A Day in the Life of a La Barraque WWOOFer

Anywhere between 6am and 8am, depending on my mood, the temperature, whether its raining, what I ate for lunch yesterday, I get up. Dash to the outdoor pit toilet that I'm actually quite fond of (don't laugh; it doesn't smell; and the toilet room walls kinda things are made out of raspberry canes) Maybe spend some time slughunting in the garden before breakfast. Spend another 20 minutes washing my hands to get rid of the ever present eau de la limasse (French for slug).

Around 8am Sophie, Johanna and i have breakfast (Leilani having left at 6 for school). Usually consists of fresh, homemade bread, homemade butter, a bol du chocolat (recipe. take a bowl of warmed fresh milk. Add cocoa and sugar. Mix. Drink.), yoghurt or fromage fraise, which is kinda like cottage cheese crossed with ricotta, with homemade raspberry or fig jam or the honey the neighbours gave us and maybe an apple. All is awesomely good - sounds poncy saying homemade with everything but they really do make a good deal of what they eat, and some of it (like mayonnaise) is almost easier than going to a store and buying it. Its a case of 'we're out of bread, are we? Ok, I'll just make some more' rather than a mad dash to the supermarket (which I haven't seen in Mirande yet, althoght there probably is one; we went to an organic shop in Miraic where everything is in bulk this morning to buy stuff, mainly because it was raining rather than anything was urgently needed). Anyway, continuing...

After breakfast Sophie and/or Johanna goes to get the cows and we bring them to the calves, then milk them. I'm getting pretty good at it, although I'm still not as good as Johanna, she's a machine! if there's more than a bucketful the cats and dogs get their share; nothing is wasted. Also let the chooks out and change their food.

In the morning we normally work in the garden, either weeding or slughunting (or both) or mulching. The first day after I arrived I spent until 5:30 after lunch pulling a particular plant thant's bad for the cows out of one of the fields; most of the time we do more work in the morning and its more relaxed in the afternoon.

We make lunch at around 12, and Johanna takes some in to Leilani in town and gives some music lessons at her studio there. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and it always involves stuff from the garden. its always different but today we had celeriac and carrot salad with olives, leftover couscous with chickpeas, raisins and celery leaves, a cooked grain Sophie could only explain as grain the chickens eat, but which takes a loooong time to cook (as in its been cooking for the past three days, on and off) and is very tasty, and a cheese crepe. Always with fresh bread and a constant supply of mint tea. Sophie and I stay at the house and have lunch there, then do a little more work, and laze around, go on the computer or read, or play with the dogs (Sophie's playing the piano now; they're all really good at the piano, and recorder, and guitar, and singing...).

When Johanna comes back she brings Leilani home from school, we might work in the garden again, or lounge around, cracking nuts and eating them (Leilani broke a window pane that way) or sometimes playing the guitar. Its very relaxed and a lot of playing with dogs occurs. At around 7.30 we go get the cows and milk the cows again, then go inside and have supper at like 9pm, which is basically the same as breakfast, although sometimes we have sugar crepes. I most go to bed after that, sometimes watching a video called Les Guignols on the internet with everybody squished in behind the compûter. Its like Team America met the Glasshouse; literal political puppets. I don't get a lot of it, because of the language and because i'm not familiar with French politics, but its still funny.

Then bed, to do it all again. Sometimes a neighbour comes over, or we go to the neighbour's place; foodstuffs are generally exchanged; there is a lot of talking are generally following too much French makes my head hurt. But its a lot of fun, and I'm enjoying it here immensely.