Bodhi On Wheels: WWOOFing in Jura: A 100% organic, almost self-sufficient family (10 September to 19 September 2014)

Our arrival in Granges-sur-Baume was met with gorgeous weather. This made for a pleasant stay and working conditions. Moreover, the family with whom we stayed have three kids (ages 3, 10 and 12), so there was plenty of play time for Bodhi.

As it turns out, the family live in a yurt two kilometers from Granges; we stayed in their house in the village and would cycle everyday out to their garden and yurt.

THE GARDEN AND YURT:

It didn't take long for Bo to end up in this seat.

The garden is exceptionally beautiful, with towering amaranth blooms and sunflowers watching over everything...

Our hosts, Pierre and Stephanie, make a point of having lunch outdoors everyday.

This is the yurt they live in; the three kids sleep in a much smaller yurt nearby. The family generates power with solar panels, stores and filters rainwater for family consumption, and uses a solar heater to heat wash water.

One of our main tasks here was to harvest raspberries - twist our arms a little! Thornless bushes, big juicy fruit, shady conditions, what more could you ask for?

Innocent, but guilty!

Robins and chickadees about the garden...

This chickadee gorges itself on sunflower seeds.

Tractor! This was a long time coming: ever since Alsace we've wanted to get Bodhi up for a real tractor ride. Here Pierre is taking Bo and 10 y.o. Malil on a potato-bed tilling.

Jeff using a grondinette, a fantastic and ergonomic French gardening-tilling tool.

Katy weeds the lettuce patch.

The garden is large, safe and interesting, so Bo and company run about all day.

Freshly-harvested pumpkins. We made some nice soup with some of these.

Jeff digs...

...Bodhi runs about naked...

... and Pierre and Katy plant apple trees.

One of their 5 sheep. Bo would run about the garden and BAAAHHH back at them all the time.

At play on the trampoline.

Legs don't reach the pedals, but Bo doesn't let that stop him.

Siloé (3 y.o.), Katy, Bo and Malil.

THE HOUSE IN THE VILLAGE:

It's hard to complain when your WWOOF site is perched near a canyon like this one.

The kitchen in the house where we stayed. Pierre and Stephanie bought this house in run-down condition, renovated it, lived in it for years, but gradually moved out to the yurt. Now they live almost exclusively in the yurt for 8 months a year, and spend the other 4 months in Morocco, every winter! To make this possible, they homeschool their kids and grow a fair amount of the food they consume. Completely committed to the cause, EVERY food item they purchase is organic.

They ran a small artesenal bread, beer and chocolate shop out of the house until about 4 years ago. Pierre is a trained pastry chef, and he still makes plenty of artesenal bread and beer for household consumption.

One of France's organic agriculture certification labels (the other main one being A.B.).

Group dinner in the house.

Some examples of Pierre's excellent brew.

21, yes 21, pizzas ready for baking. Our third day on the scene turned out to be "bread-and-pizza making day". As we learned, four families - all friends - in the area, including Pierre and Stephanie , get together once every 3 weeks or so, and go in on a massive bread-making scheme together, using all heirloom organic wheat flour varieties. They rotate the bread-making responsibility among the families, which is an all-day affair. To take advantage of the heat of the bread oven, they also bake a gangload of pizza and have a group dinner afterwards. A fantastic community event.

Siloé helps Jeff and Malil harvest apples.

Bodhi completely in love with Siloé.

This what a bread oven filled with 45 loaves of organic sourdough bread looks like.

Bathtime in the sink.

Storytime.

This map shows the complex geology of Jura. Switzerland and the Alps begin just to the east of where this map ends. Jura effectively consists of a series of parallel ridges and plateaus (and gorges) rising in altitude towards the Alps.

Remarkable buildings in Granges-sur-Baume.

The local cheese shop.

EXPLORING THE AREA:

On a beautiful Sunday morning, we headed off for a 12km walkabout of the area.

We descended into the canyon into the medieval village of Baumes-les-Messieurs...

Bo fast asleep.

Baumes is set in an unreal location with towering limestone cliffs and the murmurings of the creek passing through...

The medieval monastery of Baumes-les-Messieurs.

We headed out of Baumes looking for the well-known local waterfalls...

...

This is very French behavior. Sat outside on a warm sunny day reading a book.

Impressive all the same.

Climbing back out of the gorge we had some stunning scenery.

Lots of forest walking...

The little man ended up walking 1.5km unaided, over often rocky-and-rooty terrain. Not bad for a 16-month-old.

... Way up high, in the sky...

Some of the countryside around Granges.

Pictured here in Vincent's saddle-making workshop in La Marre, a neighboring village. Vincent's family participates in the above-mentioned bread-sharing scheme.

Bo on one of Vincent's western-style saddles.

On the second-to-last day of our stay, Auntie Sonja showed up, from Luzerne, Switzerland, with her bicycle!

An unusual local feature is the Cabanes-aux-bergers, or shepherd's huts, that are found scattered about the fields. Apparently there are over 300 spread over the general area.

They are of drystone construction, with broken vaulted ceilings, and meld seamlessly into the contiguous stone walls that surround the fields.

dated 1855.

An example of a hut built into a corner. Shepherds would use these for emergency shelters, food and water storage, sleep shelters, etc., in the days when the Jura was more remote and less populated.