France Pt. 2 -- Goat Milking and Sheep Chasing

The main focus of our trip to France was to experience working on an organic farm through the WWOOF program (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). After searching the French farms directory and contacting multiple farmers, we were happy to confirm our stay with Françoise DuGaray and her family in Duriane, just outside of le Puy-en-Velay in the Haute Loire département.

  Françoise is an organic sheep farmer with an heritage breed of sheep called Brizet.  In addition to her flock of approximately 140 sheep and lambs, she runs a bed and breakfast in her family's 15th century château.  

  The home has been in her family for generations, and she and her husband have undertaken the difficult task of renovating and preserving the château, its many outbuildings and surrounding land.  This involves a huge amount of work--so we were happy to help out for two weeks with the animals, vegetable garden, and guest rooms!

On a typical day, we woke up around 7:30 for our first task: milking Nanny Goat! This was my favorite job...

  We then fed Nanny's milk to the seven orphan lambs.  They were so cute and friendly!  (After the orphans were sold, we learned how to use the milk to begin the cheese-making process). 

  Next, we gave food and water to the other lambs, the ram, and the ewes.  

  In the morning we would also spend some time weeding in the garden or cleaning the B&B rooms.

We often had time to relax or explore the town in the afternoon, then repeated the animal chores in the evening.  In addition to the sheep and Nanny Goat, we also got to know the family's two dogs (Belle and Daisy) and the cat (Pénélope).

 
We had a few adventures with the sheep... One sheep, which Françoise had lent to a family in town to  eat the weeds in their lawn, escaped and was wrecking havoc in people's gardens! We finally found the sheep and managed to catch it with the help of a friendly neighbor. On another occasion, We were trying to catch some ewes and I had one backed into a corner. It took a huge leap straight towards me and knocked me to the ground, where we wrestled until I managed to catch it by one leg!

   
Our sleeping quarters were in an outbuilding that was cleverly converted into a kind of cabin, with a cozy sleeping loft.

Overall, we could not have asked for a better WWOOFing experience! Françoise, her husband and four children were all so friendly, patient, and welcoming. We felt like a true part of the family, cooking and eating together, meeting their friends, etc.  I got to practice my French a lot, which was great! And we came to enjoy the slower pace of life there... Dinners often lasted two hours, with great conversation; a visit to a friend's house was never short, nor was it without a glass of wine or a cup of coffee.  Françoise has a special gift for welcoming people into her home and her heart...

In my next post I will talk about our visits in and around le Puy-en-Velay, as well as the visit from Jonathan's parents!

France Pt. 1 -- Promenades à Paris

Jonathan and I just returned from a wonderful three week trip to France!  There is so much to tell, I have decided to split the trip into five separate posts:

1. Our arrival in Paris
2. Our experiences working on the farm
3. The town of Puy-en-Velay
4. A quick visit to Dijon
5. Our time with the Rodes family in Paris

 Premièrement: Paris!

After two nice flights on IcelandAir (with a quick layover in Reykjavik) we navigated the Paris airport and Metro. Despite a scare with Jonathan's luggage and a rejected credit card, we finally made it to our hotel near the Gare de Lyon. It was small, but clean and comfortable!

To keep ourselves awake and to see the city, we took the metro to the Tuileries gardens, then walked...and walked...and walked!  We walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, then all the way back to our hotel! Our feet were tired, but the sights were well worth it!

Near the Marais, we stopped for dinner at a small brasserie.  I ordered one of my favorite dishes in the world: Salade au Chèvre Chaud!  Ahhh, French food...how I've missed you!

The next morning, before our train, we hit the pavement again and walked to Notre Dame.  It was another beautiful day!

We boarded the train and headed south to begin our "WWOOF" experience in Puy-en-Velay.  I'll explain all about that in the next post!

KY Reunion 2013

Last week we traveled to Camp Waltman Lake, north of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the annual gathering of the Kentucky Reunion! 

Camp Waltman Lake

What is the Kentucky Reunion, you might ask?  To make a long story short...my parents volunteered with the Mennonite Central Committee soon after they were married, and lived in a house with other volunteers.  They grew close, and have since met every summer for a "family" reunion somewhere in the US.  After many marriages and children adding to our numbers, we have over 40 people in the group now!  The KY Reunion week is always a highlight of the year for us, and this week was no exception!

Yes, we are a crazy bunch...

Camp Waltman Lake was a beautiful setting for our group.  At the camp we swam and boated in the lake, organized an "adventure race", had several tournaments (corn hole, ping-pong, etc.), worshiped together and, of course, played lots of Werewolf!

Singing together

Ping-pong tournament

The lake was a lot of fun!

Adventure race

Adventure race winners!

Playing with the kids

Cornhole!

Phil presents a Werewolf defense

We also took several day trips during the week...
...to Millennium Park, where there was a nice beach:

...to a petting zoo full of familiar and exotic animals:

...to a dairy, where we toured the farm and drank our bottomless cups of milk:

Styling with our red sanitation caps!

...and out for ice cream one evening!

It was a special treat to get to spend much of the week with Caroline and Andrew!

At the end of the week, we continued the tradition of waving each other off as each car left.  As always, it was hard to say goodbye, but we are already looking forward to next year!