Week 2 on the Farm

I have some bad news...I won't be uploading any pictures to my blog until I leave the farm. Sorry! I know how curious you were to see Plum and Blossom (the calves) and what my cabin looks like, but I'm having too much trouble with photos. Time to see who the die-hards are: who will keep following along without photos for a while??

The triathlon was a success. Not that I expected anything different - the Hart's seemed to have everything planned and organized well in advance of the big day. My main task was just to help Greg's mom keep tabs on their three kids. They aren't old enough to participate in the races yet and Greg and Rachel were quite busy with registering kids, facilitating the races, awarding prizes, etc., so they were otherwise involved for most of the day. There were so many people - about 120 kids and their parents. It was a large event!

Sunday was a rest day - phew! I needed another day to recharge and relax. I read a lot of my book, organized a few things in my cabin and had a few phone calls from home. (With the changes to daylight savings time, I am now 17 hours ahead of you - Which might interest those of you wanting to call me: 011 64 27 725 1193).

Monday morning was spent entertaining and looking after the twins - who still haven't quite adjusted to me yet. I often don't get a response when I talk to them and I've almost given up trying to help them with things. Either they fight me because they want to do it themselves or they want Mommy to do it. Rachel tells me it usually takes them 2 weeks to warm up to the new farmhelpers. Anyway, George was off at kinderclass (kids start school on their birthdays here and George will turn 5 on Nov 23), Greg was out working the farm, and Rachel needed to write some thank you letters for the triathlon. Emma, Bill and I did some baking, read a ton of books (I read, they followed along with the pictures), then walked down to feed the chooks (hens) and collect their eggs. After lunch, the kids had swimming lessons, so we swung by to pick up George and headed to the pool. George has taken lessons before, but it was the first class for Emma and Bill. Rachel was very surprised: Emma didn't want to join in. Apparently, Emma is usually the fearless one. It was a small group too, only 4 kids. But George and Bill had lots of fun. I almost wanted to join in! Monday evening, I decided to throw a movie into the Hart's DVD player: Whale Rider. Filmed in New Zealand and based on the Maori culture, it's about a young girl destined for great things, but who's grandfather denies her value to the community because she's a girl. Thanks to my experience at Uncle Boy's in Maketu I found the movie quite interesting. I recognized the marae (meeting houses), and some of the dance/song performances...almost like I had a point of reference beforehand.

Tuesday morning was spent out on the farm with Greg. Usually we travel by ATV, which they refer to as the motorbike. I've driven it a few times. It's fun but with all the horror stories I remember from back home, I'm nervous on it if there's just a slight tilt in terrain - and when Greg is driving, there can be some pretty slanted tilts! I just have to get used to it's capabilities. Greg was driving on Tuesday (I sit on the side) and wouldn't you know it - little flecks of cattle poo flicked up onto my hands a couple of times. What is it with me and poo on this farm?? I hacked out some more thistles, and got started with pulling long metal staples out of an old fencing system with a big set of pliers. I prefer the boards that are almost rotted - the staples pull out so much easier! I was a little concerned as I worked - the top of the fence had two rows of barbed wire and I thought that in my efforts to yank out the staples I'd end up tearing my clothes (or body!) on the barbs. Never happened, but I did get a slight injury - I somehow pinched a finger in the set of pliers, somewhere around the handles. It didn't really hurt, but when I looked at it, it had actually drawn blood. A small cut - which normally would be no problem but I was paranoid at the time since I had been working with rusty metal...Mom, did I ever have a Tetnus shot?? Ah, I'll be fine. They were ready to head in for lunch just after it happened so I was able to disinfect it and throw on a bandage. Around dinnertime, I was informed that New Zealand would pretty much shut down for about 15 minutes - to watch the Melbourne Cup (a horse race). No idea what the fuss was all about. Such excitement for a 15-20 minute race. But that's sports for ya!

Wednesday was a relatively "cruisey" day (NZ term). I helped out with a few of the usual household chores and hacked out some more thistles - constant battle! - but that was about it. The wind came up quite a bit and hasn't really stopped since. It rained a little bit overnight but not enough: Greg has been concerned about the lack of rain - they are trying to grow hundreds of native trees on the farm to help the overall ecosystem but they're suffering from lack of water. Regardless, I think it's awesome that they realize the importance of trees and are working to replace any number of them that must have once existed on this farmland.

Thursday I finally did a stereotypical farm activity: milked a cow. They usually use a machine, but this wasn't a straightforward milking. The cow I milked has an engorged udder and the machine wouldn't work on her. The poor girl, she's in a lot of pain. The vet told Greg she'd have to be hand stripped (milked by hand). So he and I took turns attempting to drain the 6-7 litres of milk she holds. Unfortunately, there's only one small teat we could use to drain her and we were only getting a bit out with each squeeze. There's no way we'd be able to fully hand milk her. As a result, Greg has to inject her with some antibiotics and let the milk dry up. No more milk from her. And following the theme of feeling bad for animals: as we were driving around the farm (checking up on the baby trees, delivering wood bracings for the fence being replaced, popping out to their "bush-house" so I could see it) we came upon a dead sheep. Not a pretty sight. I asked Greg if she would have died of old age; there are no predators to worry about. But no, he figured she died from being "cast". Casting means they somehow get onto their backs and if they're too overweight they can't right themselves and eventually die. They try to keep their eyes out for any stuck sheep and right them before it's too late, but it's a big farm. They lose about 10-12 each year from casting. He threw her up into the cart we were hauling behind us and we took her to the garbage trench. Not a very good day.

On the flip side, Friday turned out to be a very productive day. I usually do some household chores after I've had breakfast and fed the calves, before Greg is ready to take me out to the farm. Friday, however, we headed out right after breakfast. Greg and Doug are replacing one of the many fences dividing up the various paddocks, and Greg thought I could help with the task. I never considered all that goes into creating a farm fence. I started with connecting outriggers to a portion of the fence almost completed. The fences consist of about seven horozontal lines of wire (including one line of barbed wire) nailed to cement posts, and vertical wood bracings which are attached at intervals between the posts to give the wire added strength. Outriggers are attached between two of the upper wires and are eventually used to hold out the electric wire that will run parallel to the fence. Once I was finished, I helped with a portion of fence to which they were still adding wire. They had six of the lines of wire rolled out (with the exception of the barbed wire) and I went along the lines nailing them to the cement posts. I decided to go back out with them after lunch (my usual cut off time) and keep working. It was kind of nice to get in a full day's work after being in vacation mode for so many weeks, plus I'll get paid for those extra hours. I imagine we'll be back out at that fence on Monday. They managed to string and attach the barbed wire before quitting on Friday, but the wood bracings and outriggers have yet to be added - and who knows what else. Friday night I babysat for a couple of hours. Rachel and Greg had to head out to an event around 6:30; the kids go to bed around 7:30. I had most of the evening to myself and watched Rachel's new DVD: Mamma Mia!! Such a good movie, eh?

I hope this day-by-day commentary isn't boring you. It's a far cry from the exciting reports from a couple weeks ago! But it's all part of my NZ experience! Don't worry...there will be more excitement to come. I just can't tell you when yet. My original plan was to stay here until after the holidays, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe it's the cold/allergies (can't decide which is troubling me now, at two weeks in), or the whiny kids; maybe it's just part of the adjustment period, maybe farm life isn't for me, or maybe I'm a little homesick. Whatever it is, I feel like the holidays are still an awfully long way away! The prospect of being here that long isn't looking super appealing anymore. But I'm definitely going to give it at least another two weeks. Who knows, I might take Greg up on his suggestion of taking a long weekend and catching a ride into Wellington with their neighbors, a nice couple who live down the road. Two or three girls I met in my travels are supposedly in Wellington right now, so the timing might be good.

Today is Saturday, the weekend, my days off to do as I please. I can't go far since a) it's pretty remote here, b) I have no car and c) I have no desire to learn how to drive their standard vehicles on the left hand side of the road. But that's okay. I haven't had any big urges to do much yet. It's just been nice to be somewhat settled in a place where I can get a little privacy and solitude after sleeping in shared rooms for so long. I've been content to hang around my cabin (where it's quiet) reading, blogging, emailing, writing letters, and talking to Mom and Dad, and Aunt Cath on the phone. I sometimes join the Hart's in their weekend activities, but more often than not, I'm prefering the solitude right now. I didn't blog anything about my first experience driving their truck, did I? Greg wanted me to run an errand into town my first week here. I said okay, figuring my few experiences driving standards at home would come rushing back and hey, how hard can it be to drive on the other side of the road? So I climbed into the driver's seat (on the right hand side) and asked him a few questions to refresh myself on the fine art of standard transmissions. I was starting to rethink the idea when he suggested a quick drive down the driveway together to get started. That sounded like a great idea. He got into the passenger seat and we headed out. Well, we WOULD have headed out but I kept stalling the truck. I think I needed more than a refresher. We eventually got going...and I nearly took out a fence. Close shave: Greg threw his hands up to protect himself and yelled "Shiiiiit!" Hey - I'm not used to gauging the width of a big truck, let alone from the right hand side of the vehicle! But crisis averted, we kept going. My poor, cold-clogged brain was overloaded between trying to think about when to push in the clutch, when to brake versus downgear, making sure I was on the left hand side of the road, figuring out how to turn through intersections, aware of Greg sweating it out beside me... I drove - very cautiously - until we were almost into town, where we switched places. Phew! I'm sure I gave Greg several grey hairs. He ventured the suggestion of practicing around the farm since it would come in handy for them as well as myself if I could drive their vehicles. But neither he nor I have brought it up since! Not sure that's an adventure I'm willing to undertake!

Geez...how do I keep ending up with these long posts? I didn't think I had a very eventful week, but here we are. I still think there will be fewer things to report as time on the farm passes. I guess it's still all new to me. Hope it's not too dull for you. But that's it for now.
I hope everyone is happy and well.

Holly
PS. Monday is my dad's birthday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAPA! LOVE YOU!

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.
Let us keep close together, not wide apart.