Life on the Farm

11/11/13

    This entry marks the morning of our fifth day on the farm.  Since I last wrote, we have spent our working hours chopping and splitting wood, hauling it to wood piles, clearing brush, pruning trees and hedges, and painting fence.  Yesterday, though, was Sunday-our first day off-and our WWOOFing family hosted a big kiwi barbecue (or barbie, as it's called here) where we met lots of new people, tried lots of new food, and also played more badminton than I've played in all my life.  It was an early Christmas party, so there was even a secret Santa-I was given a Kiwi style bottle opener, with a Maori dancing the Haka and sticking out his tongue on it.  The people we met were definitely the highlight of the party-I cannot emphasize enough how incredibly friendly everyone is here, all the way down to the youngest of the kids.  One little girl named Charlotte introduced me to Minecraft for the first time, which was cool to try my hand at, and she was always motivating all of us to play another game of badminton.  Lorenzo, who was only about four or five, was determined to come help us when we at one point went to shovel some mulch that one of the guests had bought, and I dare say we might not have gotten the job done without him.  The cider at the barbie was really delicious, and kumara is one Kiwi food that you'll have to try if ever you make it out to this incredible place.  It's similar to a sweet potato, although it comes in a variety of colors and is much more flavorful.  Augie, who is a fellow WWOOFer here on the farm with us, talked it up quite a bit before the barbie started, and it did not disappoint.  Augie is from Canada, and he only just arrived on the farm two days ago-he's already traveled all the way around New Zealand and back again, and he's been relating to us the best parts of his experiences so we can be sure not to miss out on them.  In exchange, we taught him how to play Risk.  I've still got a full day's work ahead of me, likely splitting and hauling more wood with Graham and Michelle's son James, and I expect we'll be starting soon, so I'll conclude here for now.  As always, though, I'll work to keep this blog updated, and I'll be sure to document all the most exciting things we see and do so that you guys might be inspired to come and do them yourselves.  We're planning on driving down to Hobbiton on my birthday this Saturday, because we know we'd never live it down if we came back to America with nothing to say on the subject of the Shire.  I'll take pictures and mental notes, and you guys will be the first to have them.  Bye for now, and keep it classy, America!

Regards and best of wishes,
Jack