I haven't had much time to use the internet here but these are some photos from last weeks harvest!

day one

The past two days have been my romantically painful introduction to la vendange. Eating breakfast in the dark we notice the sun’s faint glow rising outside the window and onto our kitchen table. At this moment Philip opens the door and serves out the morning tasks before we begin walking down to the parcel nearest the main road.
The first day was actually quite nice in that we spent five and a half hours harvesting in the sun before lunch and the rest of the day was spent pressing and cleaning up, but because Philip wasn’t sure if we had enough grapes to fill the press we had fill it by hand so as not to brake and grapes. This took some time but it was pretty well full at the end and he decided to press.
The second day we were down to only five people because Caroline was very sick and her mother left to catch a flight home the evening before. I chose to be the transporter during the whole six hours of harvest and have some major bruises to show for it. Because Philip had pruned the second half of the parcel a little differently they had produced many more grapes and we had to return after lunch to harvest the rest. The gray sky wasn’t looking promising during lunch and sure enough we picked the last two rows in the rain.
At about nine in the evening we were finally pressing and took a break to eat dinner. Caroline’s brother was very kind to quite a few bottles of beer from a local brewery 200meters from his house in Germany which went very well with a few well deserved bowls of soup. After the pressing was finished we cleaned everything up and finally walked to back to the house at around 12:30 am.
I don’t know how many days of harvest are left but I heard that we might do the whole vineyard by hand. I took the day off today because the weather forecast wasn’t looking the best but I’m looking at blue sky right now and it hasn’t rained at all.

Once again it’s my day off, only it lacks the clean skies and worm air of last week. Even so, I didn’t spend much time at the market, after buying doux pommes from my favorite organic vendor I decided to ride about an hour south to a town called Eauze. A little smaller than Agen yet much larger then anything around the farm Eauze was a plesent city. I bought a penini and walked around the book store. Eauze (click on it to make it larger)
Now I’m back in Barbotan for the next hour of so. I’ve sent about eight emails out to some farms near or in the Alps. Mostly cheese producers, I made sure this time to only email the farmers using French in their posts but mentioned that they speak at least a little English. I’m hoping to work it out so that after a week or so here I can take a train south to Marseille and then a ferry to Corse and then another to Livorno, Italy. I’ve met with the surprisingly hospitable friend of a fried over Facebook. She’s going to an art school in Firenze and was more than happy to let me stay with her for a while and show me around the city. If everything works to plan I could enjoy a week in central Italy before I return to France!
I’m finally getting used to the daily live of my host family here, but I just get the feeling I’m wasting precious time that I could be learning French. I’ve made the commitment though with Caroline and the children, it seems to be helping at least a little. Victor is always up to embarrass me when I mispronounce words and what better way to learn than humiliation by an eight year old?
Caroline’s brother is coming tomorrow to join us in La Vendange and I think Philip said that a Japanese WWOOFer will be here on Friday. It’s going to be long hard days but you know, I’m looking forward to it. If anything, I’ll be drinking some of the best grape juice in the world.

I was woken up by the chatter of restless children outside my bedroom. They don’t have school on Wednesdays so they usually hand around Caroline and I but today is my day off I’ve decided and I’m going into town for the market.
For such a small quiet town, Barbotan has a huge local market with everything you need. I’m a little frightened of sparking up a conversation with a vender, they seem to like talking and explaining their products in detail. I want to buy some of this Armagnac that this region is so famous for but even buying it directly from the producers is outrageously expensive, maybe I’ll just buy some staples to get me through the week.
Anyway, I finally got a good picture of the front of the château and where we eat lunch everyday. It seems that every time we’re out there now we catch the geese eating the grapes and have to chase them out of the vines. This is not usually the job for me simply because those geese are out to get me and will literally go out of there way just to chase me and bite at me; apparently they can sense my fear.


As for “The Idiot” Davor, it’s going really well. I’m only about 35 pages in but I like it so far, it’s a little hard to remember the names of people because I can’t pronounce them at all.

It's true, we can still smile after a 10 hour day and a face full of paint.

Green arrow - Yo La Tango
les filles et Les Chiens - Jacques Brel

Chateaux Tour Blanc

Cazaubon

Le Velo

Cazaubon

The sun is setting quickly again here in Barbotan and I should get back to the farm for dinner soon. It was another long day of fermentation tank preparation today, taking off old paint, covering up rusty metal, painting in confined spaces... Fortunately it was another beautiful day and we at on the patio of the chateaux with a few glasses of Corsican red.
A few days ago I bought a very cheap bottle of wine to have for my dinners, this turned out to be a major mistake that I should have foreseen, for now every time the topic of wine comes up around Philip (and it does often one could guess) he is quick to make joke of how I drink shitty wine. Sandra must of somehow found out that I was desperate to improve my French so she has employed the children to help out, but of course nothing has come of that yet, but I’ll just keep talking to them until they respond. “So you must be a connoisseur of Washington wines then right?” I was asked by Philip. “I guess I should know, I’ve lived there my whole life, but I don’t”
I’m not going to edit this because my batteries just about dead, I hope it makes sense.

The photo behind the title was the sun rising over my farm this morning.

The pain in Caroline’s mouth had gotten so bad that it’s hard for her to eat and this morning she was given a ride to the family doctor. I on the other hand woke up at four with a horrible sore throat and had to make some hot tea with rum to kill off the bacteria and sooth the pain. I was sent to weed the grapes on the far end of the vineyard at eight, it was hard work as usual and my back hurts quite a bit.
After eating a spectacular lunch Sandra had prepared (it always is and I never leave a scrap on the plate) I prepared the inside walls of a holding tank for painting tomorrow. The afternoons here seem to always be much more laid back and by five I had decided I was done and took Caroline’s bike into town.
Right now I’m sitting in the park watching a few games of Boules. It’s pretty much exclusively older people in town but just a minute ago I was lucky enough to catch eyes with a cute girl walking out of the activity center where I get wireless. I’ll have to get on top of my French if I ever want to speak with her though, where are you when I need you the most Amanda?!
Anyway, the whether is once again perfect and the scenery is exactly what I pictured it would be. The days are moving fast though and I can’t wait to take a day off and explore. Maybe I’ll go to the coast; I hear that’s where I need to go first.
As soon as I take some better pictures of the farm and the châteaux I’ll be quick to post them, it’s an amazing place that’s for sure.
au revoir…