Here I am already in Paris but a bit behind in my blogs.
So, let's go back in time to Wednesday, June 30 after Odette has left. I come to the fromagerie, to help David mark some of the cheeses he will deliver today to different markets. I also take some last pictures. Sandy, the "stagere" (intern) will do the milking.
This is the entrance where one must don the white coats and boots or white clogs.
This picture is a bit fuzzy but you can see the sink that was in an earlier blog and the coats, some of which it must be time to launder. It is also the area where some of the stamping of the cheeses takes place with a date of delivery or the ending date by which the cheese must be sold. There are ink stamps that I used that morning to stamp the paper wrappers for the deliveries David will make later.
The picture below shows the small fridge in which the fresh cheeses are kept for a day or so until sold or delivered to another store.
After I finish the labelling, I go to take some pictures of the farm that I haven't yet documented. This is another room that could become a "bedroon" for a Wwoofer if a door were added. It's difficult for David and Natalie to think about such things right now as they don't know whether or not they will have to pull up stakes after working so hard to develop this organic goat farm. If the new port is built, it will divide their land and take so much that would have to start up again in a different place. That would be devastating for them!
Here is the sign that Natalie designed for the entrance to the farm.
This is the side entrance to the house and the little bedroom that could (eventually become a bedroom).
And here "Citronelle" takes her morning bath.
Then David and I take off to make the Wednesday deliveries. He "exchanges" goods with another organic farmer (cheese for butter) in the area. The "deal" goes through in the parking lot of a supermarket!
The next place is a biocoop, the chain that I can't find in Paris!
I am excited by all that is on the shelves and take many pictures as I learn the words for the grains I have eaten both in the States and in France, but perhaps more here than when I was back home.
There are some interesting posters on the walls and I take pictures, of course. The owner comes out and gives me some brochures which I will surely use in my French classes when I return home. Before returning to the farm, David drives me to the train station to purchase my ticket to the Pyrenees for the next day.
Odette brings her husband by as they have stayed overnight here in Bretignolles to do some biking before they drive home to Switzerland. On the way
I also check the beets that I hoed to see if they are doing well as it has only rained once and not a really good rain at that. They seem to be doing OK.
Odette and I say a last good-bye to the goats as I, too, will be leaving tomorrow.
I know the sadness that Odette is feeling here as she has spent even more time with the goats than I.
But it is difficult to be sad for long with such wonderful animals. Even though they ruined my hat my first night at the farm, I know they were just looking for something to eat. Besides, I still think I can fix my hat. Odette can't help but smile at their antics!
In another life I think I might have been a "pet therapist."
And just look how big the one little chick has gotten in the 2 weeks I've been here.
While we say our good-byes to the animals, David and Sandy are out working again moving the hay into place.
Later Sandy comes in from the evening milking looking a bit too serious. I find out later that she forgot to put the stopper into the large milk can. That evening David tries to assure her that when he first started, he once did the same thing.
There's a lot to learn and Sandy is already quite competent in all the areas of running the farm. She has done internships in many places but it is here at Natalie's and David's goat farm that she feels most comfortable. My best wishes, Sandy as you finally decide what you want to do when you finish your studies!
And finally I corner Helline's sister Solenn as she relaxes after working at a summer camp all day. I think it is difficult for the young women to always have new people coming to live with them. I wish you both the very best in your studies and hope you will always treasure the life you have on the farm. I so much appreciate my parents' decision to raise me on a small goat farm - just enough work to keep me busy as a teenager. I loved it then and I'm glad that my roots are in "Silent Spring" (Rachel Carson). I had my own little garden and shared in all the "chores" of the farm and the orchard. My first trip to France was financed by the money I saved up as a teenager doing extra work cleaning the barn on weekends. I'm glad I spent it the way I did and I wish I had known sooner about Wwoofing as I would have spent all my summers in France!
I loved this bread "chopper." Nothing goes to waste in this house. I love hard bread than can be toasted and then what is finally too hard to eat goes to Paquerette.
Before leaving for the Pyrenees, I wish Barbara (here boning up on her French) a wonderful experience here at the farm. I will soon be in the train for the Pyrenees so tune in later.
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