A little sign of life from France. Everything is going rather well at the tiniest of farms. Besides the veggies I have been plowing in the vineyards of the Bordeaux area to add some extra income. The drafthorses are back over there, so they need horsemen.

In the Fall ’97 issue of SFJ you printed an article on the Cheval de Merens, the all black horse of the French Pyrenees. I was immediately obsessed by their beautiful stature, a very strong draft-type-looking horse with powerful legs and long flowing manes and tails. The article sent me running for maps to locate France and the Ariege Valley, the central location for the Merens. After making contact with the writer of the article and being told of the major Merens horse show in August, plane reservations were made.

Summer work, we get older, children (8) but all away, farms too big (150 acres), Small Farmer’s Journal. I know.

Despite the law, Papa would take a horse and cart loaded with butter and go to the weekly market in Arras calling out, “Who wants butter!” Because of the accusations of Mr. Cabouat, he was thrown in jail again, this time for selling butter. Finally, the law changed, and he was released from jail. When he arrived in the village everyone was there to greet him, children stood in the schoolyard with flowers; they had picked so many flowers! Someone had made a large sign that read: Liberation of M. D’Hollander! Liberation of the butter market!

Indian is a Comtois horse, born in 1996. Comtois is one of the nine breeds of draft horses in France. he is not a big draft horse because he was first a “Cheval Ecole”. His job was to not frighten the students but to attract them. He is about 13.5 hands and his weight is about 799 kilos. He works really good and is ok to be in the reins (lines) with five different almost green pilots (teamsters) in the same day.

In early 2001, after a year of scrimping and saving, I set out for Europe for three months. I had a variety of reasons for going, one of which was WWOOF – something I had learned about in the US, but had yet to experience, or meet anyone who had. WWOOF – Willing Workers on Organic Farms – is a way too well-kept secret here in the US. Now an international program, it began in 1972, in England. Then called Weekend Workers on Organic Farms, it gave people the chance to learn about organic growing by doing it, in exchange for room and board.