Poop Wool and Blanket-Making

Let’s spend the whole of July in Brittanny, coastal France, because since it’s coastal it will be sunny and warm the entire time! Right? RIGHT!?

What was I thinking? Why didn’t I check the weather?

The days are melding together into a cold, wet, and clay-like blob of goat milking, cheese making, and sewing. Yes, I said it. I’ve been sewing. Like a good woman should.

Stuffing with wool, learning the sewing machine with Fei, and the finished product!

Actually, I am laughably terrible at the job, but in my plethora of fingertip-numbing mistakes, I am learning a thing or two about assembling a blanket. So if you get your hands on some wool, I can now make you a blanket that will look acceptably cozy.

Speaking of wool, John and fellow volunteers have also been getting their hands in the soft stuff. Unfortunately, that wool has not yet been cleaned. No, that wool has things like poop on it since it is fresh from the shearing. But have no doubt: he and fellow volunteers will have their playtime—poop or no poop.

There are no words fitting enough for a caption...

There's always bathtime, right?

After draping themselves in the mildly poopy wool, they bagged and weighed it, coming out with 330 pounds of sheep hair! Yowza!

So, What else have we been doing?

Listening to Joseva play the violin

Wool  to be sorted

Letting billy goats out to pasture (with our
 lovely Czech, Marketa)

Taking sunset walks (the skies tend to clear right after we sit down for dinner. Go figure.)

Bringing goats in from the pasture (so…which one of these
guys would you trust more?)

A local forest hike

Watering greenhouses

And otherwise, much of John's and my free time is consumed with cooking. Zucchini fritters, rice & lentil cakes, pan fried vegetables, potato salad, gnocchi with mint pesto...We're still going strong, despite our kitchen "situation."

Stay tuned!