Here we goat again!

Before leaving Normandy, there was something I had to do: re-visit my Norman family and the goats!

I had forgotten how chilly the mornings there could be though. Icy tractor shadows: what a difference a little sunshine can make.

My timing was intended to coincide with the arrival of this year's kids and, no joke, I arrived to see triplets being born as I entered the stable. Within a week over 20 kids entered the world and it became difficult to walk through the herd without almost tripping over an over-excited little one.

Unfortunately, the circle of life being what it is, with life came death. Not all of the births were easy and sometimes Lucile or the vet needed to intervene. Needless to say, it was nonetheless a beautiful experience to witness such an abundance of new life.

Cuddles with little Lily. Too cute.

Of course being around the baby kids everyday meant I, too, began to smell of stale milk because so much had been spilt in their excitement to be fed.
 
It was great to be back with Lucile, Nicolas and the kids. Étienne and Hélène couldn't get over how much my French had improved. I loved seeing how things had changed at the farm and learning of the new renovation plans they had in store.

On the first weekend in March, I went back to Stuttgart for Jutta's 30th. Staying with Lucile and Nicolas, and then of course with Jutta was fantastic (Jutta bought my bed off me - I actually slept in 'my' bed!). While travelling may be incredible and the experiences are often unforgettable, it's so important to feel comfortable and 'at home' somewhere.

I've made a shocking discovery... there's no direct translation in French for 'home'. There's your house and the place you feel you can be yourself or comfortable but no home. By the end of my time in France, I'm determined to invent a word (or learn of a translation, if one already exists).

So La Ferme d'Esmeralda was my first and last taste of Normandy. Let the Breton coastal adventures begin!

La Ferme d'Escures

La Ferme d'Escures: a complete change of pace. The first farm where I didn't speak a word of English. Just a little German :)

On the outskirts of the small village of Saint-Jean-Le-Blanc, La Ferme d'Escures is an educational farm on a fascinating property. The owner and farmer, Véro, made me feel so welcome despite our conversation being limited to my French alone.

There are three main buildings: the main house, which includes a youth hostel, a house available to rent and Véro's home; the stable/boutique; and a large functions hall. There's a camp ground, hedgemaze and access to the forest which leads to a small lake, river and discovery trail. Then, of course, there are the animals: 3 pigs, 8 rabbits, 4 goats, lots of sheep, 6 ponies, a horse, a mule and two donkeys, and the birds (chickens, turkeys and ducks - as said, not my favourites).

Here's the map...

The view from my bedroom window...

An average day at La Ferme d'Escures consisted of feeding the animals and giving each fresh water and afterwards mucking out the stable. Surprisingly, it was a relaxing start to each day - lots of work, but the animals were always appreciative! Afterwards the activities varied, sometimes working with visiting groups, sometimes in the garden or maintaining the property.

School groups visited the farm often and Véro shared her vast knowledge of animals and plants with the kids. We arranged games in the hedgemaze and gave tours of the farm. I even gave tours in French!!

One boy: "Haha! Why do you talk like that?"
Me: "Because I am from Australia and I'm learning French."
The boy: "Oh. Ok." (Boy walks away.)

The rest of the kids loved helping me and correcting my French, we played games and they told me lots of stories (which I didn't always understand). 

In the small group of seven houses which make up d'Escures of Saint-Jean-Le-Blanc, there are five organic farms! The boutique on Véro's farm is open one afternoon per week and she sells the basics the neighbours may need. The baker, François, delivers the bread to the boutique which the neighbours have pre-ordered.

One of the seven houses, the Château to be precise, is home to two German volunteers every year doing their civil-service year. Heni and Caro are this year's volunteers and were great company to have so close by. One night a week they give a German course for the neighbours who are interested - I helped out and improved my French while the others improved their German.
Heni and Caro work at several farms in the area. One morning, I went with Caro to help feed the newborn lambs. Sooo cute!!

 
Véro and I went on a trip to Granville. I just LOVE being at the coast, even if it's windy and freezing.

It was pretty chilly inside the house...

But getting outside was well worth it, if the sun was out.

Véro has been looking for a partner/partners to help run the farm for the last few years, it's just too much to run by herself. We were a great team and had to 'get our McGyver on' a few times: to fix broken watermains until the plumber could arrive (bike tyre and a cable-tie) and keep an eye on the unreliable heating unit. Quite honestly, if my French was fluent and I found myself back there in a few years' time, I could imagine staying there and joining the endless projects the farm has to offer.

For the moment, that's not the case, so I shared some of my ideas and after two weeks of helping out, I said "see you later".

Back in the French swing of things.

Going back to Germany meant getting back into German and within three weeks I managed to forget almost all of the French vocabulary I'd gained!

I returned to Luc and Nicole's house and they were shocked to find me speaking so much English! I could not, for the life of me, think of the most basic words which I had used just weeks earlier. Nevertheless, as I said, they're patient. I gradually got back into the swing of things and picked up my French again with regular trips to the cinema and lots of conversation.

As I hadn't found any WWOOFing positions for January or February yet, Luc and Nicole kindly welcomed me back. Despite that breaking their no-WWOOFers-over-Winter rule.

However, there was even less work that needed to be done (hence the rule), so when the necessary jobs had been completed, being all the firewood was prepared, the animals had been attended to and the bottles had been labelled, it was time to get creative.

It was Winter and pretty damn cold. I spent a lot of time in front of the fire and knitted and sewed quite a bit.

 

 My Nanna-face. Alright, my normal face.

 It didn't snow a lot, the weather was more cold, humid and windy. On a clear afternoon, I ventured out for fresh air. The farm was beautiful in the clearing snow.

Luc and Nicole renovated this old farm house into a gîte (guest house), such a gorgeous get-away.

The cellar door. Almost always open.

The original main house, where Nicole's lovely parents live. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of Luc and Nicole's place - which is a pity considering the work they put into renovating the barn into a cosy two storey home.

The view from my bedroom window.

As there weren't many jobs on offer at La Ferme du Bout du Chemin and I didn't want to get in Luc and Nicole's way more than I already was, I went to the local organic bakery 'Les Copains' and asked if I could help out there for a few days. I guess they said yes because they knew I couldn't eat anything in the bakery!

Alors... photos of the bakery are to come. Definitely worth the wait.

For now, here is my first attempt at homemade sourdough. It was fantastic!

Again, this all happened in French! I kneaded and baked bread while speaking French, I even went to the market in Caen and helped out... in French.

Luc invited me to join his running group a few times which helped me work off all of bread and chocolate I'd been eating. In front of the fire. With a cuppa.

Whenever the sun came out was cause for celebration. Sunday trip to the beach: you can't go wrong there.

I wasn't far from the coast. I was surrounded by fun and interesting people. But being an Australian in Europe (far away) in January (too cold for a BBQ) who can't eat wheat (no Vegemite or Milo anymore!), doesn't easily equal my ideal Australia Day. My attempt: orange and poppyseed cake... yum!! It helped.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

When I said that posts in the past were long overdue, it was an understatement compared to the mass of posts that are to make up for the last three and half months!

So, let's go back in time. To early December 2014.
Admittedly, my start with Luc and Nicole was a hesitant one after having been back home but I was quickly made to feel extremely welcome at La Ferme du Bout du Chemin.

After returning from AUS, I spent a few days at Lucile and Nicolas' place to compose myself and gather my things then moved on to the next step of my WWOOFing adventure. Lucile drove me over here and we all ate lunch together: that was my first taster of what the French-deep-end felt like!

With Luc and Nicole, I primarily spoke French. They're so patient, which is extremely necessary for me, no matter how quickly my French seems to be coming along!

We spent 9 days together before I headed back to my German family in Stuttgart for Christmas. In the short time I stayed with them in December, my French improved so much, I surprised myself.

There's not as much work to do on a cidre farm over Winter as there is in Summer. Nicole kept apologising for not really having any 'fun' jobs but I found each step of the cidre process interesting, even if it consisted of cleaning thousands of cidre and champagne bottle by hand so that they were ready to be re-filled.

First we soaked the labels of and scrubbed the bottles clean...

The hot water we soaked the bottles in boiled in a big cauldron over a wood fire in the veggie garden.

Afterwards we covered the crates with newspaper to keep the bottles clean.

A few days later, it was time for the fun to begin. Jobs like this remind me of why child labour during the Industrial Revolution was such a problem. Using the four taps you can see in the photo below, we filled thousands of bottles in just one morning. The production line consisted on bottling, corking and wiring the bottles shut. Then they were ready to be stored in the cellar.

Nicole manning two stations, corking and wiring.

Beneath the apple trees, Luc and Nicole keep meat cows. I loved helping with feeding the cows. They're fascinating to watch.

Another adorable animal addition to the house and farm is Éole, Luc and Nicole's lovable dog. She's a Leonberger and absolutely massive - but don't tell her that because she doesn't seem to realise!

So Christmas crept up on us and after 9 days of being spoilt with tea and cakes by the fire, family film nights, delicious meals (both French and Spanish) and, of course, tasting the specialties of the farm - cidre, apple juice, Calvados and Pommeau (a liqueur mix of cidre and Calvados) - it was time for me to head to Stuttgart.

I was sent on my way with a Traditional Norman meal of creamy chicken and mushrooms, and even with a little Christmas present: a French poem (which, I must admit, I'm still now trying to understand entirely!). Nicole is a brilliant cook and was so sweet to always make sure my wheat-free options were available. As you can imagine, I learned so much about what you can do with apples!

The nearby town of Cambremer was particularly festive. It's not a very big place but it's a village straight out of a fairytale with boutique shops and beautiful knick-knacks. It's so small in fact that even I began to bump into people I knew.

And off to Stuttgart I went, having no idea how hard it would be to speak German properly again!

At least sharing the specialties of the farm went down well, whether I could get out a straight sentence or not. Christmas eve with the Müllers and Jaurausens...