With cyclones passing by

After we left Dean’s house, Jane and Hilary welcomed us to their +40 acre sanctuary: a farm that backs onto the National Reserve of the Waitakere Ranges. Courtney and Brent from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan joined us as WWOOFers on the farm that evening.

The Waitakere Ranges: subtropical, humid, and beautiful for hiking. 

 Merlyn the horse and his donkey friends. 

 

They are perfectly set up to host WWOOFers and yet this was only the second time they had ever done so! We were housed in the tipi (later relocating to escape from the deluge of tropical storms), but they also had two small house-trucks (kind of like gypsy wagons crossed with RV’s) and a satellite cottage that had recently been vacated by one of their daughters. 

 house truck! 

Although Jane and Hilary are both kept busy by their work as counselors, they have just begun, with the help of their friend Peter, a multi-step process to transform their land into an organic lime orchard. Right now the fields are planted with buckwheat to break up the clay and make the ground more workable. The buckwheat also fixes nitrogen in the soil that will feed the baby lime trees. Peter is also establishing about a dozen new beehives, which will start producing honey for the market in about ten months. The day Juliette and I arrived at the farm he had just gotten some of his new queens in the mail. We got to watch (from a safe distance) as he settled the new queens in queen-less hives. 

A woodworker by trade, Peter also makes these beautiful bee boxes himself.

We spent a couple of days waging war on a nasty invasive honeysuckle-type plant with an enthusiastic root system that could easily reach many meters, putting down roots from every junction along the creeping vine. It is quite difficult to eradicate because it is tricky to figure out which direction to pull in order to get all of the root pieces. 

The fruits of our labors: cleared garden patches, and giant piles of plant matter to haul elsewhere!

These vines were closely intertwined with sharp grasses. A consequence of forgetting to wear long sleeves and pants, my limbs were covered in a web scratches that felt like razor burn. This was also when I met the dreaded sand fly, quite similar to the black flies I know at home. A few hours’ negligence of shoes and socks left me with over 100 itchy bites on each foot. 

As another cyclone roared through, we spent a couple of days hiding from torrential rain. We cleaned out the satellite cottage that would become the home base for future WWOOFers: moving junk and sweeping out cobwebs and cat hair. Next, we did a series of odd jobs that included moving dead plant matter (in the pouring rain), washing outside windows (in the rain) and transplanting a few-hundred gooseberry seedlings (under an overhang, but still in the gusty rain). Jane promised to send me pictures of the gooseberries when they make their colorful paper lanterns! 

 That evening, all set up in the finally clean cottage, we (the WWOOFers) invited Jane and Hilary to 'our place' for a final family dinner. [Left to right: Courtney, Juliette, Brent, me, Jane] 

Jane and Hilary are among the sweetest, kindest people I know. They welcomed us instantly, sharing not only their home but also stories of life and travel, advice, and some of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. I was sad to say goodbye and am hoping that my final exam schedule works out in a way that will allow me to visit them again at the end of my time in this country. 

[visit Jane and Hilary's WWOOF profile for more pictures of their fantastic place]

Next stop: CouchSurfing in Rotorua!