(apologies as blogger is having its way with the formatting on this one)
farm life: i love it. here i am on the osmond family farm in lovely cambridge, new zealand. from ragland i made my way to hamilton via a hitch-hike (i am soooo happy that larissa, 28 from brazil, wanted someone to talk to on the way to class) and then from hamilton to cambridge via a cute little bus driven by a cute little man named brian.
(pictures will be posted separate because blogger is pissing me off right now)
i arrived in cambridge around 11am to the town hall/i-site center and tried to call the osmonds as they said they would pick me up... no answer. i sent suzie an email and hoped for the best. i sat on the patio of the information center and read for a while before calling the osmonds again... still no answer. mmmkay. i had an address but knew the bus didn't go there and wasn't sure if i made my way there and they weren't home what i would do. so i waited. at 4pm i called again and hark (!) there was an answer in a hearty "a-l-i-stair osmond!" within 10 minutes up drove a dark green sedan with a tall, smiley, excited kiwi with a handle-bar mustache. now, i had seen photos online so i knew it was alistair, none-the-less it is always a bit different meeting someone in person. we threw my bags in the trunk and we were off to the appliance store. alistair needed a new burner for their stove and a consult with the appliance man about the benefits of gas ranges versus electric... from there we made our way another 5 minutes down the road and pulled into the drive on cambridge road.
very quickly i had my bags in the woof house and a jumper on with my gum boots and was in the makings of the cob house being introduced to two argentinians in similar jumpers and told to get my hands in the mud and start making some bricks. i managed to make and place a few of the cob bricks on the wall, at the direction of gaston, who, with barbara, had been wwoofing here for two weeks and was quite the cob brick pro. after about an hour the end of the work day was on us (so it goes for me being tardy) and it was time to shower up for dinner. the wwoof shower is about 50 meters behind the wwoof house... outside. sorta like camping, but i was assured that the water was hot and it was quite comfortable. i told gaston and barbara that they had first dibs as they had worked a full day and i went inside the wwoof house to make my bed. when they came back i grabbed my towel and toiletries and made my way out the back. the shower is an enclosed shed with full roof, but about a 2 foot gap between the roof and the walls on two sides. there is a full bath tub, gas heated shower, drying rack, sink, shelf for stuff and mirror - all quite good. i jumped in the shower and the water temp climbed nicely up to 24 degrees (C) and then dropped down to 13... mmm. i fiddled with a few knobs and no dice - cold shower. i figured that was the price i paid for going last and got in and out quick. once dressed i headed into the main house and alistair beamed at the craftsman ship of his shower and how i liked it - "great, but a bit on the cold side." he couldn't believe it was cold and swore i was teasing - and gaston even when out and checked it - no one else could duplicate the hot-then-cold issue that i experienced, at which point i could swear they were pulling my leg. oh, well. we sat down to a homemade dinner of chinese stir-fry and homemade bailey's ice cream... hmmmmm!
tuesday morning i got up at 7am and had breakfast with the crew and then it was off with barbara to meet and care for my new friends, the chooks. chooks are chickens - adult chickens - and they are very entertaining. the osmonds have about 25 chooks in two separate pens. there are the laying chooks on one side and the babies and "pretty ones" on the other. every morning we go on rounds to collect eggs, change papers, give them clean water and collect feijoas from the tree in the chook pen. suzie stews the feijoas and jams them and puts them in many a delicious dish.
tuesday ended up being a tidy-up day for the earth house - the completed cottage they have on the property - as a photographer was coming on tuesday evening to do some promotional shots for the website and brochures, etc. barbara and i were on windows and sweeping while gaston mowed the lawn and detailed the yard.
mondays, wednesdays and fridays are 6 hour work days while tuesdays and thursdays are 4 hour work days. after work on tuesday, barbara and gaston invited me to go into town with them and then go check out the maungatautari bird sanctuary in the evening and i was excited to go. after lunch at the house we hopped in their car and crossed the bridge into cambridge. we parked the car and walked around the downtown area and then over to the lake (lake te koutu) and then down to the river path (the waikato river). we stopped at a bakery - gaston has quite the sweet tooth - and checked out the butcher for fun. downtown cambridge is quaint and cute and has a lot of trees that are all changing colors in the cool fall air - it is beautiful.
from town we jumped back into the car and drove 45 minutes out of town to the maungatautari bird refuge... before the europeans arrived in new zealand, there were NO land mammals... and now there are plenty and they have done a number on the native bird life. barbara and gaston had been to the sanctuary during the day on the previous sunday and had a really good time but said it was very crowded - thus the expedition to go at night (there are many native nocturnal birds). it was a clear and pleasant evening out and we arrived at the sanctuary just after dark, armed with our headlamps, of course. we heard a few birds when we first parked the car, but after entering the system of gates that are designed to keep good birds in and bad things out (very much like entering jurassic park), it all went completely silent (also eerily like jurassic park). we did an hour hike in the dark and heard nothing but each other. we saw loads of glow worms that were posted up under eves of hollow trees and in trail side embankments where it is moist and dark... they are stunning and i can't believe i'll ever NOT be excited to see them. so, we didn't see or hear any birds as we had hoped but it was a really nice evening and we were the only three out and about. on our way back to the car we stopped for a few to look at the millions of stars in the clear sky and discuss the differences between the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere skies. no shooting stars were sighted but it was stunning anyway.
we got back to the house around 8 to homemade lasagna that barbara had wished for, with roasted pumpkin salad and again, homemade ice cream... this trip will be no diet.
wednesday was the meeting of the cows! the day started with the chooks, some more earth house cleaning, and then, after lunch, i got to meet the cows and help suzie move them! i was beyond excited. the osmonds have 8 cows: mark, joy, amber, angie, apricot, acorn, lucy, and roger. they are very sweet and happy and hungry! moving the cows means moving the electric fences around the paddock so they have a day's worth of grass to eat and don't trample the whole yard. the osmonds have 7 acres of land, including the houses, so to ensure that the cows have grass through the winter they get a daily allowance. one of my favorite things to do as a chore is move the cows at night - i like talking to them and i can't help but think of jack harris when i look at them!!!
farm life: i love it. here i am on the osmond family farm in lovely cambridge, new zealand. from ragland i made my way to hamilton via a hitch-hike (i am soooo happy that larissa, 28 from brazil, wanted someone to talk to on the way to class) and then from hamilton to cambridge via a cute little bus driven by a cute little man named brian.
(pictures will be posted separate because blogger is pissing me off right now)
i arrived in cambridge around 11am to the town hall/i-site center and tried to call the osmonds as they said they would pick me up... no answer. i sent suzie an email and hoped for the best. i sat on the patio of the information center and read for a while before calling the osmonds again... still no answer. mmmkay. i had an address but knew the bus didn't go there and wasn't sure if i made my way there and they weren't home what i would do. so i waited. at 4pm i called again and hark (!) there was an answer in a hearty "a-l-i-stair osmond!" within 10 minutes up drove a dark green sedan with a tall, smiley, excited kiwi with a handle-bar mustache. now, i had seen photos online so i knew it was alistair, none-the-less it is always a bit different meeting someone in person. we threw my bags in the trunk and we were off to the appliance store. alistair needed a new burner for their stove and a consult with the appliance man about the benefits of gas ranges versus electric... from there we made our way another 5 minutes down the road and pulled into the drive on cambridge road.
very quickly i had my bags in the woof house and a jumper on with my gum boots and was in the makings of the cob house being introduced to two argentinians in similar jumpers and told to get my hands in the mud and start making some bricks. i managed to make and place a few of the cob bricks on the wall, at the direction of gaston, who, with barbara, had been wwoofing here for two weeks and was quite the cob brick pro. after about an hour the end of the work day was on us (so it goes for me being tardy) and it was time to shower up for dinner. the wwoof shower is about 50 meters behind the wwoof house... outside. sorta like camping, but i was assured that the water was hot and it was quite comfortable. i told gaston and barbara that they had first dibs as they had worked a full day and i went inside the wwoof house to make my bed. when they came back i grabbed my towel and toiletries and made my way out the back. the shower is an enclosed shed with full roof, but about a 2 foot gap between the roof and the walls on two sides. there is a full bath tub, gas heated shower, drying rack, sink, shelf for stuff and mirror - all quite good. i jumped in the shower and the water temp climbed nicely up to 24 degrees (C) and then dropped down to 13... mmm. i fiddled with a few knobs and no dice - cold shower. i figured that was the price i paid for going last and got in and out quick. once dressed i headed into the main house and alistair beamed at the craftsman ship of his shower and how i liked it - "great, but a bit on the cold side." he couldn't believe it was cold and swore i was teasing - and gaston even when out and checked it - no one else could duplicate the hot-then-cold issue that i experienced, at which point i could swear they were pulling my leg. oh, well. we sat down to a homemade dinner of chinese stir-fry and homemade bailey's ice cream... hmmmmm!
tuesday morning i got up at 7am and had breakfast with the crew and then it was off with barbara to meet and care for my new friends, the chooks. chooks are chickens - adult chickens - and they are very entertaining. the osmonds have about 25 chooks in two separate pens. there are the laying chooks on one side and the babies and "pretty ones" on the other. every morning we go on rounds to collect eggs, change papers, give them clean water and collect feijoas from the tree in the chook pen. suzie stews the feijoas and jams them and puts them in many a delicious dish.
tuesday ended up being a tidy-up day for the earth house - the completed cottage they have on the property - as a photographer was coming on tuesday evening to do some promotional shots for the website and brochures, etc. barbara and i were on windows and sweeping while gaston mowed the lawn and detailed the yard.
mondays, wednesdays and fridays are 6 hour work days while tuesdays and thursdays are 4 hour work days. after work on tuesday, barbara and gaston invited me to go into town with them and then go check out the maungatautari bird sanctuary in the evening and i was excited to go. after lunch at the house we hopped in their car and crossed the bridge into cambridge. we parked the car and walked around the downtown area and then over to the lake (lake te koutu) and then down to the river path (the waikato river). we stopped at a bakery - gaston has quite the sweet tooth - and checked out the butcher for fun. downtown cambridge is quaint and cute and has a lot of trees that are all changing colors in the cool fall air - it is beautiful.
from town we jumped back into the car and drove 45 minutes out of town to the maungatautari bird refuge... before the europeans arrived in new zealand, there were NO land mammals... and now there are plenty and they have done a number on the native bird life. barbara and gaston had been to the sanctuary during the day on the previous sunday and had a really good time but said it was very crowded - thus the expedition to go at night (there are many native nocturnal birds). it was a clear and pleasant evening out and we arrived at the sanctuary just after dark, armed with our headlamps, of course. we heard a few birds when we first parked the car, but after entering the system of gates that are designed to keep good birds in and bad things out (very much like entering jurassic park), it all went completely silent (also eerily like jurassic park). we did an hour hike in the dark and heard nothing but each other. we saw loads of glow worms that were posted up under eves of hollow trees and in trail side embankments where it is moist and dark... they are stunning and i can't believe i'll ever NOT be excited to see them. so, we didn't see or hear any birds as we had hoped but it was a really nice evening and we were the only three out and about. on our way back to the car we stopped for a few to look at the millions of stars in the clear sky and discuss the differences between the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere skies. no shooting stars were sighted but it was stunning anyway.
we got back to the house around 8 to homemade lasagna that barbara had wished for, with roasted pumpkin salad and again, homemade ice cream... this trip will be no diet.
wednesday was the meeting of the cows! the day started with the chooks, some more earth house cleaning, and then, after lunch, i got to meet the cows and help suzie move them! i was beyond excited. the osmonds have 8 cows: mark, joy, amber, angie, apricot, acorn, lucy, and roger. they are very sweet and happy and hungry! moving the cows means moving the electric fences around the paddock so they have a day's worth of grass to eat and don't trample the whole yard. the osmonds have 7 acres of land, including the houses, so to ensure that the cows have grass through the winter they get a daily allowance. one of my favorite things to do as a chore is move the cows at night - i like talking to them and i can't help but think of jack harris when i look at them!!!
- hosts: suzie and alistair osmond
- animals: chooks, cows, and bella the poodle
- wwoofers: jenn, barbara and gaston
- meals: delicious! 3 homemade meals a day with fresh organic veges and fruits and for some reason, jenn always gets the christmas mugs
- sleeping: the wwoof house has 3 comfy twin beds
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