Pyrenees Permaculture Farming

November 9-20, southern France:

Jesse and Andy at the farm

View from the farm

Ian feeding mulberry leaves to the sheep - a delicacy according to them!

Another view at the farm

Jack with the sheep

Shots from our day trip cycling from the farm

Jessie and Andy picked us up in Limoux and whisked us off in their older VW bus high onto the hilltops. In exchange for room and board, we were volunteering on their farm for 10 days, as part of an international movement called Worldwide Working on Organic Farms, or WWoofing. Their farm has a flock of some 100 sheep, a half dozen chickens, a large garden, an orchard of various apples and other fruit, plus a forest filled with chestnut, oak and wild mushrooms. Andy and Jessie use permaculture practices which extend beyond organic to consider systems and an integration with natural cycles. They also look after other gardens and teach permaculture workshops. Both are quite talented in other ways, too, with Jessie being an accomplished artist and children's author (and cook, to our delight!) and Andy an avid guitarist who inspired his kids to play and form their own band.

As the nights were cold, we settled into a small suite shared with a young Dutch Wwoofer, Maikka. Most days the sunshine created lots of warmth, but there were some cooler days when the fog or rain rolled in. Our views were dramatic out across the valley to high ridges with tilted limestone rock, higher evergreens and lower golden chestnut forests, a hilltop town perched among the clouds, and the Pyrenees peaks in the distance, constantly shifting their mantle of snow with the weather. In the foreground, the farm was a rich tapestry of renovated yellow brick buildings surrounded by a few outbuildings and gently sloping green fields. Their smart border collie followed us around, looking for excitement (when he wasn't herding the chickens or keeping an eye on the sheep), while a huge and surprisingly white Pyrenees Mountain Dog hung out with and guarded his "pack" of sheep.

Mornings would unfold slowly, with late breakfasts, lunches and dinners enjoyed around a large table next to the warming wood cooking stove. Delicious meals included farm garden produce, lots of garlic, often wild chestnuts and mushrooms, occasional lamb, farm apple cider, and red wine and honey from neighbours. Dinners would often linger over fun discussions and some guitar jam sessions. When the schedule or rain slowed things down, we both enjoyed diving into the pages of the numerous manuals and books on offer. The chance to speak, and read, English helped us relax and share more with our hosts.

Each day brought its own projects: planting peas, onions and garlic in the garden; mulching around fruit trees; clearing and building fences; trimming branches, brambles and mulberry for sheep fodder; feeding chickens, sheep and dogs; bundling and carting off lambs for sale; collecting eggs; building a grey-water treatment pond; and splitting and stacking loads of firewood to prepare for winter. Over our ten days, we learned lots about permaculture, the payments and paperwork challenges of farming in France, and the joys and tastes of rural life and self-sufficiency.

One Sunday Jessie brought us along to the morning market in nearby Cuiza. It was filled with local food products as well as a mix of clothes, music and crafts. On our second last day, we put our biked back in action and made a 60 km circuit through the surrounding hills, following very quiet roads past ancient towns, ruined Cathar castles perched on crags high above the valley (to protect them from Catholic Crusades), among majestic forests, by fields and farms, along an impressive gorge with impossible roads carved through it, and through dramatic (and descending!) valleys.

We felt a real comraderie with Jessie and Andy. Thus we were sad to wrap up our time with them and leave their idyllic locale. We cleaned up our pad, bid our adieus, and then pointed our bikes steeply downhill - 2 km to the valley road, past the Roman thermal baths at Rennes-les-Bains (a continuing draw for nearby hippies), and then 15 km on to Cuiza through the stunning Aude River valley.