Beauty

Rowan examines a rainbow through his binoculars.

 As of today, it has been exactly one week since our arrival at our Izuat-de-l'hotel, France WWOOFing location.  And what a week it has been!  Kindra and I have been absolutely blown away by the beauty of the region we are in.  Our little French village (complete with only three hundred people, a school, church, and small market) is in valley of foothills that lead to the Pyriennes mountains.  One small foothill beside us heists up the ruins of an eight hundred year old castle, and that area is soo fun to explore and enjoy views from.  That is, when it isn't raining buckets.  The last seven days have rivaled Ireland in rainability, and that is saying something.  So our projects have been mostly indoors: feeding the hundreds of hens here, be they young chicklets or older, professional egg-layers; or various odd projects, like making plum jelly!

Our finished jam product!

 It was my (Austin) first time making jelly, and it is a blast.  First, you have to mash up and weigh out the plums (in the ten kilogram range!), then add about ten kilos of sugar, a little lemon and pectin, and boil the monstrous lot.  Then, sterilize the forty odd jars needed to contain the jammy goodness, and voila!  Jelly by the caseload.  Kindra and I were pro jelliers by the end of it all.

In our free time, we have been getting to know our host family.  Rowan is an absolute star wars fan, so Kindra and him especially bond over this shared passion.  It is great living with a family that is so environment and organic focused; seriously, the meals are ridiculously healthy (and tasty)!  Just last night, we have these French style dinner pancakes (gallettes) made out of egg, parsnip, onions, cornflour, then topped with homemade spicy chutney.  My stomach and my bowels have never been so happy (or active!).  Speaking of bowels, we use compost toilets here, which are not too shabby.   Just take care of business and add a scoop of sawdust to cover it up.  :)

Our hike last Sunday was a "date" hike, where I surprised Kindra with where we were going and later shared a written story of how amazing and loved she is.

As far as adventures go, we have done one major hike up to a foothill ridgeline over the weekend.  It was a strenuous and view filled one, and a taste of the many hikes to come.  Following a hike like this, or a full work day, it would not be unusual to find us relaxing in our house (called the LivingBarn), reading a book while the wood heater crackles in the background.  So far, time and life is flying in France!

 The two panoramics (above and below) are some examples of our regions breathtaking beauty.