Down to the wire...

Racing with snails!

April 21st, 2009

On our last full day I woke early, determined to set up the main bedroom upstairs. I had still to wire it, move in furniture, clean, and trim the window so it was no small challenge to get it done.

"Le Puy" or the well, the symbol of La Ferme du Vieux Chateau

But as it happens, I took my tea and walked out the main gate as the sun was rising and noticed that there was a considerable mess of rocks out there and that some piles had been there waiting for me to clean them up since the early days of working on the farm. I got it into my head that I could get that all cleaned up first and then do the bedroom. So I got my gloves and started hauling rocks. I will be rebuilding the old beehive well, a photograph of which is the basis of our new and exclusive Micro-Leaseholder wine label (La Ferme du Vieux Chateau, Coteaux de Languedoc) located about 75 yards from the entrance to the farm as well as some old stone wall that leads to it so I had been accumulating rocks in that vicinity for some time. Now I took wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of rocks and added them to this pile, making what I would say was a formidable heap. I was about halfway through when Christian arrived and so he began to work with me to get it all cleaned up. We also decided to plant the two peach trees in that area so he started the task of digging holes for the trees, encountering as many rocks in the holes as there seemed to be earth.

A newly planted olive tree.

After about three hours we had everything cleaned up to my satisfaction and with a clear conscience I could now approach the bedroom.

The sad part is that I did not get it done. I got the wiring done with plugs and two lights, the window trim completed and the place cleaned but along about 7:00 pm I realized I wasn’t going to get the furniture cleaned and in place nor the bed assembled. Christian had been raising the bathroom wall to finish that, so we together cleaned everything up, put the tools away for another trip and agreed upon some work that could be done while I was gone. I dearly wish I had gotten that bedroom finished. I am literally just a few hours from completion but I did not. So the farm remains a comfortable and yet rustic place to stay with sleeping quarters on the ground floor and a nice new bathroom upstairs. I will get back there in June to complete the main bedroom and a second one but still I felt like I had failed a little bit that day.

Rob had been visiting a couple of wineries that day and had brought back some wines he liked from Domaine Clavel (clavel means nail in the old language of Occitan). He had also been marinating a big hunk of meat in the leavings from the roast pork of party fame and 8 popsicle lamb chops in oil, native rosemary and thyme. We planned a feast for our final night I set up the barbecue while he performed his chefly duties on the remaining.

Pierre and Estelle from Domaine Clavel

We started off the feast with a Blanquette du Limoux, a sparkling wine made famous as the very first wine of this type in the world, a full sixty years before Dom Perignon made his first wine in Champagne.

Then as dinner was parceled out we tried several of the Domaine Clavel wines culminating in their 100% syrah wine, which was rich, earthy and full of spicy flavours…perfect with the lamb, the wine being strong enough to cut the fat down to size. I have to say the local wild herbs are so much stronger than anything we can buy, made so by a climate that forces every growing thing to the very edge of its existence. I think it toughens the plants and intensifies the flavours. Whatever it is cooking with them is a unique experience in flavour.

While dinner was being enjoyed an important last night ritual was also being conducted. The last laundry was being done in order to hang dry it overnight and put it away in the morning. This is key for independent stays at the farm. You’ve got to do this or your going to be leaving dirty laundry for the next folks who come through.

I must give kudos to Rob for hanging in there and doing such a fine job of cooking every day and for the party. He knows I love to cook as well but he also knows I’m probably more valuable tiling floors and wiring lights than anyone else, so his willingness to stand by the kitchen was very much appreciated. And on this last night he was “au point” again. I always enjoy traveling with Rob. There are few in the world that focus so intently upon experience as a key objective in life and even fewer who so relish the peak experiences available to those of us who so regularly chart our own course. He is a worthy companion and I know that there are many more of you out there who are of the same metal. Perhaps we should start our own order, the Companions of Montlaur. A small ceremony to induct each new attendee might be a worthwhile way to recognize the contributions of those of you who have been and will come again. Something for us to think about as we settle in for the last night and cast our minds over the many joys we have experienced over these extraordinary days.

The Right, True and Honourable, Meritorious 

Order of the Companions of Montlaur

begun in the year Anno Domini 2007

comprising those individuals who have laboured, perspired and bled

for the preservation of the past and the glories of the future

of La Ferme du Vieux Chateau and of the Chateau de Montlaur.

Robert Davis

Leslie Nestor

Clayton Power

Claire Collamaria

Glenn Long

Peter Shea

Jack Leibel

Louise Leibel

Brian McCandless

Iris Berdrow

Christian Chiriaeff (et Corinne aussi)

Susannah Mintz

Michael Belanger

Amaury de Montlaur

Herve de Montlaur

Jean de Montlaur

and of course others to be named.