Farming

I am on a 20 min compulsory break now, so I thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to. Yesterday afternoon we started bailing hay, and we haven't really stopped since. We bailed for 3 hrs before dinner, 4 hours after dinner (until the starts were out), and then 3 hours this morning before our tea break, then 2 hours after tea break until lunch and now I'm on this "compulsory break". Moving hay bails is a lot of work, and not too much fun. I don't mind the physical part, but I am just not the fondest of the hay dust. It has been windy, so with every bail I get a blast in my eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears... actually it just about coats my body until I shake myself free. Ian has given in to wearing a t-shirt sleeve as a face mask, but I haven't caught on yet to that style.

It is hard for me to beileve, but I have already been on the farm for a week. Time has been flown by, and I now feel like I am part of the family. My host dad is Bob, who has to be around 60 years old, but he is still able to keep up with us young lads. My mother is Cecelia. She is a Filipino woman who only knows a bit of English but still makes sure that we are taken care of well. After every meal she asks us if we want tea or coffee with milk or sugar. She has also been awake every day before we stumble down the stairs around 6:45 for breakfast and has our cereal, and cooked fruits ready for us to eat (at this time she also asks us if we want coffee or tea). I also have two siblings here, Chloe who is 13 and pretty shy and Benje who is 17 and our work mate. They all moved to NZ about three months ago, and are adapting to the Kiwi farm life very fast. I find it interesting that the Filipinos are taught and speak English with an American accent.

We have been busy every day that we've been here, including today which is Saturday. We are expected to work 6 hours a day for our free room and board, so we work from 7-10:30, at this time we have a tea break, and then 11 to lunch which is at 1:30. Here's what we've done so far:
Monday: We pulled out drip irrigation that was installed improperly in the terraced gardens. It was burried under grass and dirt so the holes were plugged and itw was no longer was able to drip. We also moved cut timber, about fifty 2x6in boards, from an one area of the farm to a garden house. The wood was was wet so it was a tiring and demanding task.
yTuesday: We cleaned out a greenhouse and moulded potato patches.
Wednesday: We starting construction on the greenhouse roof and also started to build two large (3x3x10m) compost piles. We cleared a few swampy paddocks of hay and built the base and then just kept adding layer after layer of dirt, "chicken shit", and more hay. These piles stood taller than us by the time they were completed and now lay covered and are starting to decompose.
Thursday: We finished the rafters of the greenhouse. We then started a third compost pile. In the afternoon I made rhubarb dessert with Benje for our family dinner.
Friday: We moved more hay to our last compost pile. Around 3:30 in the afternoon we started bailing hay, and that brings me right about up to where I am now.

We had our afternoons free from Mon - Thurs, so we got a chance to explore the surrounding area a little bit. On Monday we biked roughly 15km to Motueka and relaxed on the beach by a sunken ship. We relaxed and read a variety of organic gardening/horticulture books on Tuesday. On Wednesday we tried to bike again, but Ian broke his bike chain while trying to ride up a hill right after the village boundaries. We read and then went for a run on Thurdsay (Ian has been running everyday, but I joined him for part of it on Thursday). And now we've been bailing since Friday and plan on doing so through the weekend. After this Bob is going to give us a break for a few days and we're going to spend it in the Able Tasman Ntl. Park, which is just 30 min north of here. This park is known as NZ's most beautiful park since it has pristine beaches, old-growth forests, and great tramping trails. I hear there are more seals up there, and possible some penguins too.  Bob's son drives a water taxi, so we might hitch a ride with him and explore the centre of the park for a few days.

More about NZ:
-Bob said he doesn't know of a pub in NZ that doesn't sell take-away beer. Now that we have been bailing hay we also have been drinking "take-away" beer during our breaks. It comes in a plastic 2-litre bottle, but used to come in a slightly larger glass bottle called a flagon.
-The guys who stopped in for an hour or so to help us bail hay had an argument on which was better: Vegemite vs. Marmite. To me they taste the same. Vegemite is the Australian version and Marmite is the NZ version. They both are byproducts of beer production, consisting of the used yeast and added salt. I have yet to acquire a taste for this (by)product, but Kiwis (and Aussies) eat it as Americans would eat peanut butter.
-Here on the farm we have a bird called a Plubber (they look like a cross between a heron and a gull) and they eat our potatoes. Therefore we need to cover all the plants with nets so they don't pull out the plants, eat the small potatoes, and leave the rest to die.

Our home. We live in the upper section and another family lives in the lower section. It is nice, but inside it isn't as fancy as it appears from the outside. It has a wonderful view though. We can see the ocean from our verandah.

Where we spent our Monday afternoon in Motueka.

There are many large trees in NZ, and they're not that old. Apparently everything just grows incredibly fast here.

Cecelia, Bob, and Tessa (the sheep dog). Tessa is eyeing down the sheep in the background, and right after this photo was taken she herded the flock to the next paddock with ease.

Ian, Benje and Bob bringing in the bails to the barn. I hopped off to open the gate.

Bob pulling the hay bailer out of the mud. Most of the paddocks are muddy, so we need to be careful to keep the trucks and tractors rolling.

It may be cheesy, but this is us brining in the hay. Too much fun. At this point we had been doing it for over 24 hrs.