Hello! It's been awhile. Sorry for my silence. I will now try to summarize my first wwoof experience. Let's see, perhaps I'll use numbers to organize my thoughts.
1. The place. Waybyond is a small farm on the outskirts of Wellsford, which is a small town an hour north of Auckland. Waybyond is a fairly small property with a vegetable garden and orchard with cows and chooks (chickens). The garden and orchard feed the family and provide some commercial products for the local market.
2. The people. Jeni and Greg are the rulers of Waybyond. Greg is originally from Australia, a musician, painter, and joke-teller. I'm pretty sure he's heard of every musician and author. He has a small studio in the back of the property where he has all the Beat authors and several copies of all Ed Abbey books. Jeni is a born Kiwi but lived in South Carolina for 20 years where she raised her daughter Laurel, who was visiting during my stay. Jeni is an art teacher, master gardener, and excellent chef. Gwyneth is Jeni's 91-year-old aunt who lives in the house. She has enough stories to tell to last another 91 years. She wears the same skirt every day but changes her scarf. Ben is another wwoofer from England who was staying at Waybyond while I was there. He is a screenwriter and guitarist.
3. My time. We worked hard and rested well. In the mornings and evenings I'd work in the garden or help with other tasks. I weeded and prepared about 6 garden beds, smashed slugs on the nashi pears, and fed chickens. In the afternoons when the sun was hottest we rested. I spent my time writing, listening to music and reading. One day we took a hike and another time visited the beach. At the beach I began to wonder if perhaps life is both a mountain AND a beach. The beaches here have mountainous islands, sand dunes, large cliffs that give shade. I felt well-rested and fresh each day. At night we all chipped in to make delicious meals and told stories. Every day I was asked to tell bear stories.
4. Organic growing. I felt my time at Waybyond was an investment in my future. I am hoping by the end of my time here I will know how to have my own organic garden some day. I never realized the time and care that is necessary for organic growing. It was refreshing to be in a place the finds a use for everything. For example, I learned how to use stinging nettle as a useful tea for composting. Greg once said that if we take a life, such as a carrot, we should give back by being creative.
5. Books. I read Kerouac's Dharma Bums and Ed Abbey's Desert Solitaire and The Brave Cowboy. And I learned that there is some value in doing norhing.
6. Market. Every saturday we went to the local Matakana market where we sold fresh salad bags from Jeni's garden and flower arrangements. It was wonderful to be a part of the organic farming community and know exactly where all the products had come from: honey, ice cream, chocolate, cheese.
Now I am at another farm, just down the road collecting eggs and watching the farm while the family is away on a camping trip. I'll give a summary next time. The farm has sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, and green hills.
