Wwoofer Lauren Booker

Lauren arrived from Texas with a desire to find alternatives to the high-tech approach to nutrition that she studied during her degree in food technology.  Although initially overwhelmed by what seemed to her an incomprehensible chaos of activity, she threw herself into reading books on permaculture and alternative philosophy and slowly came to understand the project here at La Marias.

Lauren's book choices

Lauren was fascinated with Rupert Sheldrake's
ideas of  'morphic resonance' outlined in his book 'The
Presence of the Past' - the idea being that there are
complex'force fields' that determine the path of
evolution .....

She devoured the book ' Gaia's Garden'
in just a couple of days and came to understand
more about the principles
of permaculture gardening that are being
practiced here at La Mariais.
 

Lauren becomes an eco-builder

She is a rock climber - so pretty strong ....
here demonstrating her skills on a
rockface at the bay of Mont Saint Michel ...
 

She combined reading and doing .... here learning
how to lay terracotta tiles with me ....

She quickly got the hang of it and
worked independently to finish ...

 

She then moved on to mixing materials for the
earth floor ...
 

Lauren using the level on the earth floor ...

Drilling wooden guides into the
walls to act as guides when
earth rendering ....



Lauren in the Garden

She harvested garlic ...

Stripped sellotape from cardboard
sheets in preparation for laying
down as mulch in the forest
garden .......

... and collected seeds from the garden
to be used for sowing new plants
next year and for sprouted seeds ...

 

Cooking inside and out

She became an expert at cooking on the outdoor
woodstove ......;

... and made a fabulous spaghetti
squash chocolate cake ...

.... enjoying the cake




Working with Hannah to make a
pudding with chick pea liquid ...

Socialising, eating and going on trips

Lauren and Hannah give Matthew a ponytail and
consider the possibility of a man-bun ...

Enjoying a shared meal with produce from the garden ...

 

A trip to Mont Saint Michel ....