The  French Country Travel Life Vacation  is the one to take. Why? Well, outside of the obvious Treasures of French life (regularly extolled by DA BG) the French, like most Europeans, get six weeks a year of workless fun n’ frolic. With medical. With dental. And best of all – with pay!

Hard to get yer head around for us folks from “over there” with our miserable two weeks unpaid-no bennies after two years, innit?

But there is one Frenchman I know who is an exception to the luxurious Holiday rule. He’s never  had a day off in thirty years! Not even one day o’ bronzin’ in the back yard.  Let alone a weekend at the lake.  Thirty years of eighteen hour days 24/7.

Given the regulations of the French social system – what employer you might rightly ask could so brazenly flaunt the law? Year after year. With no fear of retribution?

The answer – in two words – Yves Lacroix. Independant  contractor. Self-employed businessman. Dairy farmer.  An occuption more time, labor and Euro intensive dear reader has yet to be invented.

Not only do you have to coddle the 4 legged milk producers from dawn ’til dusk, but there is the added thrill of regular visits(and bills) from the vet. To prevent/cure all the exotic disease that result from being constantly covered with flies and rolling in the mud.

Why? is the question you’re asking yourself now.  Right?  Why thirty years of self-imposed slavery? Simple.  Because at the end of the slavery tunnel there was a light. A golden one. Retirement. Yves Lacroix had his eyes on the prize. Every day. Rain or shine. For thirty years.

And when that day finally arrived – Yves started his work.  The joyous kind. Builidn his dream house.  Weathered stone and old oak beams.  Giant walk in fireplace.  Heirloom furniture.  From the family and old chateaus. Heated, covered swimming pool on the patio.

And best of all, a 180° view of the village, valley and the forest beyond. The perfect place to continue his thirty year honeymoon with his childhood sweetheart.

Then – the law arrived. Murphy’s law. You know that one dear reader. Do you not? “If something can go wrong – it will?” What went wrong was his Wife’s health. CANCER.

Six months later, Yves was again a bachelor. In a house built for, and by love. Yes, He’s got his grandkids and friends galore. He even goes dancing two nights a week. So, Yves isn’t putting  his head in the oven just yet. But when he’s alone, with the memory of what was and what could/should have been – there is no band-aid for the heart.

The moral of our story dear reader: Treasure your loved ones. savour them. Cherish every second together as if it were your last. Because it could well be.

THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE

What are ya thinkin’?

French Wines Robotic Future? Yep – you read that right. A future that looks to be an interesting one. Interesting with a capital”i.” The reason being that Froggie vintners, in general, are becoming more environmentally aware. As DA BG will (and does) confirm!

And we’re not just talking about no/reduced pesticides and /or Biodynamics. No Sir. The French Winos are going light years beyond that. Would you believe disease-free vines? Robots in the vineyard mowing down those pesky weeds? Lighter packaging?

My fellow wine-ophile  Suzanne Mustacich looks into the Crystal ball of French Wine’s Future:

“Perhaps the most dramatic green innovation in the French wine world is in the field of disease-resistant grape varieties, the culmination of more than three decades of genetic research. “Our solution is to put forth a plant that doesn’t need any treatment,” said Didier Merdinoglu, research director at France’s INRA Colmar research centre.

Concerned about the impact of pesticides and vine treatments, including the copper used by organic farmers, on soil, air and workers, the scientist believes zero treatment is the future. Obtained through cross-breeding as opposed to genetic modification, he expects the first new grape varieties to be available from 2016, incorporating resistance to the two most commonly treated vine complaints, oidium—also known as powdery mildew—and downy mildew.

In the meantime, a new solar-powered vineyard robot called Vitirover aims to lighten wine’s impact on the soil, by mowing the wild plants between vine rows without need for heavy, polluting tractors or herbicides. Winegrowers allow this wild vegetation to grow to control vigour, improve grape and soil quality, encourage biodiversity, and protect against erosion.

Invented by Xavier David Beaulieu, co-owner of Chateau Coutet, an estate in the Bordeaux region, the 11-kilogramme (24-pound), GPS-guided robot won a special jury prize at the 2012 Vinitech trade fair in Bordeaux last month.  A new solar-powered vineyard robot called Vitirover is displayed on November 27, 2012 at the Vinitech professional wine fair in Bordeaux, southwestern France. Fitted with a GPS receiver and solar panels, the all-land mower Vitirover aims at lightening wine’s impact on the soil, by mowing the wild plants between vine rows without the need for heavy, polluting tractors or herbicides.

Vintners keen to slash waste are rethinking every step, down to the label.  These days adhesive sticker labels have replaced the glued-on variety. “So now we have a new waste product—the backing paper from the stickers,” said Raoux, whose firm Castel set up a subsidiary to recycle the labelling waste from its 640 million annual bottle production. Lighter bottles have gained ground, too, in a drive to cut wine’s carbon footprint.

Calculating that footprint is complex, but according to the French Vine and Wine Institute (IFV), the heaviest impact comes from tractor fuel, glass bottles, printed cardboard boxes, electricity and shipping combined. Take the 43 million bottles of Champagne and French sparkling wine shipped to Britain: that alone spells 38,000 tonnes of glass packaging, according to the British-based Waste and Resources Action Study Programme (WRAP).

WRAP recycling experts say lightweight bottles could reduce that figure by 4,000 to 11,400 tonnes—slashing wine-related carbon dioxide emissions, of which 35 percent are generated by transport.

Four years ago, Verallia, the packaging arm of Saint-Gobain, the world’s largest glass wine bottle producer, introduced a lighter range called Ecova, which today accounts for half the firm’s 300-million-bottle Bordeaux market. The bottles use up to 95-96 percent recycled glass and are 50 to 70 grammes lighter than the previous line, according to Didier Dumas, regional director for Verallia. Other French wine appellations like Savoy, Alsace and the Loire Valley have made the lighter bottle their official choice, he said.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-01-robots-recycling-route-greener-french.html#jCp

THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE!

What are ya thinkin’?