Well we have hit the halfway mark of our job here in Alsace. We have made so many friends from so many areas around the world. We have eaten so many potatoes and traditional hearty dishes from the area that it becomes quite hard to get back into the rhythm of work in the afternoon. Yesterday we had a day off and visited Struthoff, a concentration camp not far from here, but more on that later. Life here is pretty good, the view is always amazing, the wine at night is last years harvest of the grapes we pick in the day and the conversations are a plenty. It's going to be hard to leave at the end of the week, but we have an exciting adventure in Eastern Europe to look forward to. So for now we will continue working hard and eating even harder.
-morgan
After some great little visits to some great French towns we have found ourselves on another organic farm. A loose relative of mine recently bought a 18th century farm house with 13 hectares of fields and woods all around it. Their vision is to restore the house using traditional and eco-friendly building methods and start a small organic farm. On the property they have 5 dogs, 3 cats, 5 new kittens, 5 donkeys, 4 chickens, two horses and a pony. Needless to say we are having fun helping them out and spending alot of time with the kittens. We will only be here for another week but we are making the most of it before heading back into busy Paris. -morgan
Our time is up on this amazing farm and we have truly enjoyed it. We may be a little sick of weeding, but our appreciation for where food comes from and the hard work farmers do has changed the way we look at eating. We have learnt so much about the land, organic living and sustainability. We hope to work on a few more farms in the future and are in the process of trying to find a cheese farm. When in France!
-morgan
Our time working on the farm has involved many new experience. Last week we got to try our hand at animal traction using 2 donkeys, Parpaillon and Pinocchio. Animal traction has been around for many years, but has faded out of farm life. There is an orginisation in France set out to make it popular again. There are 13 different tools you can set up behind a donkey for weeding, plowing, airing and more. It's low cost, good for the environment and makes for true organic farming considering we don't use a tractor. It's great working alongside the donkey, not as it's master, but as it's friend. We were told to keep in mind, without the donkey and you working together, you both will not eat tonight. After we formed the mounds, we then planted pumpkin seedlings over the whole field.
-morgan
It has been a really great experience working here on the farm. Over these last few days I have had a great "revolutionary" experience in the way I view produce. On Tuesday we were out in the rain pulling out all the pea and broad bean plants, as they were ready for harvest and a new plant would be placed in the ground. We were out for hours in the mud pulling them all out and collecting them up to bring back to the shelter. Once we were back and in dry clothes we proceeded to pull the beans from the stalks, a process that was long and messy. In total we had 65kg of beans and about the same of broad beans. The next day after they were washed they were sorted into good and bad and ready to be distributed to the customers. The bad beans were to go to the house for us to eat, so morgan and I then spent the afternoon shelling the peas and in the evening we ate them.
This whole process took 4 people over 2 days to complete, and it was a good reminder where my food comes from and the process it takes. I usually buy bags of frozen peas, all ready to cook in 1 kg bags. To get that 1kg of peas takes a long process on an organic farm, which I have never even considered.
As someone who loves good food, it has been so good to get a reality check on where our food really comes from and all the work that goes into it.
-kim
We have arrived and settled into life working on a farm. For the next three weeks we will be living here as WWOOFers [Willing Workers on Organic Farms]. We work here on the farm and in exchange we get housed and fed.
Well, after 3 days of hard work we are loving this experience. We have done a variety of different things already, weeding, reaping, sorting produce. It was lots of fun weeding yesterday with a little 2 month old kitten trying to play with us while we tried to work. He would climb our legs and sit on our backs.
They also have 2 donkeys here which they use to work the land. I love donkeys and best part of my day is when we take the donkeys to their new feeding spot each day, then returning them to their stable in the afternoon.
We have already learnt so much and are growing in our appreciation of "field to fork" culture.
-kim
The other week, Morgan and I stumbled upon a little boutique/cafe called Forget me not. Shops like this are quite common in Australia, but here in France this was quite a rare find. We shared a pot of organic rose tea and had lovely chats about the world with Marie, the owner. If you're ever in Biarritz, try and find it, you'll love it.
-kim
Forget Me Not
2, rue Simon Etcheverry
64200 Biarritz.
After working a month in a hotel worse than Fawlty Towers, Kim and I are very excited to use our hard earned extra fuel money and take our little car on a bit of a road trip.
At some point in the next 4 days we will be leaving for Biarritz, a seaside city in South-Weatern France 12km from the border of Spain. We will be staying with and helping out an Australian family at their Surf Hostel for a month. We are super excited about this new venture and excited to see what the future holds. This is the biggest trip Kim and I have ever done in a car, and we are part excited and part scared our car doesn't make it. We will be stopping overnight in the southern town of Toulouse to visit a French school friend of mine. We will also be volunteering on some organic farms over summer in the Pyrenees through an organisation called WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms) which we are very stoked to get into farming, learning and eating fresh organic goods straight from the fields.
Needless to say we have quite a lot planned for the next few months and yet are completely unsure and excited about our future.
-morgan
For a while now I have been meaning to write about my attempts to try and go more natural with my body products. Most of us are aware of the toxins and "bad stuff" which are in products we use on our bodies on a daily occasion, and this great video below, made by the team at the story of stuff, shares a little more into that.
I thought I would share a few of the products I have been using in my attempt to "go natural".
clean your face
Cleanser: To clean my face I rotate between to products. Most days, inspired by Crunchy Betty I wash my face with honey. Its incredible how simple and effective natural honey can do for your skin. I have found these past few months washing my face with honey, has been the best my skin has ever been.
The other product I use sometimes is the Angels on Bare Skin cleanser from Lush. I do really love the Lush products, which are all handmade and use natural products. This cleanser is essentially ground almonds, lavender and rose.
I don't wear tons of makeup, but as my products have been finishing I have been replacing them with less chemical based products.
Blush: I wear the Lush Black Stockings body tint as a blush on my cheeks each day. I have found this to be a real nice colour, and is essentially Cocoa and Shea butter.
Mascara: My sister brought me some mascara from New Zealand company Living Nature. This mascara is great, although because it is 100% natural it doesn't last as long as the waterproof chemicals stuff. If I go out after work, I have to re-apply again.
Also, we have previously brought some Moon Goddess Vegan Soap. Once again, this soap left your skin smelling amazing and so soft.
Shaving Soap: Morgan started using the Orange Fuzz Beer and Clay Shaving Soap at the start of the year and it has been so economical. He has quite sensitive skin, and this works a treat.
Body Lotion: The Funk OffVanilla, Blackberry and Sage Lotion is flipping incredible. This stuff smells amazing, its vegan and lasts ages. We brought some about a year ago, and still going through it. Well worth the buy.
Lip Balm: When we brought our other products from Funk Off, they threw in a Spearmint Lip Balm for us to try. This is great at soothing dry lips, and leaves you smelling minty fresh.
I hope you go check out a couple of these stores and can find yourself some new natural products to keep you looking and smelling amazing, without the toxins. -kim
Last week I got a lovely email that brought a big smile to my face, and I thought I would share it with you. You see, when Morgan and I first got engaged, we decided we wanted our wedding not to be a big huzzah of just one day, but to make sure as many things as possible, were able to be used again some how. That was kinda easy for some things like our fabric bunting decorations, the tea cups, black boards and some of our clothes, but one thing I always hoped was able to be used again was my Wedding dress.
I loved that dress, well I still do, and so when I saw a friend of mine, who I knew had a similar style to me, got engaged I knew I should offer her the dress. She loved it and she sent me some pictures last week of her wedding day wearing my old dress. She altered it a little to bring her own spin, and don't they look amazing. I found it so incredible to see this dress be re-used again and for it not to be a one day dress.
I guess I want to encourage and challenge those of you who have been, or are about to be married, think about what you can do with the things you make/use for your wedding. That dress hanging in your cupboard could be perfect for someone else to enjoy on their wedding day. -kim
This little dress re-style has been a long time coming. I started sewing this dress back in april, finally finished it in August and only got around to taking photos last week. Well it's better late then never. Here is a dress that i fixed up for my sister. It started off as a massive size 22 dress that I got for $2 at an op shop. I loved the neckline straight away and new I could do something better with it.
I cut off the sleeves and re-shaped the shoulders. I brought in a bulk off the skirt and raised the waist. I have pretty much re-sewn this dress all over again, the only original part is the collar. I love how it looks on my sister sarah. It is made especially for her and i'm very happy with the result.
Yesterday I found out some exciting news, well exciting for me. The lovely Liss from Daydream Lily shared a link on Twitter which made my day. This news is unfortunately only really relevant for those in Australia, but i'm sure there is an equivalent around the world.
You now have the opportunity to choose to opt out of receiving the yellow and white pages. We never use these massive books which means it is such a waste of paper. I always just jump online to find phone numbers or addresses and I'm sure you do too. All you have to do to stop them coming to your house is register here. The registration lasts for three years, and then you get to decide again if you want to receive them or not.
