Bienvenue à la Ferme

Our second Chambres d'Hôtes was Laurence Fras-Julien's Farmhouse.  We stayed in the two hundred year old farmhouse in a bright yellow room.  We were told that we could help with the cows and make butter, if we would like.  The girls were very excited and were looking forward to this part of the trip all weekend.

 We went out to feed the cows around 6:30 in the evening and it was pitch black.  Laurence strapped on her headlamp and we were glad we had the boots she had warned us to bring.  The wet Normandy weather makes a lot of mud!  When we left the house, we were followed by cats.  When we tried to pet one, we were warned that it was wild.  You can see why these wild cats hang around.

 

 Lillian was game and got right into the action.  Later, she said she had expected the cows to be about as big as the larger calves, who were a few months old, and not as big as a rhinoceros!  There are 44 cows on this farm. 

These are Holsteins, which you will also see all over the U.S. and Canada.  They produce a lot of milk.

 Laurence and her husband Pierre produce milk for Dannon.  The milk is stored and refrigerated in this tank until Dannon comes to pick it up.

 

Getting milk to feed the calves

 This calf was just a few days old and the only girl out of the five itty-bitty calves.  Because the farm is producing milk for Dannon, they must have milk, and therefore calves, year round.  We helped to give the calves their milk.  Sylvia loved the cute calves.

Laurence said that the cows were supposed to have more girl babies, but that they had had lots of boys recently.  The bull calves will be sold quickly to a beef farmer.

 

We also helped give the older calves some grain and Sylvia made sure that the calf, that was born the day before, had a nice bed of straw in the barn.

 

After feeding the cows, we washed up and headed out to a restaurant Laurence had recommended.  We arrived around 8:30 and were some of the first to arrive.  It was a nice restaurant, but there were plenty of kids and three dogs accompanying their parents.

 

 

 The next morning, we made butter with some of the milk from the night before.  Laurence had put it in the fridge overnight and the cream, of course, rose to the top.  We shook, shook, shook for twelve minutes and then Laurence washed the butter several times to remove the rest of the milk.  MMM!  Butter!

 Crazy butter maker

There was a lovely breakfast with lots of bread and lots of spreads. 

We would recommend a farm visit!