One of our new favorite Friday night TV programs here in Switzerland is called Passe-Moi les Jumelles (Pass me the Binoculars), which highlights interesting people and organizations throughout Switzerland. One recent episode featured Caritas Mongnards, a charitable organization in Switzerland that places volunteers (bénévoles) for a week with rural farm families in need of extra help. By the end of the next morning, I had signed up and already been placed with a French-speaking farm family in a small rural village at the foot of the Jura Mountains, about 40 minutes from Lausanne.
I made a mid-week trip to Landi (a hardware/agricultural supply store) to buy muck boots and work gloves. The next Monday I stepped off the bus at 7:50 am for my first day of work on the farm.
The farm and countryside were stunning, and it was such fun to meet Swiss farmers and experience life on a working farm. The farm had cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, two dogs, cats and kittens and a big vegetable garden. My first job every morning was in the “chamber-à-lait” (milking room) where I washed 3-foot milk containers and the buckets used to feed the calves.
After the “lavage” (milk pail cleaning) my chores depended on the weather and what needed to be done that day - from stopping traffic as they moved the sheep from one pasture to another across the road, to removing temporary electric fencing, stacking wood, cleaning out cow, chicken and horse “fumier” (manure), repairing “sanglier” (wild boar) damage to the pasture, making quince jam, and finally, ironing and cleaning (welcome indoor chores on some rainy, cold days).
After my walk to and from the train, a 20-minute train, then a 20-minute bus ride, I would drag home to dinner prepared by Doug, and then crash into bed. On Friday night, the end of my week on the farm, I actually fell asleep at the table after dinner. Those farmers work hard. All in all, it was a wonderful experience to meet a lovely and welcoming Swiss family, and I hope I can work with them again in the spring.
Here are some new French vocabulary words and phrases I learned:
balai bambou = looks like a witch’s broomstick - turns out they are not just for Halloween decorations - they are very handy for cleaning stables
brouette = wheelbarrow
pelle = shovel
fumier = manure
crottin = dung
purin = liquid manure
Nous sommes tous dans la même (tas de) merde* - We’re all in the same pile of shit (made in reference to the global Covid pandemic)
*Seems to be a theme here!
