An Organic Trip
cover, travel, food, April08 April 18th, 2008
Story and photos By Kristen and Kevin Grace, April 2008
Kristen and Kevin took a honeymoon to Europe with an unusual twist—they volunteered to work on organic farms in France through the organization World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
“Nature et Progrès,” read the sign that leaned against a table where the fruit confections were on display. Phillippe and Emilie had brought them to the Monday market in this little French town despite the rain. The market was slow, but I had a chance to look around the town square for a park bench and look over the buildings carefully.
When in LaSalle, I never thought about Gainesville, or any other place for that matter. The town and its people were enough to occupy my curiosity. I feel that way about vesting many cities if I have the time to settle my thoughts. But this was my honeymoon. I had three weeks this June to stop and think about the things I do. Some were things I do every day without notice. Other things I had never done before this trip.
A page from a calendar hangs in my office where I work as an environmental scientists. It reads, “without any idea of time, your practice goes on and on. Moment after moment you become you yourself.” The days spent in the fields in LaSalle were a window into a lifestyle based around daily, productive practice. Practice reading the weather practice weeding the field, or pruning the trees. Practice working a full day.
My wife, Kristen, a photographer by profession, and I picked raspberries. Neither of us are gardeners by trade. We harvested summer squash. We weeded the onions. We planted leeks. We pulled irrigation tubing from a field of potatoes. It had been a wet spring, and the potatoes had bugs. The field would be tilled under in a day or so. A dozen varieties of tomato hung in the greenhouses.
A new field under a vacant greenhouse needed to be planted soon. We removed grasses from the soil after one or two passes with Philippe on the tractor. The plow had tines that dug into the soil close to eight inches deep, and got to those grass roots pretty good.
Philippe drained an old pool for its annual cleaning. The concrete basin has become a reservoir on the hilltop of his farm. We were back in the onion fields pulling weeds. “Desherbes les oignons,” Philippe would suggest as a second, then a third daily contribution from his gardening guests.
World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is the organization that provided the necessary contact info for making our stay at the farm in LaSalle possible. In return for our daily labors, we would have room and board and get to see what is done on a daily basis, on a family farm in
An old greenhouse had compost and soil everywhere. Overgrown seedlings were in flats and plastic pots, here and there. This batch of plants was not growing strong. They would not be producing before the bugs get heavy. Organic farming appeared to be about timing and preparations for the plant to produce well. Good preparations, good timing and good weather can beat the bugs, which descend and spoil the crops. However, some spoil was inevitable, so it was important to recognize when the crop was lost and take action. A variety of crops, and strains of those crops, was important to ensure there was something to be sold at market. Even on a slow rainy day.
******
Paul and Allison were gracious hosts. We had flowers in our room when we arrived. And a four-poster bed. We had come expecting to sleep in our tent, which we had brought from
He took us for a quick driving tour of Albi, which consisted of crossing a bridge over the river
Onwards to Paul’s farm and our home for the next week. We spoke English freely for a while. Our desire to speak French was enthusiastic, but in practice it was exhausting and our new hosts were British. Paul and Alison had been living in
We arrived at Château de Brametourte in a short time. This 11th century fortress, turrets, arrow slits and all, was being renovated (turned into a Bed and Breakfast), and the new owners were looking for help. The surrounding fields young sunflower and golden wheat were productive, and provided a stark contrast to the garden adjacent to the big house. We met the six current residents. In addition to us, Paul and Alison were hosting an Australian couple, as well as a Polish man and his father. Riczard, the father, and Pavel worked on a foundation for new retaining walls. Several of these walls had kept Pavel and Riczard busy for six weeks or so. The walls organized the hill out front of the chateau, and one day would make a fine entryway. Hedges had grown thick into the hillside, and the whole approach was overgrown by at least 15 years. Trees would soon be thinned out to improve the view of the valley.
The Australians were adventurous, Land-Rover types. They had a healthy wanderlust, and Kristen and I enjoyed their spirited company. They joined us for a day trip into Albi one afternoon. We wandered through the Toulouse-Lautrec museum at the foot of Cathedral Saint-Cecile. We shopped. We ate leisurely at an outdoor café. We bounced along in the car Paul had placed at our disposal.
We took another day to head to Gaillac. As we drove into town, we saw a fireman’s graduation ceremony or some such affair. A long line of fire trucks gathered for the event. It was an impressive demonstration of local variety for which the French are famous. No two trucks looked alike, and each was adapted to its needs.
Well rested from a day off, we finished clearing and cursing the stinging nettles, one of our WWOOF tasks here at Brametourte. The field had been planted with berry bushes the year before. It took me about as long to sharpen the blade on the scythe as it did to dull it again. But in a few hours, we had cleared a half-acre of thistles and nettles, and uncovered the young fruit bushes. Down by the vegetable garden, we scythed nettles away from a pilgrims’ fountain which in earlier times had quenched the thirst of field workers and travelers such as ourselves. We cleaned out the fountain basin, and got the water flowing again.
******
The family farm life was beautiful and exhausting. Our conversations over dinner explored the ways to live simply, and ways to reconnect with the past. When it came time to leave Brametourte, my mind raced with ideas to bring back home. How could we practice what WWOOF had shown us?
Back home, we stocked our refrigerator with baguettes and tasty cheeses for awhile. But the appreciation for our food and how it is grown has lasted longer. We now seek out organic producers in North Central Florida, support their hard work and enjoy the foods of our area. We also feel great satisfaction knowing that our trust in our WWOOF hosts was well-placed. Everything worked out fine. A few names and contact info from WWOOF opened doors in small towns, to friendly people and great food.
For more information on World-wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, check out: www.wwoof.org
Kevin and Kristen Grace live in Gainesville,
Leave a Reply
An Organic Trip
cover, travel, food, April08 April 18th, 2008
Story and photos By Kristen and Kevin Grace, April 2008
Kristen and Kevin took a honeymoon to Europe with an unusual twist—they volunteered to work on organic farms in France through the organization World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
“Nature et Progrès,” read the sign that leaned against a table where the fruit confections were on display. Phillippe and Emilie had brought them to the Monday market in this little French town despite the rain. The market was slow, but I had a chance to look around the town square for a park bench and look over the buildings carefully.
When in LaSalle, I never thought about Gainesville, or any other place for that matter. The town and its people were enough to occupy my curiosity. I feel that way about vesting many cities if I have the time to settle my thoughts. But this was my honeymoon. I had three weeks this June to stop and think about the things I do. Some were things I do every day without notice. Other things I had never done before this trip.
A page from a calendar hangs in my office where I work as an environmental scientists. It reads, “without any idea of time, your practice goes on and on. Moment after moment you become you yourself.” The days spent in the fields in LaSalle were a window into a lifestyle based around daily, productive practice. Practice reading the weather practice weeding the field, or pruning the trees. Practice working a full day.
My wife, Kristen, a photographer by profession, and I picked raspberries. Neither of us are gardeners by trade. We harvested summer squash. We weeded the onions. We planted leeks. We pulled irrigation tubing from a field of potatoes. It had been a wet spring, and the potatoes had bugs. The field would be tilled under in a day or so. A dozen varieties of tomato hung in the greenhouses.
A new field under a vacant greenhouse needed to be planted soon. We removed grasses from the soil after one or two passes with Philippe on the tractor. The plow had tines that dug into the soil close to eight inches deep, and got to those grass roots pretty good.
Philippe drained an old pool for its annual cleaning. The concrete basin has become a reservoir on the hilltop of his farm. We were back in the onion fields pulling weeds. “Desherbes les oignons,” Philippe would suggest as a second, then a third daily contribution from his gardening guests.
World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is the organization that provided the necessary contact info for making our stay at the farm in LaSalle possible. In return for our daily labors, we would have room and board and get to see what is done on a daily basis, on a family farm in
An old greenhouse had compost and soil everywhere. Overgrown seedlings were in flats and plastic pots, here and there. This batch of plants was not growing strong. They would not be producing before the bugs get heavy. Organic farming appeared to be about timing and preparations for the plant to produce well. Good preparations, good timing and good weather can beat the bugs, which descend and spoil the crops. However, some spoil was inevitable, so it was important to recognize when the crop was lost and take action. A variety of crops, and strains of those crops, was important to ensure there was something to be sold at market. Even on a slow rainy day.
******
Paul and Allison were gracious hosts. We had flowers in our room when we arrived. And a four-poster bed. We had come expecting to sleep in our tent, which we had brought from
He took us for a quick driving tour of Albi, which consisted of crossing a bridge over the river
Onwards to Paul’s farm and our home for the next week. We spoke English freely for a while. Our desire to speak French was enthusiastic, but in practice it was exhausting and our new hosts were British. Paul and Alison had been living in
We arrived at Château de Brametourte in a short time. This 11th century fortress, turrets, arrow slits and all, was being renovated (turned into a Bed and Breakfast), and the new owners were looking for help. The surrounding fields young sunflower and golden wheat were productive, and provided a stark contrast to the garden adjacent to the big house. We met the six current residents. In addition to us, Paul and Alison were hosting an Australian couple, as well as a Polish man and his father. Riczard, the father, and Pavel worked on a foundation for new retaining walls. Several of these walls had kept Pavel and Riczard busy for six weeks or so. The walls organized the hill out front of the chateau, and one day would make a fine entryway. Hedges had grown thick into the hillside, and the whole approach was overgrown by at least 15 years. Trees would soon be thinned out to improve the view of the valley.
The Australians were adventurous, Land-Rover types. They had a healthy wanderlust, and Kristen and I enjoyed their spirited company. They joined us for a day trip into Albi one afternoon. We wandered through the Toulouse-Lautrec museum at the foot of Cathedral Saint-Cecile. We shopped. We ate leisurely at an outdoor café. We bounced along in the car Paul had placed at our disposal.
We took another day to head to Gaillac. As we drove into town, we saw a fireman’s graduation ceremony or some such affair. A long line of fire trucks gathered for the event. It was an impressive demonstration of local variety for which the French are famous. No two trucks looked alike, and each was adapted to its needs.
Well rested from a day off, we finished clearing and cursing the stinging nettles, one of our WWOOF tasks here at Brametourte. The field had been planted with berry bushes the year before. It took me about as long to sharpen the blade on the scythe as it did to dull it again. But in a few hours, we had cleared a half-acre of thistles and nettles, and uncovered the young fruit bushes. Down by the vegetable garden, we scythed nettles away from a pilgrims’ fountain which in earlier times had quenched the thirst of field workers and travelers such as ourselves. We cleaned out the fountain basin, and got the water flowing again.
******
The family farm life was beautiful and exhausting. Our conversations over dinner explored the ways to live simply, and ways to reconnect with the past. When it came time to leave Brametourte, my mind raced with ideas to bring back home. How could we practice what WWOOF had shown us?
Back home, we stocked our refrigerator with baguettes and tasty cheeses for awhile. But the appreciation for our food and how it is grown has lasted longer. We now seek out organic producers in North Central Florida, support their hard work and enjoy the foods of our area. We also feel great satisfaction knowing that our trust in our WWOOF hosts was well-placed. Everything worked out fine. A few names and contact info from WWOOF opened doors in small towns, to friendly people and great food.
For more information on World-wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, check out: www.wwoof.org
Kevin and Kristen Grace live in Gainesville,
Leave a Reply
An Organic Trip
cover, travel, food, April08 April 18th, 2008
Story and photos By Kristen and Kevin Grace, April 2008
Kristen and Kevin took a honeymoon to Europe with an unusual twist—they volunteered to work on organic farms in France through the organization World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
“Nature et Progrès,” read the sign that leaned against a table where the fruit confections were on display. Phillippe and Emilie had brought them to the Monday market in this little French town despite the rain. The market was slow, but I had a chance to look around the town square for a park bench and look over the buildings carefully.
When in LaSalle, I never thought about Gainesville, or any other place for that matter. The town and its people were enough to occupy my curiosity. I feel that way about vesting many cities if I have the time to settle my thoughts. But this was my honeymoon. I had three weeks this June to stop and think about the things I do. Some were things I do every day without notice. Other things I had never done before this trip.
A page from a calendar hangs in my office where I work as an environmental scientists. It reads, “without any idea of time, your practice goes on and on. Moment after moment you become you yourself.” The days spent in the fields in LaSalle were a window into a lifestyle based around daily, productive practice. Practice reading the weather practice weeding the field, or pruning the trees. Practice working a full day.
My wife, Kristen, a photographer by profession, and I picked raspberries. Neither of us are gardeners by trade. We harvested summer squash. We weeded the onions. We planted leeks. We pulled irrigation tubing from a field of potatoes. It had been a wet spring, and the potatoes had bugs. The field would be tilled under in a day or so. A dozen varieties of tomato hung in the greenhouses.
A new field under a vacant greenhouse needed to be planted soon. We removed grasses from the soil after one or two passes with Philippe on the tractor. The plow had tines that dug into the soil close to eight inches deep, and got to those grass roots pretty good.
Philippe drained an old pool for its annual cleaning. The concrete basin has become a reservoir on the hilltop of his farm. We were back in the onion fields pulling weeds. “Desherbes les oignons,” Philippe would suggest as a second, then a third daily contribution from his gardening guests.
World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is the organization that provided the necessary contact info for making our stay at the farm in LaSalle possible. In return for our daily labors, we would have room and board and get to see what is done on a daily basis, on a family farm in
An old greenhouse had compost and soil everywhere. Overgrown seedlings were in flats and plastic pots, here and there. This batch of plants was not growing strong. They would not be producing before the bugs get heavy. Organic farming appeared to be about timing and preparations for the plant to produce well. Good preparations, good timing and good weather can beat the bugs, which descend and spoil the crops. However, some spoil was inevitable, so it was important to recognize when the crop was lost and take action. A variety of crops, and strains of those crops, was important to ensure there was something to be sold at market. Even on a slow rainy day.
******
Paul and Allison were gracious hosts. We had flowers in our room when we arrived. And a four-poster bed. We had come expecting to sleep in our tent, which we had brought from
He took us for a quick driving tour of Albi, which consisted of crossing a bridge over the river
Onwards to Paul’s farm and our home for the next week. We spoke English freely for a while. Our desire to speak French was enthusiastic, but in practice it was exhausting and our new hosts were British. Paul and Alison had been living in
We arrived at Château de Brametourte in a short time. This 11th century fortress, turrets, arrow slits and all, was being renovated (turned into a Bed and Breakfast), and the new owners were looking for help. The surrounding fields young sunflower and golden wheat were productive, and provided a stark contrast to the garden adjacent to the big house. We met the six current residents. In addition to us, Paul and Alison were hosting an Australian couple, as well as a Polish man and his father. Riczard, the father, and Pavel worked on a foundation for new retaining walls. Several of these walls had kept Pavel and Riczard busy for six weeks or so. The walls organized the hill out front of the chateau, and one day would make a fine entryway. Hedges had grown thick into the hillside, and the whole approach was overgrown by at least 15 years. Trees would soon be thinned out to improve the view of the valley.
The Australians were adventurous, Land-Rover types. They had a healthy wanderlust, and Kristen and I enjoyed their spirited company. They joined us for a day trip into Albi one afternoon. We wandered through the Toulouse-Lautrec museum at the foot of Cathedral Saint-Cecile. We shopped. We ate leisurely at an outdoor café. We bounced along in the car Paul had placed at our disposal.
We took another day to head to Gaillac. As we drove into town, we saw a fireman’s graduation ceremony or some such affair. A long line of fire trucks gathered for the event. It was an impressive demonstration of local variety for which the French are famous. No two trucks looked alike, and each was adapted to its needs.
Well rested from a day off, we finished clearing and cursing the stinging nettles, one of our WWOOF tasks here at Brametourte. The field had been planted with berry bushes the year before. It took me about as long to sharpen the blade on the scythe as it did to dull it again. But in a few hours, we had cleared a half-acre of thistles and nettles, and uncovered the young fruit bushes. Down by the vegetable garden, we scythed nettles away from a pilgrims’ fountain which in earlier times had quenched the thirst of field workers and travelers such as ourselves. We cleaned out the fountain basin, and got the water flowing again.
******
The family farm life was beautiful and exhausting. Our conversations over dinner explored the ways to live simply, and ways to reconnect with the past. When it came time to leave Brametourte, my mind raced with ideas to bring back home. How could we practice what WWOOF had shown us?
Back home, we stocked our refrigerator with baguettes and tasty cheeses for awhile. But the appreciation for our food and how it is grown has lasted longer. We now seek out organic producers in North Central Florida, support their hard work and enjoy the foods of our area. We also feel great satisfaction knowing that our trust in our WWOOF hosts was well-placed. Everything worked out fine. A few names and contact info from WWOOF opened doors in small towns, to friendly people and great food.
For more information on World-wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, check out: www.wwoof.org
Kevin and Kristen Grace live in Gainesville,
Leave a Reply
An Organic Trip
cover, travel, food, April08 April 18th, 2008
Story and photos By Kristen and Kevin Grace, April 2008
Kristen and Kevin took a honeymoon to Europe with an unusual twist—they volunteered to work on organic farms in France through the organization World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
“Nature et Progrès,” read the sign that leaned against a table where the fruit confections were on display. Phillippe and Emilie had brought them to the Monday market in this little French town despite the rain. The market was slow, but I had a chance to look around the town square for a park bench and look over the buildings carefully.
When in LaSalle, I never thought about Gainesville, or any other place for that matter. The town and its people were enough to occupy my curiosity. I feel that way about vesting many cities if I have the time to settle my thoughts. But this was my honeymoon. I had three weeks this June to stop and think about the things I do. Some were things I do every day without notice. Other things I had never done before this trip.
A page from a calendar hangs in my office where I work as an environmental scientists. It reads, “without any idea of time, your practice goes on and on. Moment after moment you become you yourself.” The days spent in the fields in LaSalle were a window into a lifestyle based around daily, productive practice. Practice reading the weather practice weeding the field, or pruning the trees. Practice working a full day.
My wife, Kristen, a photographer by profession, and I picked raspberries. Neither of us are gardeners by trade. We harvested summer squash. We weeded the onions. We planted leeks. We pulled irrigation tubing from a field of potatoes. It had been a wet spring, and the potatoes had bugs. The field would be tilled under in a day or so. A dozen varieties of tomato hung in the greenhouses.
A new field under a vacant greenhouse needed to be planted soon. We removed grasses from the soil after one or two passes with Philippe on the tractor. The plow had tines that dug into the soil close to eight inches deep, and got to those grass roots pretty good.
Philippe drained an old pool for its annual cleaning. The concrete basin has become a reservoir on the hilltop of his farm. We were back in the onion fields pulling weeds. “Desherbes les oignons,” Philippe would suggest as a second, then a third daily contribution from his gardening guests.
World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is the organization that provided the necessary contact info for making our stay at the farm in LaSalle possible. In return for our daily labors, we would have room and board and get to see what is done on a daily basis, on a family farm in
An old greenhouse had compost and soil everywhere. Overgrown seedlings were in flats and plastic pots, here and there. This batch of plants was not growing strong. They would not be producing before the bugs get heavy. Organic farming appeared to be about timing and preparations for the plant to produce well. Good preparations, good timing and good weather can beat the bugs, which descend and spoil the crops. However, some spoil was inevitable, so it was important to recognize when the crop was lost and take action. A variety of crops, and strains of those crops, was important to ensure there was something to be sold at market. Even on a slow rainy day.
******
Paul and Allison were gracious hosts. We had flowers in our room when we arrived. And a four-poster bed. We had come expecting to sleep in our tent, which we had brought from
He took us for a quick driving tour of Albi, which consisted of crossing a bridge over the river
Onwards to Paul’s farm and our home for the next week. We spoke English freely for a while. Our desire to speak French was enthusiastic, but in practice it was exhausting and our new hosts were British. Paul and Alison had been living in
We arrived at Château de Brametourte in a short time. This 11th century fortress, turrets, arrow slits and all, was being renovated (turned into a Bed and Breakfast), and the new owners were looking for help. The surrounding fields young sunflower and golden wheat were productive, and provided a stark contrast to the garden adjacent to the big house. We met the six current residents. In addition to us, Paul and Alison were hosting an Australian couple, as well as a Polish man and his father. Riczard, the father, and Pavel worked on a foundation for new retaining walls. Several of these walls had kept Pavel and Riczard busy for six weeks or so. The walls organized the hill out front of the chateau, and one day would make a fine entryway. Hedges had grown thick into the hillside, and the whole approach was overgrown by at least 15 years. Trees would soon be thinned out to improve the view of the valley.
The Australians were adventurous, Land-Rover types. They had a healthy wanderlust, and Kristen and I enjoyed their spirited company. They joined us for a day trip into Albi one afternoon. We wandered through the Toulouse-Lautrec museum at the foot of Cathedral Saint-Cecile. We shopped. We ate leisurely at an outdoor café. We bounced along in the car Paul had placed at our disposal.
We took another day to head to Gaillac. As we drove into town, we saw a fireman’s graduation ceremony or some such affair. A long line of fire trucks gathered for the event. It was an impressive demonstration of local variety for which the French are famous. No two trucks looked alike, and each was adapted to its needs.
Well rested from a day off, we finished clearing and cursing the stinging nettles, one of our WWOOF tasks here at Brametourte. The field had been planted with berry bushes the year before. It took me about as long to sharpen the blade on the scythe as it did to dull it again. But in a few hours, we had cleared a half-acre of thistles and nettles, and uncovered the young fruit bushes. Down by the vegetable garden, we scythed nettles away from a pilgrims’ fountain which in earlier times had quenched the thirst of field workers and travelers such as ourselves. We cleaned out the fountain basin, and got the water flowing again.
******
The family farm life was beautiful and exhausting. Our conversations over dinner explored the ways to live simply, and ways to reconnect with the past. When it came time to leave Brametourte, my mind raced with ideas to bring back home. How could we practice what WWOOF had shown us?
Back home, we stocked our refrigerator with baguettes and tasty cheeses for awhile. But the appreciation for our food and how it is grown has lasted longer. We now seek out organic producers in North Central Florida, support their hard work and enjoy the foods of our area. We also feel great satisfaction knowing that our trust in our WWOOF hosts was well-placed. Everything worked out fine. A few names and contact info from WWOOF opened doors in small towns, to friendly people and great food.
For more information on World-wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, check out: www.wwoof.org
Kevin and Kristen Grace live in Gainesville,
