Advertisement
Published: November 7th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Kia ora and happy elections! Thankfully, I have managed to find an organization called WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms) to help support my life style. WWOOF allows volunteers to stay on organic farms and join in with the various projects hosts are busy with. In exchange for 4-5 hours of work a day I can get accommodation, food, and an array of new skills (chics dig skills). Choices vary from working on vineyards, in hostels, mediation retreats, cattle ranches, apple orchards, private gardeners, and yes, kiwi farms. The host could be looking for just one or two people or as many as 15. It's all web based and a rather simple process. I just send an email to one of the hundreds of profiles on the internet site to check for availability and find my way to the area either by bus or by thumb. Technically, I don't qualify for this program being on a Travel Visa, but, shhhh, don't tell anyone. Because basically, I'm working as an illegal immigrant. (I never thought I'd say that about myself)
After sending two dozen or so generic emails, most replied back within the first 24 hrs and I had plenty of
Sky Tower, Auckland
highest building in the southern hemisphere openings to choose from. So, I rolled the dice and made my choice, Hartland Estates. Sounds nice don't it? This quaint, family-run, kiwi farm (does this really surprise anyone?), is situated outside the small town of Katikati and it backs up towards the Bay of Plenty on the northeastern shores of the North Island. My host family was made up of a cast of characters who were all welcoming and entertaining. There was Ross, the salty humored semi-head of the household, and Trudy, the holistic healer / midwife/ head of the household (Ross, being abit of a farming philosopher said, "In order to make a relationship last you must get the last two words in in every argument... 'Yes, dear.'") and their three sons, Kennie (16), the illusive drummer, Zach(11), the mechanical savant, and Lochie (11), the one man circus show. There were also other volunteers such as Asaf, the Israeli, and Jamie, the English. It's beginning to sound like i was staying in a medieval village.
Here on the organic kiwi farm they also raise chooks, cattle, sheep, ducks, and had a ferocious dog named 'sassy'. The landscape was picture perfect. Each morning, after the kids went off
to school, we sat and had our breakie on the back porch, of which many a meal was eaten, beer consumed, and backgammon game played, which over looked the cow paddocks and across the bay. The weather has been very sporatic. Rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, rain, sun and this was hourly. The temp gets to be about 65-70 during the day with cooled, breezy evenings chilling down into the 50's. It's perfect weather.
The daily routine was breakfast, 1-2 hours in the orchards, tea/coffee break for 30, back at it in the fields for 2-3hrs, lunch, then the day was open. The actual 'work', if you can call it that, was thinning out the buds for the incoming kiwi crop. I'd guesstimate 20% was tossed away either due to malformations (you now a society has become materialistic when it becomes overly obsessed with the need to have perfectly colored and shaped fruit) or overgrowth. The overgrowth thinning helps yield a better over all product by not overtaxing the plants resources. Amazingly enough, beyond spraying the plants with fish oil, which acts as both a repellant and fertilizer, not much else is used on the plants. Now, compared to
the "conventional" growers, who find the use of toxic chemicals (stories of which were told of farmers losing their skin to overexposure and a dramatically higher incident of absentees in the local schools the day after spraying) absolutely necessary to maintain their product, which is absurd. Ross had a way of summing it up... "Complexity builds industry." And while the exporters come down harder on the organic growers since the "conventional" methods aren't used and the industry belief is the organic fruit is at higher risk to be plagued and/or inferior, the truth is in the pudding. Despite industry scrutiny, the organic grown kiwi fruit tastes better, keeps longer, and is environmentally safe. But the upkeep is a bit more labor intensive, hence the increased cost. and that's the skinny on organics and kiwis.
Asaf, is another 34yo, soul searcher, who's quit the happy and secure job, and decided to travel to gain a new perspective on what truly matters vs. what's habitually expected to matter, I suppose. An IT manager from Tel Aviv, he's an interesting and entertaining guy. Jamie (21) is looking to move here and gain residency. She is another character, but talks with a funny
Ross having a cuppa.
Over looking the cow paddocks... wondering, 'perhaps we should go fishing today instead of working.' accent. It's probably a british thing. The three of us made out well and were fortunate to have the time we had with such a welcoming family.
I originally planned to stay for 5-7 days... 15 days later, it was time to move on. One of the golden rules of travel, 'Always be polite and never overstay your welcome" was itching on me, even though I could have stayed for much longer. But for now, I'm back on the road... back to awaking to a day who's ending of where I'll rest my head is unknown.
Ever onward...
Ross's top seven pillars of wisdom... as I said, he's a farming philosopher...
"Complexity builds industry."
"All bankers are wankers."
"When everyone else is running, walk. When everyone else is walking, run."
"The best dollar made is the dollar saved."
"For most it's about greed, not need."
"Right does not make might."
"E v e r y t h i n g i s s i m p l e."
Advertisement
Tot: 0.322s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 18; qc: 102; dbt: 0.1157s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb