A new exchange

That decision felt really easy. When I met Helen in Toulouse, we talked for a few minutes and quickly understood each other well. We had a lot in common, and I felt comfortable going to her place to help with daily tasks on the farm. I packed my stuff at the motorhome near Toulouse and took a one-hour ride to the south of France. I was warmly welcomed by Helen, Tibu, and their three kids Oak, Olive, and Zea.

The farm they live on is in a beautiful space at the foot of the hill in Daumazan-sur-Arize. The main activity is market gardening, where they grow vegetables on 1.5 acres.

Tibu has a passion for market gardening, enjoying the process of acquiring knowledge, exploring new techniques, and actively sharing his expertise with others. Helen specializes in cultivating herbal medicine, finding joy in wild salads, crafting herbal potions, and tending to flowers. The children are educated at home and are full of energy, enjoying their natural lifestyle on the farm. The farm relies on a cooperative-owned tractor for more demanding tasks, but the primary workforce consists of Bali, Cobalt, and Gadjo, the draft horses, who handle most of the labor.

The family currently lives in two camper trailers. This kind of living is very rural, but the family has strong cohesion, making it possible to manage family life in a small space. I take my hat off to this family’s resilience.

Every Sunday, there is a huge market in the next village where everyone gathers and offers their homemade products. Tibu and Helen have their own market booth, selling vegetables from their own field. For volunteers, there’s a camper trailer, and in the summer, there are tents for sleeping. In my case, it was easy. I parked my van in front of the camper and connected to water and electricity. Now, I was ready to settle down for a while and support the family on the farm.

I enjoyed the work on the farm. A typical day started at 9 am. First, we planned what we had to do in the morning. Normally, it started with some harvesting (e.g., salad, carrots, coriander, radish, parsnips, leek, etc.) or planting some vegetables (e.g., garlic). In winter, there was not much to do in the field, so the work was manageable. Only on Fridays and Saturdays, when we prepared food for the Sunday market, was there a lot to do. On Fridays, we received help from volunteers who, in exchange, got fresh vegetables from the field. It was always a pleasure to work with different people and get to know each other. Besides fieldwork, there was also a building project. They bought a tiny house on wheels to get more space, and every child has a room for themselves. The tiny house was not in good shape, so we had to restore many things. We fixed the damaged outside wall, removed all rotten wood and some old furniture, replaced the rotten wood, built shelves and furniture for the living room and the kids’ rooms, and installed a wood oven for heating the trailer. It was a lot of work.

In general, the work didn’t feel like work. There was no intention to make a huge amount of money or harvest in mass and on time. We always had breaks with some nice tea and cake, and the process was in the foreground, not the result. It was a lovely experience.

Lunch was always delicious, with the best-quality food directly from the field. It was a dream. After lunch, the working day was finished. Mostly, I stayed to help Helen with crafting herbal potions, making cakes, discussing the world, creating music, or playing games with the kids. There was always something to do, and I enjoyed every moment.

During my stay, I also met some volunteers, Dori and Olaf, on different occasions in Daumazan. Unfortunately, it was just a weekend, but we had a great time together. We visited a local pub on Fridays, explored the market, cooked meals, and engaged in wonderful conversations until late at night.

An interesting side note: The family doesn’t have smartphones at home, so the kids and adults do everything the good old-fashioned way. It’s lovely to see that everything can work nowadays without instant access to the world. It seems like the family is more grounded in the essentials of life, and they all look very happy (in my vision). The kids grow up in a nice environment, playing outside, experimenting with all kinds of things, reading books, finger knitting, playing musical instruments, listening to good old cassette recorders, and vinyl record players. In our digital environment, it’s hard to imagine nowadays.

Their way of living made me thoughtful about my usage of time in the digital world. At some point, it felt great not to have all this (mostly unnecessary) stuff and just live with the essentials. It’s hard to find a good middle way. Once you’ve started using all the digital offerings to spend your time, it becomes really addictive.

It was a pleasure to meet this great family for 5 weeks. They showed me that there is another, maybe more intentional way of living in many aspects. Thanks, Helen, Tibu, Oak, Olive, and Zea, for the great time on your farm. I learned a lot.