For a week in September I Wwoofed (no there wasn't a full moon- it stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms) with a delightful German, English, Mauritian but mainly French Family, the Bergs, in the Couserans area of the Western Ariege. Green, lush, with 'too many trees' and slugs the size of a baby's arm, I enjoyed tiny weeding, large weeding, raspberry and blackberry picking and 2 brilliant trips to market to help on Jasmin's stall in Saint Giron. Jasmin and Erwin have worked extremely hard on their Organic farm and sometimes I'm sure it's not easy- tough on the body, financially stressful BUT they inspired me in their quiet, self-effacing manner. I spent most of my time with Jasmin in the garden or at the stall and her amazing talent of observation struck me as essentially permaculture in nature. The Bergs use some Biodynamic principles in their farming too for example they use the phases of the moon to determine when to sow, weed and harvest.
