Monday, December 7, 2009

around the Arias homestead - part 1




Jason and Eleanor (our Australian co-WWOOFer and friend) weeding the massively weedy pois chiche (chickpea) field.
our friends the goats!
Jason's primary weed killing tool for the field
Funny geese that greeted us every day we worked in the pois chiche field. They lived with the goats next door to the field.


Jason wrapping up stick bundles, these go in the old school bread oven!

Jason with his hoe, coming from the pois chiche field.


View of the 2 buildings from the front driveway
The steps led to the entry way of our (WWOOF-er) part of the house.
The front room on the left (where the window is) was where the family made bread once a week.

Tool shed on the right, recycling room in the middle, and cellar on the left. Oh, and there was a bee operation in the tool shed too (more pics later!)
The entrance to the main house where the family lived.

Splitting wood!
I'm pretty sure this is the chair that ripped Jason's shorts...they were never the same.
Nini the cat!
Jason is shaking out the rocks for the Torchis wall we're building.
(More on torchis/cob building later)
Weeding! (and actually learning about plants)

This is Jason taking one of his many breaks, haha! (it was a much deserved break of course.)
A post-work swim in the clay pool! That's Jason's head on the left. And the little house that floats in the middle is for the duck, which I took to naming Renard.
Jason in the kitchen - nice mural!
the view from our kitchen window
our hangout space!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Our first exploration into La Penne, France

La Penne, France - our first WWOOF home village;
with the Arias family. (it was really hard to choose photos, this isn't even all of them- I swear!)


we hopped across this field from the farm in order to get into the village.
the church
a winding staircase (very common in small France villages)
you know how I feel about doors...


a beautiful and quite obviously old succulent in the beautiful Mediterranean climate.
the goal for the day - get to the highest point in La Penne which appeared to be this tower.
There were cats everywhere, but we didn't see any other people...





we made it to the tower!
wow, what views!
there's our farm! in the bottom right corner
(not the 2-story building, but the one near the pond)

Where's Waldo? Or Jason rather, standing next to the tower for "perspective".
there is our farm again!
(I did mention that it was hard to pick just a few photos, right?)

that is a winding road below
"Voila!"

Next stop for the afternoon - the church tower below.
Can you find the church tower in this one?
Oh, an art shot for fun.
Au revoir tower.
Another cat!
The school
This was dated 1900, not that old...

The bell tower!
We could count on this guy to ring every day, every hour AND every half hour. We often referred to these chimes as "the chimes of freedom" after a long work day.

This was not a church with services for the living...
and for my landscape architecture friends - check out that nice stony hardscape! Beautiful!