Life on a Farm

Brellowgirl
Dec 2, 2015
5 min read

12.2.15

I’m really loving this workaway. I’ve done workaways with families before but I’ve been the solo workawayer. I’ve also done workaways with other workers but not in homestays so this is a new experience and I loooove it. Anna and Jamie are super sweet and I love talking to them about their lives and travels and what they have in store for the future. Jamie’s latest is wanting to do a workaway in Fox Glacier. It’s somewhere I wanted to go also but just didn’t get the time to do. I’ll be back though, and will explore it all. The only problem with her plan though, is getting there. Fox Glacier is a little off the grid and there IS public transportation that gets there but the buses leave first thing in the morning and her flight gets in at the same time the buses leave. Anna is currently a new yogi and has been practicing every day. Her next adventure is taking her to Nicaragua where she and her boyfriend will be managing some tasks at a retreat. She’ll be doing yoga classes and cooking for groups of 20+ people daily. I’m happy for this because she’s been trying out all kinds of recipes on us! =]] What’s crazy is that she has to teach yoga classes, cook for large groups of customers and know Spanish-all of which she’s never done before. I’m super proud of her!

UPDATE: Jamie is no longer going to Fox Glacier and is super angry/distraught/annoyed. The lady who hired her as a workawayer is no longer working there and the hostel doesn’t need workers anymore. We’re working to find her a new home for Christmas.

In the morning we got up early to help Paul bottle some elderflower champagne that’s been fermenting for the past week. It’s a delicious and simple recipe that I can’t wait to try at home! We skimmed the foamy part off the top with the flowers that had risen, strained the liquid and poured it into prepared bottles. Paul did the corking and put the wire cages on the corks. We worked like a factory and bottled over 20 bottles of the homemade bubbly in less than an hour. It smelled SO good in the room. The new bottles will sit for about a month and then will be good to drink. Paul has let us taste a few years old champagne and also got out some beer that he’s brewed himself too. Such a treat! We worked for the rest of the day weeding the vegetable garden, watering plants and planting out some beans, greens and parsley. After lunch the VB’s (our nickname but I can’t tell you what it means), tackled some of the vines that are overgrowing the paddock down the street. We managed to clear out a small area that was COMPLETELY overgrown with vines. We found the roots, some were thicker than my thigh, and painted them with some strong weed killer. We’re happy to help clear out as much as possible so the land can be used once again.

While Jamie and Anna made dinner I went out to the cows with Martyn for their evening meal. Once they saw us coming they stopped their grazing and came to say hi near the fence. The little one, Cameron, is such a cutie. All he does is run around the paddock and bother the other cows and try and get their attention-such a typical little bull (boy). Martyn and I walked right to the middle of the paddock and I stood there on high alert as Martyn made piles of baleage around the paddock for the cows. These animals are so adorable but I’m still intimidated around them. A few times they walked straight towards me and I had to raise my hands and say “hey” and walk backwards. They wouldn’t hurt me but I’m not keen on standing my ground to find out…lol. It was really cool to watch them have their dinner and move around from pile to pile because every pile seemed to be better than theirs haha.

While we were out there I asked Martyn how the cows are “sent away”. He said they don’t like to send the cattle away to get killed because sometimes the farms leave them in crates for days before they can get to them and it’s not a good way for the animals to die or live their last days. He said they opt for a home kill where there’s a guy who comes here to the farm and they separate the animal so that it’s out of sight from the others and the animal is shot. Quickly done, the animal is at home and the guy is a butcher by trade so he’ll quarter the animal, take it back with him and butcher it for a price. Depending on the size of the animal, one cow yields about 200kilos of meat. The cows here live a good life, they’re cared for and they’re happy. I can see them from the kitchen table as a write this. It is a shame that these animals are born to serve one purpose but at the very least they live long, healthy lives in good conditions. I wouldn’t be able to bear watching a calf being killed. Just seeing Cameron romp around the paddock or seeing the little lambs be awkward on their first days of life make me laugh so hard. I love the little animals and stick to my decision to not eat lamb or veal.

Sorry for the downer, but I am on a farm and wanted to know how it was run here.

Jamie made a pizza roll for dinner, like a Stromboli filled with tomatoes and cheese and ground beef from one of the cows here. We also had a salad with cos lettuce from the garden (we have 9 more heads of lettuce to eat in the next few days). I harvested some rhubarb from the garden during the day to make a crumble (Ann and Sara’s recipe from England –another workaway family of mine), but I couldn’t find the recipe so I decided to make homemade orange lady fingers for a homemade rhubarb and orange tiramisu tomorrow. Yummies.

There’s a lot to do around the farm but I really like working here. It’s relaxing and getting to spend time outdoors is the best. Time goes by quickly when I’m working with the girls and sometimes it doesn’t feel like work at all. Kiwi farm life, who would of ever thought my travels would bring me here?

Much love,

Cas