October 7, 2007

Farm Visit



The Montagne Noire* is an area of stunning scenery, full of thick forests, caves and grottoes, that has been inhabited by humans since the Stone Age.
On a random Sunday every autumn, close to 20 farms in the Montagne Noire open their doors to the public and about a dozen of them offer lunch. Some have serious, 20€, four course lunches complete with foie gras and drinks and others offer simple grilled sausages or ham and wine for a few Euros.

We left the house at about 11 o' clock this morning in anticipation of visiting an organic goat cheese producer about an hour away. They were offering a light lunch that didn't require a reservation, so we planned on showing up before the masses, grabbing a bite to eat, enjoying a visit to the farm, buying some goat cheese, and heading home so my husband could watch the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race.

The best laid plans...

We drive a New Beetle. Probably the worst car in the world if you ever have to off road it. So, what do you think happened?
The road track to the farm was full of huge rocks with a pretty high center. We couldn't drive it.


So, we parked the car and I went to appraise the situation. After a 10 minute walk down a steep hill (thinking the entire time about the walk back up the hill) and watching cars trying in vain to pass each other on the track, there was still no sign of the farm. My husband has a bad hip so there was no chance of him making this trek.
I love goat cheese and I wholeheartedly believe in supporting small farmers, but this just wasn't meant to be. And we were hungry!
So, we went home.
I made an omelette, which we enjoyed with bread that we'd had the foresight to pick up at the boulangerie on our way to the farm.


I did get to see a mule.


And some horses.


But no goats.

*Black Mountains Pin It

4 comments:

Katie Zeller said...

Well, that sucked!
Too bad about the road... and the lunch. It didn't look particularly well travelled, did it?

Jennifer said...

katie
it wasn't well traveled at all! Our poor little car just can't make it on roads like this.
Ah well, c'est la vie!

La Dolce Vita - Azille said...

We made it, in a 4x4 and a mini van, wasn't easy - but worth the visit - bought some cheese and cuddled up with a few goats...was the first of 5 farms we visited during the very cloudy, dark and drizzly Sunday!

Jennifer said...

la dolce vita,
It WAS dark up in the Montagne Noire on Sunday! All of my photos look so somber and shadowy.
I'm jealous that you made it! But happy to hear that you enjoyed it. How was the cheese?