La Ferme d'Esmeralda

I'm now 47 days into my French adventure and I have to admit I've been enjoying my time so much that I just keep forgetting to write new blog posts. Then I remember when I'm out in the fields with the goats and forget as soon as I get back to the house.

Therefore, I have at least three posts up my sleeve which I plan to post by the end of this week.

Firstly, I forgot to explain in my first post what the acronym WWOOF stands for. WWOOF is interpreted in several ways, but always maintains the same idea. Here are some interpretations...

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
Willing Workers On Organic Farms
We’re Welcome On Organic Farms

Throughout my blog posts you'll see me use WWOOFer (the volunteer), WWOOFing/WWOOFs (as a verb), etc. I paid for a years' membership with "WWOOF France", and what I get as a member is a full list and description of all participating farms/farmers in France who are willing to receive WWOOFers. Then, I can write to those people whose farms interest me, to see whether they are free to host me.

So there's a little background info as to how I ended up in the Norman countryside milking goats every morning.

You saw in my first post how beautiful some of my surroundings are, here is a bit more of a sneak peek into the charm of my little get-away at La Ferme d'Esmeralda.

At the top of the hill, in the background, you can see the house which dates as far back as the 17th century. The section on the left was added as an extension in the early 19th century. It has such character it makes you wonder what the walls would say if they could talk... BUT, being so old, it's often colder in the house than outside. That's not such a bad thing though because it means we get to light a log fire in the large fireplace in the kitchen or in the gorgeously decorated ceramic coonara fireplace in the living room. Nice and cosy. Plus there are so many kittens roaming around, that there's always someone fluffy in search of a cuddle.

I'm not sure exactly how big the property is here in terms of hectares, but it's big enough for me to explore new areas for the goats to graze each week. Usually I describe my adventures with the goats as having taken place in 'this field', 'the field near the woods', 'the next field', 'the top field with the shed', 'the field with the tree in the middle', 'the field on this side of the river/the other side of the river', 'the field near the horses' or 'the field on the hill'.

My daily routine varies depending on how many people are availble to help out and, of course, what needs to be done. This is my normal morning greeting... the goats lined up to be milked.

Some of the girls get a little impatient, if the milking takes too long!

They get fed their grain while we're milking and come through to the trough five at a time. If we're fast, it takes us about an hour and a half to milk them all, but most of the time it takes a bit over two hours.

Afterwards, the goats go out to graze. For me, that means French lesson time, or, in the time leading up to Sarah and Frank's wedding, speech practice!

For those of you in Australia that didn't know, two weeks ago I officiated my friends' wedding! It was so much fun and such an honour. And luckily, all of my practicing with the goats paid off!

Since the wedding, I've gone back to French lessons and have borrowed one of Hélène's old storybooks (French stories for three year olds) which I read, with the help of a dictionary. The first story, Le petit monstre, took me two hours to get through!

As I said, I'm forever distracted when I return from the fields because it is an absolute mad-house here! There are constantly people coming and going, whether it be neighbours, friends, family, deliveries or other guests. Lunch and dinner are times for everyone to meet and sit together, extra chairs are pulled up and meals are made for many. Needless to say, there's a never-ending pile of dishes haunting us.

Evenings are spent enjoying a cup of tea or glass of wine (or both), having a good chat or watching an episode of something online. However 10pm tends to feel like midnight after a day out in the fresh air, so the nights fly by quickly.

Now you have the first of this week's posts, some of the stories still to come include: the cow invasion, renovation rescue, wild billy-goat learns a lesson, my first goat's cheese, sight-seeing at Mont Saint Michel and the adventures of learning a new language.

Feel free to comment or send me an email, I'd love to hear from you.