Je suis à la ferme en France!

I am at the farm in France! Finn and I arrived two days ago after a long day of train rides. The ride here was beautiful with glimpses of the Pyrenees and a full view of the Mediterranean Sea. We are in a huge house in Thézan-des-Corbières, a small own outside of Narbonne, France. The house has been in the family of the Bardy's for a long time and was built by Jimmy's family. I believe they have had it since before WWI. The actual farm part is two kilometers away. They have a lot of land with different vineyard plots and different types of grapes in the plots. They have a 35 year old horse, two donkeys named Gringo and Picolo, and five cats. Jimmy and Charlette Bardy are the two owners of the house and they are great. Charlette doesn't speak any English so communicating with her is all hand gestures and the small amount of French I remember from middle school. It's surprising how much I actually remember! Jimmy speaks a small amount of English.

Finn and I have so far helped with feeding the animals, pruning the grape vines, and evening out some of the dirt roads by the vineyards. We have been lucky with the weather so far, everyday has been at least 18° C. Next week is supposed to get up to 22°! Today we worked on the roads in the morning and had a big lunch with Jimmy, Charlette, Charlette's mother, David (Jimmy and Charlette's son) and his girlfriend! It was really fun and delicious. After lunch Finn and I went for a walk through the hills outside of the town. It's magnificent here with blue skies, vineyards everywhere, blooming almond trees, lush green trees everywhere, and cracked red dirt. Towards the end of the walk the clouds rolled in and it started to smell like the desert in Arizona right before it rains, one of my favorite smells. 

I'm really happy here. The family is so welcoming even though there is a language barrier. Tonight another wwoofer named Francesco from California is coming to the farm, he's been here before, and speaks French fluently so he will be able to help. I hope I become sufficient in speaking French by the time I leave. So far the work isn't hard and I'm looking forward to more hikes, trips to the beach, and trips into town.