Last night and now again this morning one of the cats, Mignon un, came to hang out on my bed. It’s nice hearing that familiar purring which I haven’t had for a while. This morning I got up and did my regular morning routine, meditating and journaling, then headed out to do chores. I fed the horses their hay, gave the chickens grain and water and let them out of their various enclosures, gave grain to the teenage goats and hay to all the older goats then went to help with the milking. I did forget to close one of the chicken coop doors, there’s always something! Maybe by the end of the time I’m here I will remember all the things to do. Milking went well until one of the goats I was milking picked up her hoof and stuck it right into the bucket, ruining the milk and spilling half of it all over the stanchion. C’est la vie! Apparently this was one of the feistier goats, good to know for the future. Jean-Francois had on classical music in the milking room, that was a lovely addition. The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah came on, and I told him about the sing-along messiahs that we have at home. He was intrigued as he hasn’t heard of that before. After I finished up with the goats and got my part cleaned up, I fed the pigs. The buckets with their corn and whey are pretty heavy, so I’m learning how to lever them up and over into the trough. Luckily, they are not at all concerned if some of their food spills on the ground!
At breakfast I met Lysanne who lives here in a converted ambulance. She brought a new friend with her. We had a nice long talk in a combination of French and English about all sorts of things. She mentioned that the québécois are known for swallowing their words as they talk, which made me feel better about how difficult it can be to follow conversations. She is a muralist and has been doing a few different contract murals for festivals and other things. She has lived in Mexico, where her partner is from, so also speaks Spanish. We had some of the delicious goat cheese for breakfast this morning as well as some homemade mocha using Mexican chocolate, yummy. After breakfast, I washed the dishes and then cleaned the windows in the kitchen and living areas, since I was going to the local farmers market later and would miss out on milking the goats tonight. It is always more enjoyable to clean someone else’s place rather than your own. 😝 I also gave the teenage goats more hay (like teen humans they are always hungry!) and water to the bucks.
I had a little time to explore the gardens on the farm before we headed out to the farmers market. They grow lots of lettuce, squash, tomatoes and sunflowers. The sunflowers are used to keep the birds away in the autumn, beautiful and effective!
Had a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and salad with Safran and Chloé, we talked about all sorts of things, including their upcoming trip to Europe where they are hoping to find work over the winter in Switzerland. We also had an interesting discussion about immigration in both our countries and elsewhere. Since Jean-Francois’ father is from France, all successive generations can get French citizenship and through that are able to work anywhere in Europe. I also learned more about the québécois and their fierceness in keeping their culture alive and thriving. While most in the newer generations understand the need to be fluent in English as well as French in order to have increased opportunities within the entire country, they also recognize the importance of supporting efforts to keep French an integral part of Canadien life.
After lunch we headed to the farmers market in Compton, a nearby town that has lots of artisanal shops. Not quite the same as Compton in LA…. The farmers market has permanent stalls and the different vendors have their names written in chalk above their stall. Lots of veggies (so colorful!), flowers, beer, cheese (including ours), hot dogs, cookies, gelato, spices, pesto (the basil pesto was so flavorful!), crème de cassis (also yummy). There was an older woman looking at the crème de cassis bottles and when the seller asked if we wanted to try some, the woman looked at me and when I said yes, she got a big smile and nodded her head yes. When she tried the crème de cassis she shivered and let out a very satisfied sigh. It was adorable!
I learned about a lot of different, beautiful mushrooms I hadn’t heard of before, including lions mane and chestnut. I also saw cœur de bœuf (beef heart), pineapple and blackberry tomatoes. Everything was so gorgeous! A one man band played on and off. I love that the sign in front of his music case read ‘Thank you for encouraging our troubadour!’ There was an area where you could park your dog since they weren’t allowed in the central part of the market. They even had 2 parking attendants helping people to find a place to park-wow!
I bought some beautiful cards from a local artist then sat down at one of the several picnic tables that were dotted around the park and ended up having several fun conversations. First were two young women, one with a baby in a Baby Björn. Turns out she was the aunt and the other woman, who was carrying two bunches of beautiful flowers, was the mom. The baby was 2 months old and the first grandchild, so we talked about how excited first time grandparents can be. There was a beautiful dog nearby and I asked his owner what kind of dog he was. Luckily the owner spoke English and we ended up having a long talk about volunteering on organic farms (he has done that in Colorado), traveling (he has ridden his motorcycle to 42 states!), the strictness of laws in Canada and the variety of choices in the US. The dog (that had a Native American name I could not understand when combined with a French accent) was a Belgium Shepherd and very good natured.
I decided to try a bit if what was on offer and since I had already had had plenty of delicious homemade bread, cheese and veggies at the farm, I treated myself to a strawberry-basil lemonade and a strawberry-rhubarb baluchon, a kind of galette. The lemonade was very refreshing and the baluchon was delicious and filling! I think this was the most enjoyable farmers market I’ve been to.
Looking around the farmers market it struck me that there didn’t seem to be any racial diversity. It is similar to northern Wyoming in that respect. Last night the family had mentioned finding people from Guatemala to help on the farm now that the kids were starting to move away from home for longer periods on time. Canada has an agricultural worker program similar to the US, though it seems like there is more support for it in Canada.
We got home as the sun was setting, Chloé and I both thought the sky looked like an impressionist painting. Dinner was being prepared as we got in so I set the table, and was thrilled to see we were having fondue using their goat cheese-it was delicious! They didn’t have any fancy long handled forks or fondue pots, we just used regular forks and a sauce pan on a handmade wooden holder shaped like a capital I, on either side were 2 tea light candles, enough heat to keep the cheese softened. That combined with a salad from the garden made for a fantastic dinner. Plus I was able to follow a bit more of the conversation tonight! By the time we were done it was 9:30 and I was ready for bed.