It has been about three weeks since I have been working at the Cravirola Cooperative and time has gone by very fast here. How do I start to explain life here? The farm is on 280 hectares of land set in a rocky landscape just north of Narbonne in southern France. It is a group run farm where the products that are produced are used to sustain the farm and life here. There are approximately 150 animals, cows, goats and sheep, a cheese atelier, a wood fire bread oven under construction, two large gardens, rooms for rent, a campground and a performance stage. In the summer, the campground is open and there is a snack bar that makes food for the visitors using produce, meat and cheese all from the farm. Impressive! Apart from all of this, the products are also used to sell a local organic markets in the region.
Last week I left the farm to travel with two people to an transformation atelier. This is a cooperative processing building that is used for a variety of purposes. From what I gathered, it is the only one of its kind in France, where meat of all kinds, fruit, vegetables, fish etc... can all be transformed in the same building. We were there to make use of two cows from the farm that had been slaughtered the week before. The idea was that we were to make chili and curry to sell at a music festival that starts tomorrow. It went well. The atelier was really interesting. Most of the people working there either raised animals, slaughtered them and then used the atelier to butcher, make sausages, tinned pates or package the meat sousvide or some people used it for catering operations and still others, thre was one man in particlar who used it to make tins of cassoulet to sell at the markets. All very local.
Tomorrow I am going to a 40000 person music festival t sell the meals that we prepared at the atelier. I think it will be a riot, tiring bu entertaining at the same time.
Salut for now. Nadia
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4 comments:
Hey Nadia,
Sounds like all is going well. Mike has just finally shown me your blog at work and have just finished catching up on your adventures. You have finally reached the south of France. Beautiful country and already going to a music festival. Hope it was a good party even though you were working.Maybe you can find one of those cool caves they make wine in and learn to make wine as well as providing cheap accommodation. Have you seen the caves I'm talking about?
You are not missing much. Snowed in the city yesterday. Don't know how it missed us... So it is another late start to the year. Finally warmed up enough that I could plant peas and swiss chard. Might take them awhile to come up.
Guess I should actually make like I am at work and do something like work.
Take Care. Have fun. You go girl.
Kathy
Hi Sweetie! Great to see your blogsite updated with solid information. I passed the blogsite address on to Ciara (across the street) because she is very interested in the sort of thing you are doing, and contemplates something related when she graduates this year.
The situation you are in sounds like a really interesting personal growth opportunity amidst constructive, productive, brave, energetic people. Wow!
Your mum sends her love and thanks for the birthday wishes, and I send my love too.
Old What's-his-name
I "stumbled" across this, and working on a farm in Europe is something I'm looking to do this summer! How did you go about doing this??
Hi Farrel,
I really lucked out in finding this farm. I had been in Paris for a month and started looking around on the internet for volunteer opportunities on farms in France and found this wonderful place. I asked if they were looking for any volunteers and gave a rundown of my past experience and they told me to come visit for a week or two. Seven months later I left there! It was a great experience and I absolutely love this place.
Another good avenue is to look into WWOOFing. There is an international website where you can look into many many different farms all across Europe who are looking for volunteers, typically in exchange for room and board.
There are lots of opportunities out there for people looking to do some volunteer work on farms. Good luck!
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