Chronique de la forêt des Vosges

In a country where the mountains are blue, lies a large forest – so big that it needs thousands of men to take care of it every day. A fast-growing forest in the Vosges, which people have been trying to master for centuries. The work is long and exhausting, like that of ants… an endless job. Certainly, it is the lumberjacks’ ever-renewed interest in the forest and their ability to take advantage of each daily event the fest offers them, that prevent them from wearing themselves out and giving way to fatigue. For them, the forest means freedom. Through force of habit, they have learnt to appreciate a ray of light, the appearance of a wary doe or the growth of unexpected plant. The forest nurtures them, offering them its own values and dimension of time, against which they measure themselves during the efforts the job demands .’ (François Chilowicz)