Today we traveled out to the Perigord region of France to the small "village" of Pechaifour to go truffle hunting. It was an optional tour that sold out in 5 minutes, so I'm glad I did research for this option prior to our trip, as it is only offered to 20 people.
The entire village is only made up of 7-8 buildings, consisting of two different families. It was so charming, it made you feel as if you just stepped into a coffee table book about southern France country-side.
Our host, guide and teacher for the day, Edouard, is the owner of the truffle farm. He has been in the truffle business, and doing research about truffles for 45 years. His father started this farm (planting trees which truffles grown under) in 1961.
Edouard uses dogs, which he trains, to hunt for truffles on his farm. We could not touch, talk to, or play with the dog while they are working. The dogs know they are working when they see the basket, the basket that Edouard is holding in the picture to the left.
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Meet Fara, the truffle hunting border collie and the star of the day. First, Fara starts searching for truffles by starting to smell for ripe truffles (only ripe truffles smell, so a dog can't find a truffle that is not ready to be harvested).
Once Fara thinks she smells a ripe truffle, she will scratch the dirt.
Then the truffle farmer, PATRICK, starts digging. (to be continued...the Internet on the river right now is S-L-O-W...check back to see if Fara knew what she was doing and if Patrick is successful)
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