Farm Livin is the Life for Me!

Once in Martinborough, I met "the ladies" of my current family at the Pony Club area, where Francesca (15 y/o) was having a jumping lesson. Before we had even arrived home, knew i had lucked out once again! One of the first good signs was that we stopped for ice cream and by the time we'd been in the car 10 minutes, Melissa and I were already engaged in some kind of real conversation. Love it!

As we drove further from town and closer to the gals' home, the land became more often dotted with pine trees and bush and the valley grew deeper as we followed the river to the spot where i have been for the past week-plus-ish. Later that night, I met Burton (the other piece of this fantastic family puzzle) and we all shared an amazing dinner (brought to us by Head chef Melissa) with friends of the family. interesting how not only engaging with people, but also meeting their friends, and observing their interaction with them can tell you so much! In any case, i was easily convinced by the end of the evening that i had found a stellar group of folks.

Day One began with some slightly unconventional herding techniques as we needed to move some cows and rearrange some sheeps ;) With Melissa in the truck, Francesca on horseback, and me on a bike (yeah go figure) we managed to steer the cows in the right direction...mostly. Next order of business was separating the yews from the more mature sheeps and bring them back to a closer paddock (pasture). Quite impressed i was at Melissa's sheep wrassling ability, i can only aspire to one day do so well :) Lastly Francesca and I attempted to herd a different cow back toward home, however this little bastard of a cow was less accepting of its new locational fate and gave us quite a run (literally) for our money, even nigh attempting suicide at a cliff's edge! Eventually, Olive (the family milk cow and day's savior) was used to lead the young cow homeward.

Day Dos was entirely different. I was sent of with Burton to Wharekauhau, a beautiful spot on the coast where he is establishing the world's first golf cross course (google it yall). Spent the day finishing the goals, talking about creative elements of life, and eating lemons fresh off a tree. delish.

The next day was a scorcher and it was spent (as is customary) feeding hungry creatures and watering things; but also the gals packed up to ship off for a riding competition, so chaos prevailed! Somewhere in there i snuck down to the river for my first swim. The deepest spot is at a bend in the river beneath a tall slab engrained with lines/layers of shells and bone from different geological times, so rad! At one point i suddenly heard a group of voices come over the adjoining hill, a group of trail riders from next door. Doubt they saw me enjoying the cool waters, but if they did then we'll just call it part of their 'scenic' tour... because there's only one good way to swim in a river (back me up here Greg) ...atleast they got their money's worth, eh?

A general description of the farm and its inhabitants (not including the mammals who are bipedal): 4 cows (one Jersey cow for milking named Olive who has become quite fond of being scratched behind the ears and who has endeared herself to me), sheep...of some number greater than 15 raised for eatin' since wool is not terribly profitable unless in humungoid quantities or of the merino type (those are the fancy-pants sheep and they require quite specific climate...picky picky), 16 chooks plus one larger than life rooster (i have grown quite fond of these ridiculous birds whose bodies it seems are far too large for their brains, so funny to watch them run towards me each time i get within shouting distance with the possible expectation of food, but also they just look so ridiculous when they run...simply imagine a human with WAAAAYyyy too long and spindly of legs, kinda a chunky body, and no arms. there you have it), 2 horses, and last but certainly not least Jasper the kitty who is, while slightly wild and crazy, a total rockstar and excellent hang out buddy.

On the elements of life without heartbeats: orchards with many different species of plums, apples, apricots, nectarines, cherries, peaches, olives, lemons, and feijoas (feijoas Amy, feijoas!) The veggie gardens include beans, sugar snap peas (oh delight!), zuchinnis (which are courgettes here), squash, corn, carrots, potatoes, artichokes, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce for africa....yeah.

So just like silly parents say to children with food left on their plate, "finish that, don't you know there are starving children in china!" here when something is in excess, well, they give it to Africa instead.

The sun is bright, the hills are dry, the river is cool but not freeze yer toes off cold, and the people are lovely.

I quite like it here, it's a-nice, very nice ;)