From downtown Toronto to Europe and SEA

Where do I even begin....
Well here,s a brief overview of the Moulin Neuf farm.

Dates of my stay: August 1st-August 15th , 2012

The moulin neuf is a very small farm close to Ivoy-le-Pré in the Centre area of France. It is owned by a woman named Dominique.
Dominique and her daughter (artist, costumer) reside there.
They have about 2 hectares of land which hosts a fair sized organic garden, a small field, 3 main buildings, a prairie for the donkeys, a small forest...
and basically it is just BEAUTIFUL here!

Buildings: Very old farm house buildings
Main house and 2 barns
I sleep in one of the barns in a spare bedroom it is quaint!

Bathrooms : dry toilets in the 3rd barn, great for the environment and not smelly because since they are dry there is no fermentation
with the water... excrement and wood chips is all you will find and this is actually composted

Animals: 2 donkeys, 4 cats, 2 dogs, 30something hens, 6 roosters... a wild pheasent that comes and eats in the garden..
and probably more!

Typical tasks:

Weeding
Picking
Planting
Clearing
Watering

Everything I work on is physically demanding and some of the most rewarding tasks I have ever done!!!!

More on this later.... pics to come

Do not under any circumstances ever grab a stinging nettle with your bare hand.

Consider yourself warned.

This vivacious plant has become a part of my daily life here at Le moulin Neuf. The stinging nettle usually gets a piece of my arms or legs, I honestly can,t recall a single day that I did not get stung by this plant. Essentially this plant injects histamine and other chemicals into the skin causing a stinging sensation. And I have to add that this plant has no mercy.

The most intense and painful experience I,ve had with the stinging nettle is the day I grabbed one with my bare hand by accident. Wow, those plants are not called stinging nettles for nothing. I had a tingling sensation in my hand for the next few days.

Although a great portion of my trip will be backpacking, staying in hostels, visiting cities, taking trains etc...

I decided to incorporate a wwoofing experience into the journey as well. In brief wwoofing stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

As per the wwoof France website the main aims of WWOOF are:

- To enable people to learn first hand organic growing techniques.
- To enable town-dwellers to experience living and working on a farm.
- To show alternative ways of life.
- To improve communication within the organic movement.
- To help develop confidence in becoming self-sufficient.
- To meet interesting people and make useful contacts.

Why?

I think it goes without saying that I love fruits and veggies.

But without going into too much detail one of my goals is to one day have my own organic garden with which I can live more sustainably and feel more connected to the earth. In order to realize this goal I thought it would be a good idea to do some woofing. So here I am in the middle of nowhere in France doing my first of two farms!

For some it may be obvious why I have embarked on this journey and for others maybe not so much. So here is the short version of how this all started.

First off I have always enjoyed travelling and visiting new places. I am a curious being that likes to see how other people live and do things. But drilling friends, colleagues and acquaintances with thousands of questions has not sufficiently satisfied the itch.

Having said that I must admit that I have been lucky enough to have done a bit of travel - I have visited Cuba, the Carribean Islands, Greece, Turkey and Costa Rica. But these trips were for short periods of time. Meanwhile I have been yearning for something longer, a trip where I could really dive into the culture and have enough time to take everything in.

My goal for 2012 was to set off on a backpacking trip. I knew there would likely be obstacles but this was the goal and I was prepared to overcome any obstacle to achieve it.

So here I am on the open road, my main goal for 2012 accomplished and I couldn,t be any happier !

Hello friends,

I apoligize for the inconvenience but I have changed blog platforms. I preferred this one because it has some built in travel features.

I hope you enjoy !

Bisoux !