Experiencing agriculture abroad

LONG PRAIRIE — John King and Ruth Wingeier enjoy traveling abroad, but they are not your typical tourists. Rather than taking in popular tourist attractions, they prefer remote locations so they can be immersed in the culture.

“We really wanted to be with French people to learn how they live,” Wingeier said. “Also, we love being in rural areas.”

King and Wingeier reside on a hobby farm near Long Prairie. The couple’s latest excursion was made possible through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, an international program where attendees can work on organic farms in exchange for room and board.

King and Wingeier participated in the program in 2019 and spent time on an olive orchard near Florence, Italy. This summer, the couple signed up for the program again, this time going to France.

“The experience was enjoyable, so we wanted to do it again,” Wingeier said.

This past February, the couple signed up for the program and were accepted. In their application, they explained who they were, why they wanted to participate and described their agricultural experience. They searched profiles on the WWOOF website to put together a short list of potential host farms in southeastern France.

“We picked a place (in France) not too far from the Swiss border, because Ruth wanted to go see family, family burial sites and family heritage in Switzerland,” King said. “I wanted to see Notre Dame all refurbished after the fire.”

King and Wingeier reached out to multiple farms, but the one that worked with everyone’s schedules was a small farm near a village called Pelussin. The farm, Le Potager d’Olivier, was owned and operated by Olivier Fournier and VivianeGrandclement.

“There’s a lot of agricultural activity in the area,” Wingeier said. “In fact, that’s a prime agricultural area.”

Le Potager d’Olivier grows a wide variety of organic fruits and vegetables, such as apples, apricots, cherries, lettuce, tomatoes and onions —
all on 20 rented hectares. The family also made other value-added products, like jams, salad dressings and soup stock to sell at area farmers markets and through community supported agriculture packages.

During King and Wingeier’s stay, King often worked with the apples and tomatoes, while Wingeier worked in the garden and greenhouses, but they both did a variety of tasks. All the fields and orchards were about 4 kilometers from Olivier and Viviane’s home, where King and Wingeier also stayed.

“Every morning, we got up, drove out to the field we were to work in, and they would tell us what to do,” King said. “We planted, weeded, harvested, and we’d make baskets of what produce was ready to be delivered to restaurants and prep for the markets.”

Wingeier agreed.

“I was doing a lot of weeding once they found out I liked weeding, and I was good at that,” she said. “But they had a lot of hoop houses, too, so we planted melons and other crops in the hoop houses.”

King and Wingeier learned that government money is set aside for farmers to transition to organic. Even so, it is still tough for a small-scale producer to survive on farm income alone.

Wingeier used to be fluent in French years ago, and to refresh her skills, she downloaded a language learning app. When King and Wingeier went to Italy, neither spoke any Italian. The couple said speaking the native language helps, but they were able to communicate without speaking the native language, as most Europeans understand English to some degree.

“Olivier wasn’t as fluent in English, but we would communicate with hand gestures and broken French and English,” King said. “At meals, Olivier would make sure I had plenty of wine, as I seemed to get more animated.”

Per WWOOF rules, King and Wingeier could only work a set number of hours each day and had weekends off. In their downtime, they explored the local village, which was settled in the 14th and 15th centuries.

“There’s a historical richness there that is absent here,” King said. “And then everything’s small scale there, too.”

King and Wingeier stayed at the Le Potager d’Olivier farm for 10 days before continuing their European adventure.

“I didn’t want to leave,” Wingeier said. “But we had already booked some other places to visit.”

The couple said they utilized the elaborate public transportation system to visit other areas of France and get to Switzerland to visit Wingeier’s ancestors’ farm, which is still being farmed by the family.

“That was pretty cool to learn they’re still milking cows,” Wingeier said.

King and Wingeier said their trip was filled with good food, good people and lasting memories.

“It was all beautiful,” Wingeier said.