am accumulating new skills. I am getting better at milking the goats; we use a machine, but have to do the first "pull" by hand, so it's coming slowly. Olivier taught me how to chop wood with an axe the other day, and though I have a few gnarly bruises on my shins, I chopped a pretty pile, too. The many steps of making several kinds of cheese are beginning to make more sense. Friday Olivier let me make the tomme cheese, which mean my arms to the elbow in a copper vat of nearly 100 liters of warm milk (very pleasant, as it has been quite chilly still). Herding the goats is doable now, thanks to our border collie, Fanfare, although the cows are another story.

Aside from all I'm learning, there are a couple of outstandingly wonderful things about being here. The landscape is just lovely; we're halfway up a large hill with another hill across the way, green pastures and budding woods spread out before us. I can't get enough of it, and when I'm tired or discouraged it helps to just look up and around. The other is the quality of hospitality and congeniality with which I've been received here. Though the home is a mess and I have been put to work, I feel accepted and given to at the same time, especially since the French are often much slower to open their inner lives to strangers.

The days is drawing to a close, and I'm going to go outside for another walk before the sun goes down. Please comment or ask questions if there's something you are interested in or want to know!