Sorry - we seem to be very bad at updating the blog. We had this idea that we'd do weekly updates, but its turned out to be far fewer than that. Finding the time to sit at a desk and type is not so easy when your routine changes a lot.
Since the last update at Les Costils, we've moved around a bit. Before leaving Les Costils, we had a visit from our friend Amanda who we worked with in Thailand. She still lives/works in that part of the world, but came home to the UK for her sisters wedding, and decided to pop over for a quick visit. And when I say quick, I mean 2-days quick. But we packed a lot in to those 2 days including a full tour of the farm, a walk over to see Lucilles goats and a night in the Latvian sauna. Reimons had made a home-made sauna by stacking up a pyramid of rocks and building a fire inside and letting it burn for 2-3 hours. Then he throws a large plastic tarp over the wooden framework he built around the rock pyramid and dumps scented water all over the rocks. Viola, instant sauna. We stay in for a few minutes, the go jump in the freezing lake, then back to the sauna.
Our last day at the farm was special. Raimons also made a nice big BBQ on our last day which we were able to enjoy outside on one of the few non-rainy days we'd had so far.
After Les Costils, we went off to Paris for a couple days and saw our respective dentists and doctors and and then headed off to the east of France.
Fanette really wanted to take a couple assignments out in this part of the country so she could visit her dad and her grandmother, as well as be able to show me the area of the country she grew up in. We found a farm which had goats, which made it an instant hit with us.
Jean Le Moine is the name of the farm and it could best be described as a hippie commune, although I hesitate to use that terminology as it makes it sound like I'm making fun of the place. But in reality its a cute little place on a hillside in the middle of the country. The house is about 400 years old and built on top of a natural spring, so when we want fresh water, we go in to the basement and fill up a bottle with water so cold it feels like it came out of a fridge.
The main house is quite large and is accented with almost all recycled materials. For instance, the fireplace has a mosiac made out of bits of tile and plates, all of the faucet handles come from different places so none match, most of the mirrors have little cracks or imperfections - all little things that would cause most people to get rid of things when they still have a lot of useful life left in them, and when you put them all together, it makes a really incredible house with something new to see around every corner.
The owner Matthais has collected all sorts of stuff to be used for various projects. There are a ton of old windows around, many of which have been used in some interior rooms, a sun room, or ones waiting to be used for other projects. In fact, there is so many things around to be used for projects, I could be in heaven staying here for months just building stuff with whats on hand.
The room that we're staying in is not part of the actual house, its what looks to be an old circus trailer parked out front. It's made completely of wood (except for the tires) and has a bed, a desk, a wood stove and a front porch and thats about it. Although it is just the right size where we hung up a sheet and used the mini projector to have movie night in there last night. Theres also an old truck parked on the land which Matthais arrived here with 17 years ago. Its used to house volunteers now, but its occupied at the moment so we're in the front trailer.
Aside from Matthias there is one full time resident, one part time resident, one other volunteer/intern and a few random friends and family members which are here from time to time. Life on the farm is pretty relaxed. The goats are milked in the morning, the garden is weeded a bit in the afternoon, and the rest of the time we work on various little jobs around the house. I was told that there were a few building projects I could choose from, and I decided to tackle building a roof. All the wood and roofing tiles were here, I just had to find it all, get it all together and get it all up. Not wanting to leave it unfinished I sort of powered through the job in the first few days so I could make sure it got finished and then took it a bit easier.
The farm has 3 peacocks on it, 2 of which are male and like to go on the rooftops. So its safe to say I had my worked checked quite regularly by the birds who gave it their stamp of approval. It's actually quite cool - all my experiences with peacocks thus far in my life have been seeing them at a distance at zoos - they've never been something I've needed to step over to get inside the house.
Fanette and I took a half day off yesterday to explore the area seeing as the roof was finished. We drove around most of the day just checking out all the little villages and farm houses. Fanette had recently found some new features on her camera which she didn't know about before which resulted in some really amazing photos.
We'll be leaving here tomorrow, off to spend a few days with Fanettes dad and grandma, and then off to Germany to meet up with friends.
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