"I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go..."

So we've been here at Ferme Foures for just over a week now, and have settled into a good routine. [BTW, all the previous posts have been in chronological order, though the dates don't reflect anything other than when I finally got around to writing and posting.  And if anyone is interested in additional pictures, I've uploaded a few to Picassa.]

Looking west from the hills north of the house.   ^^^^

Looking down on the house from the hill to the south.

Agrandir le plan
We are here. Approx. Latitude = 42.9856, Longitude = 0.8198




Jean-Louis and Ginette Foures are wonderful hosts. Reprinted below is their WWOOF description of the estate, for reference purposes.
Description:
Nous sommes paysans traditionnels dans les Pyrénées. Nous élevons vaches et brebis pour le fromage mixte (tome des Pyrénées...). Notre propriété de montagne fait 20 ha de prairies. Nous avons un petit verger, de petits fruits, et un champ. Nous ne sommes pas affiliés bio mais nous vivons en traditionnel extensif. La cinquantaine, nous aimerions faire profiter de notre savoir-faire et de notre vie agréable en échange d’aide pour soulager notre usure. Passion pour la chasse photographique et la nature en général. Français, Occitan parlés.


[Description:
We are traditional peasants in the Pyrenees. We raise cows and sheep for cheese mixed (Tome Pyrenees ...). Our property is 20 acres of mountain meadows. We have a small orchard, berries, and a field. We are not affiliated bio but we live in traditional extensive. The fifties, we would like to share our expertise and our good life in return for aid to ease our wear.Passion for wildlife photography and nature in general. French, Occitan spoken.]

Our day begins at 7:00, when we head downstairs for a hearty breakfast of tea and bread slathered with butter and a variety of homemade jams. 
By 7:45, the dishes are rinsed and we head up to the barn for the morning milking. Living on the farm are about 40ish 55+ sheep (35-40 milkers, plus 10 or so new lambs, and 10 or so unfreshened yearlings), five cows (and first three, now two calves), a horse and a donkey, a duck, a plethora of pigeons, a flock of chickens, five or six rabbits, and three "working" dogs besides the hunting pack of maybe 15... there may be some other animals I'm forgetting, but I think that's about right. 
Milking is finished by maybe 8:30-9:00, when we return to the house for morning coffee and another bite of bread and jam, if one desires.  By about 9:30 we're started on one of the sundry, continual projects for the spring; either weeding one of the various gardens and preparing stuff for planting, felling trees for firewood, organizing the basement, or, every third day, making cheese. 
Projects continue until about noon-ish (maybe 13:00 depending on the day), when it's time for "midi." Lunch is a good, solid meal, and then the siesta is about an hour, so we don't get back to weeding or whatever until about 15:30-16:00. 
We work at the daily project for another couple of hours, usually until 18:00, when we start getting ready for the evening milking. Julianna usually takes "cow duty," climbing the hills to find where they've wandered off to during the day and driving them home, and I'll start some of the barn work. We'll separate the agneaux from the brebis, clean up the feeding stanchions, entice the sheep into milking position with some corn, and begin milking. It takes Julianna and I about as long to milk the sheep as it does Jean-Louis or Ginette to do the cows, so it works out ok. After finishing milking and cleaning the milk buckets, feeding the rabbits, watering the pigeons, checking for chicken eggs, it's about 21:00 and time for our dinner. 
Ginette does great rustic, hearty fare, prepared with a reasonable amount of duck fat, though since spring foods aren't available yet (the peas plants are just getting started, the wild cherries are still in bloom, and the favas still have blossoms), the menu has been somewhat limited to meat, potatoes, and carrots. Since lunch is the main meal, dinner may be leftovers, or a brilliantly yellow omelette or a crock-pot based stew or something. By 22:00, dinner is done and the dishes rinsed (the kitchen water goes straight into the stream, so soap is used sparingly), and we're off to bed. 


It is a full day, but not one overly arduous, and includes plenty of "down time" to talk or play with the various children running around or whatever. I don't know that "civilized" is an appropriate adjective to describe rural, farm life, but it is satisfying in a certain way; one is involved with work in a direct and immediate way, and things are usually done in tandem with someone else; it is surprising to realize how much longer it takes one person to finish a project, than two or three working together. And after a day hauling branches up a 60 deg. hillside, there's a great feeling of accomplishment, though it is a feeling intimately combined with relief that one won't have to repeat the experience for a couple of days, at least.


But it has been quite a wonderful time, and the weather, barring a few days of heavy rain (which made the little stream below the house flood), has been very fine. The trees are becoming more green with each day, there are lots of little wildflowers out in the fields, and the fruit trees are in bloom. There's a bit too much shit in our lives to allow me to say that things are "idyllic" or "pastoral," but it is a near thing. 

From France, etc. '10

From France, etc. '10

From France, etc. '10

From France, etc. '10