Sourire-et-Nature (Smiling and Nature), WWOOFing chez André (18 August to 6 September 2014)

Well, little did we know it upon arrival, but we were just about to step into one of the most amazing WWOOF experiences either of us have ever had.  Our host, André, has been hosting wwoofers since 1995, counting well near 400 by now.  Sourire-et-Nature, the name of his property/project, is an unbelievably great crossroads of travellers, friends, wwoofers, peace and relaxation, and discovery. After a week of cycling in cold rains and wet campsites, André and Sourire-et-Nature welcomed us instantly into the mix and lifted our energy to high levels for the length of our stay...

 THE PEOPLE:

The Master of Ceremonies himself, André.

Our second night on the scene and André organizes a soirée to a nearby mountain, including the playing of Tibetan balls.

the always-animated Bodhi Fell

Katy pictured with Laure. Laure inspired us with stories of her recent travels in Indonesia, where she worked in a raw-food community project in the jungle.

Bodhi and fellow wwoofer Josh hard at play.  Josh - an American from the Bay Area - has just finished a study-abroad semester in Copenhagen.

Laure's mom Claire entertains the kids with some folk music.

Group meals are par-for-the-course here.  This always inspires some great cooking and conversation.  Further, André has declared that he wants Sourire-et-Nature to be an all-age, all-nationality open-and-evolving space.  During our stay, we met individuals and families from: France, Israel, Australia, Germany, Russia, Vietnam, and USA.

We organized a bike gang and rode to a neighboring village, Villeneuve, where there was a massive secondhand shop in a barn...


... where Jordan (wwoofer from Victoria, Australia) tries out a few things.

Katy and Bodhi, sunny late-August morning.

Enjoying a group lunch.  Plenty of fresh vegetables on the table.  (Pictured: André, Hélene [wwoofer from Lille], Jordan, Josh, Katy and Elise)

Wwoofers enjoying some post-lunch chill time.  At Andre's - as there is usually a small crew of volunteers around at any given time - wwoofers share the cooking and clean-up tasks.  Pictured (L-R) are Juliette (wwoofer from Paris), Josh, Jeff, Elise (wwoofer from Lorraine) and Jordan.

Cooling off on a hot day!  (photo: Josh Lee)

The apple never falls far from the tree...

Katy and Josh. (photo: Josh Lee)

Jordan, Bodhi and Juliette (neighbor in Montigny)

Jeff and Bodhi having a walkabout.

THE PLACE:

André moved to Montigny-sur-Armancon - a small village 60km from Dijon in northwest Burgundy - in 1994.  He purchased an old farm house and began renovations.  The first wwoofers arrived in 1995.  Twenty years and the purchase of two adjacent farmhouses later, this is still very much a work-in-progress and labor of love.  

The front face of Sourire-et-Nature: bushy with medicinal herbs, criss-crossed by fruiting grape vines, and half-swallowed by temperate exuberance.

This helps us wwoofers find the place!

Bodhi takes advantage of copious wild blackberries growing all over.  His favorite food at the moment, with an endless capacity for gorging.

Our digs here for our three-week stay was a spacious caravan, completely swallowed by bramble.  

The huge beautiful vegetable-and-flower garden at Sourire-et-Nature.

The composting toilet.

André has placed dozens of wooden plaques all around the garden and property, armed with philosophical and spiritual bites of wisdom.  This reads: "The only real, true voyage is to change the way one looks at things" - Proust

The aim of the plaques is to guide you along your spiritual path.  This one reads: "The peace inside of you brings peace to everything around you"

Montigny is a quiet village, featuring some working farms, country houses and lots of tractors.

An impressive house in Montigny.

The church at Montigny.

Montigny as seen from a distance, surrounded by agricultural fields and woods.  The area makes for some pleasant walking and cycling rides.

Bodhi came to love close encounters with the local cows, of which there are hundreds.

It may have been inevitable, but Bodhi's first real spoken word occurred here in Montigny, and it was "TRACTOR!"

Yep, this is what it looks like.

Lac du Pont sits at about 1 km from Montigny, and André was quite proactive in organizing canoe outings to the lake.  Pictured here is young Bodhi's first canoe ride ever.  

A gorgeous afternoon on the lake.

Katy and Bodhi during a quiet moment. This photo belies the actual passage of events, which had Bodhi usually standing, jumping, shrieking and so excited he could barely contain himself - not to mention reaching into the water and splashing all over the place!

André, Elise and Jordan.  This second canoeing excursion was a twilight one...

... and the return leg was done in virtual darkness.

Damselfly seen on a walkabout.

Bodhi having a dip.

This sundial seen in Montigny keeps near-perfect time.

Afternoon ride on the local roads.

Ready for adventure, as always.

THE WORK:

With lots of masonry work to be done, André gave a small demonstration on how to mix cement.

Jeff shaping stones with the grinder.

Hey, what can I do?

Picking rhubarb for a forthcoming apple-rhubarb-blackberry crumble!

Josh dismantles...

while Katy, Jordan and Juliette rebuild a dilapidated stone wall.

Bodhi sleeps nearby.  The easiest way to get him to nap at this point is to pop him in his trailer and ride him about for 10-20 minutes.  

Jeff's task was to erect a stone bridge (a vault in the form of a heart).  Here in the early stages getting the form together...

Jeff and André lay the symbolic first stone.

Starting to take shape.

Meanwhile these two are at work in the tomato patch.

This was a banner moment!  André was happy to see "le wwoofer le plus jeune de tous" (the youngest wwoofer ever) getting in on the work action.

Now on to the potato harvest.

In the end, we had to leave the bridge project unfinished, as we simply didn't have enough time to complete it.  

At the same time, very happy to have seen it pushed along to this point...

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE REGION:

To put it lightly, Burgundy seems blessed with an absurd number of beautiful and historical sites.  We did our best to get out there and experience what we could in our free time and days off...

Viewpoint from Butte-de-Thil.

Burgundy sunset.

The stunning nearby medieval village of Semur-en-Auxois, 8 km away...

Guess who's happy to be here...

Bodhi made a good number of these steps unaided, which marks an evolution in his walking capabilities.

Medieval adornments along Semur's streets...

Semur's imposing Gothic cathedral, outside...

and inside.

The Voodoo Child let loose in Dijon.

These protruding rows are actually all gargoyles!  Seen on Dijon's Cathedrale de Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is notable for its extensive and unusual stained-glass displays.

The lively Saturday streets of Dijon.

15th century house adornments seen in Dijon.

We came across this fellow near the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy.  Guitar, harmonica and an enrapt Bodhi Fell.

The tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy from late 1400's.

We love the pagan influence creeping out in all this medieval religious art.

Time-out for you-know-what in the Museé des Beaux-Arts.

Checking out more of Dijon's fantastic architectural legacy.

André really took to Bodhi, and one day showed up with a bike seat for him!  

This increases our fun-and-interesting possibilities several times over.

Pictured:  a local vide grenier (literally: emptying out the attic/loft), in English otherwise known as a garage/boot sale, albeit here it's on a community level.  Very common this time of year in Burgundy, on weekends.

The medieval village of Flavigny, as seen from a distance.

The cathedral in Flavigny holds all kinds of surprises...

Pagan pew adornments... above and below...

We happened upon the Vierge Allaitant: a fantastic 14th-century sculpture named The Breastfeeding Virgin.  In one go, she is suddenly Katy's favorite religious icon ever.

Suspended choir area in open space must have made for incredible acoustics.

La maison du loup ("The Wolf House"); named after this protruding wolf form.

Flavigny features rounded forms and solid stone fortifications...

A parting shot from Flavigny, as the following day we will cycle on from Sourire-et-Nature...