Brick Oven Walks

Wouldn't it be amazing to walk from village to village, finding vegetable and cheese markets and fresh baked bread? Oh, and ripe fruit at hand from overhanging branches of trees?

The Perigord, a region in the Aquitaine of southwest France, has it all.  The government has had the good sense to create both 'Petite Randonnee' and 'Grande Randonnee' through out the country.  These are marked walks of short and long distance that meander along fields, through woods, and along country roads.

On an especially perfect August day (low 70's, puffy clouds, light wind, sunshine), we walked about 7 kilometers on a loop through six small villages.
Having gotten the sense of where to find and how to spot brick ovens, I found four 'fours' (ovens) along the walk.

What also made this day a petite miracle was the fruit.  We found, picked, and ate six different fruits, ripe and in season, finishing with figs at the only fig tree on our entire trip that had ripe fruit.

Although I have particular interest in brick ovens, a walk through the countryside creates a panoramic view of food resource.

On Friday, September 21, 2012, at 5pm  I will be presenting a talk on The Community Brick Oven in Our Future at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine.   The talk will be very visual and it is my hope that it will inspire communities to consider rebuilding their social framework around real food.