Early Monday morning I have some time with Melissa as Natalie is still preparing for her trip. She reminds me of our Tiger named Fugazzi, by his original owner - Melissa, Joe's daughter. When she moved to an apartment, we "inherited" Fugazzi and he spent the rest of his long life with us. I think he was 15 or 16 when died.
Odette has her usual hot cereal before preparing to do her job in the fromagerie. David has hung a hammock in the background. I'm not sure whether he thought he might have some extra time to relax someday or whether he was planning to sleep there with an excess of Wwoofers coming in the next few days, causing a bit of overlap in sleeping quarters. In any case, I tried it out a couple of times before I left. Pretty comfortable - if one can find the time. I think you may see me there in a future blog.
There was quite a lot of squealing as we sat at breakfast and we finally realized that David had gotten up early to move Paquerette. Success! She was tied into the cart. Not cruel at all but in fact David tied her in for safety as the previous day we were all sure she would hop out at any height and hurt herself.
David stops the tractor to check that Paquerette is still securely tied in place.
Looks like everything is OK. David is ever so gentle as he checks to see that P will be safe, even if she doesn't like the process. He knows she will love her new quarters with much more space to roam around and lots of shade under the trees.
Natalie has joined the "moving" party and gets ready with some slops of bread and milk hoping to entice Paquerette to leave the cart for her new home.
And here she comes. She really loves those slops.
But as she leaves the car, she seems a bit confused. A metal tube has been cut in half as a shelter there is a small drop off into an area with water at the bottom of the incline. Eventually Paquerette will make it to the bottom and discover the coolness among the reeds (future blog). Paquerette seems more interested in looking around than in the delicacy awaiting her in her feeding tray.
Here Paquerette buries her face in an area that at least has some green grass.
Suited up with my bandages, gloves, and gardening tool, I return to the beet field knowing that no one else has the time to do this job. For me as a Wwoofer, I like to think that my job is not just as an onlooker, but that I can make a real contribution while I am with the family.
Below is a root (probably a beet root from last year ?). It looked like some prehistoric animal with a large snout and a small body. I contemplated taking it home with me, but decided just to take a picture of it. Less clutter for me as my suitcase gets heavier and heavier.
This is the label on my tool.
This is the end of the tool that scratches into the earth to remove the weeds.
It was hot but I had a good feeling as I finished most of the work. On the way back to the barn I took a picture of the area where David dumps the straw when he cleans the barn.
I can't seem to pass by the barn without taking a few pictures. This morning, since Natalie will leave for the Pyrenees before she would be done in the fromagerie, she does the milking and puts the goats out to pasture while David will make the cheese with Odettet's help.
Maas sits by awaiting to assist if the goats don't obey.
But everything goes smoothly and the goats all follow Natalie to the pasture.
And I think back to my goats and the many goat shows I attended. My animals often took first or second prize in the shows I attended as a child.
Just before lunch I went to the entrance of the fromagerie. Here are pictures that David and Natalie have hanging there about the location of French nuclear plants and the dangers of nuclear energy. I share many of their concerns!
Natalie ate a bit early and it was time to say good-bye as she departed for a 4-day vacation. As you can imagine, neither David nor Natalie have many vacation days as it is difficult to get a "goat sitter" for their herd. So, I guess sometimes they spit up, though I didn't ask where David has been on vacation.
Looks like everything fits!
Both Odette and I like to cook so we helped out a lot with the meals, especially after Natalie left for her mini-vacation. They have a wonderful kitchen with two stoves and two ovens and lots of "gourmet" cookware so it is easy to make a meal. Their garden has lots of wonderful vegetables as well.
Time is getting short and Odette and I had to get up the next day very early to be at the "crier" (crier means to call out the prices of each lot of fish) in Sables d'Olonne to see the fish market. Tune in to my next blog!
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