Foxhill wwoofing amazingness!

My next wwoofing spot was in Foxhill, just outside of Nelson.  Rikki and Jon were my hosts.  Rikki is confined to a wheelchair, but full of new ideas for the garden and kitchen and energy.  When I walked up with my bags I was greeted with a cup of tea!  

Rikki is a great cook and made some glorious food every night.  The first night we had lamb cutlet, blue cheese, leek and squash, mashed potatoes.  My favorite thing she made was some delicious cookies.    We also started with some great conversation about the birds they own and about how they met and everything else under the sun.  

These guys own a lot of birds.  They had chickens (all sorts), guinea fowl, ducks, one male cow, one pregnant cow (peanut), two sheep (spot is pregnant), three young goats.  All of the animals were pretty friendly, except the bull.  He was raised in a heard, so he was still getting used to the idea of being around people.  These guys were well treated.  Jon and Rikki mixed up special food every night sweetened with molasses.

On my first day we killed two guinea fowl.  I learned how to pluck and gut them.  I had seen this done before, but it’s always nice to get hands on experience.  First they caged the birds over night (less in the bowels) then chopped off the heads.  After they were dead we  dipped them in hot water.  This makes plucking them easier.  We proceeded to pluck, gut and trim the excess extremities before packaging them for the freezer.

One of the main jobs Jon needed me for was digging out his new barn floor.  He had already planted the posts, so we were digging out a flat area for pouring the concrete.  They were making a milking barn for after Peanut had her calf.  There were so many roots, it made it hard going.

barn floor

We also herded the animals every few days to a new paddock.  The only part of this that was difficult was the bull.  The other animals had no problem being lead, but because the bull was a bit wild he didn't like following the lead so much.  We had to chase him around one of the bigger paddocks to get him move where we wanted him to.  During all this my knee was still hurting a bit.  I was really hoping it would get better before I returned to work in the vineyard.  In the end when we went into town I purchases a knee brace.  I also visited quite a few Op Shops to get some more work clothing.

Rikki had allotted a day for us to make cheese.  It was a rainy day and Jon was working so it should have been perfect, but no cheese making occurred.  The milk company forgot to drop off the milk. 

making feta

The last of my days at the farm I did a bit of weeding and pruning.  We did end up making cheese.  We made Mozzarella andFeta.  It was great!  I wish I had all the materials to make it in my new home in Waiheke, but it will have to wait until I get to a more permanent location.  I took a copious amount of notes, just so I could do it again later.

Jon had me repairing the fencing on the property at this time as well. We also finished digging out the  barn floor, but we didn't pour the cement.  That was left for the next wwoofer.  I wasn't too sad, I got to learn how to drive a tractor in the meantime.  

This was one of my favorite things about this wwoofing experience.  I thought it would be complicated, but it really wasn't.  It’s the same concept as manual driving except there are two gear boxes.  One was for low (heavy loads) or high.  The tractor I was learning on was also an antique.  This just peeked my intrest more.  My grandfather works on old cars and I know form experience the older it is the easier it is to maintain by yourself.  This was a 1957 messi-furgeson, diseal.  It was beautiful and stilling running wonderfully.  Driving a tractor seemed easy at first, but then we got to the logistics of moving logs and using the lift.  This part had me a bit frustrated.  Tractors do no move as easily as cars.  That’s for sure.  So it took me a couple of times to position myself right to pick up and drop logs.  But I got it! I feel like a tractor expert now.  When I learned how to use the tractor somewhat well we got to work pulling logs around the property. 
  

Jon in all his chainsaw gear

They used to have a coniferous forest behind the house, but they chopped it down to make room for more pasture and a better sunlight during the later hours of the day.  So we had a bit of cleanup to do.  There were stumps and giant logs all over the place that needed to be moved around.  Eventually I got good enough to pull logs out of the giant piles left by the loggers.  I then stacked them in pile to be cut up for fire wood later.  This was another part of the job, collecting firewood and pine cones.  These guys had a wood burning stove to heat the house, so maintaining seasoned wood was important.  I didn't get to run a chainsaw, because I’m not certified, but Jon had no problem telling me the finer safety details of the trade. 

cow plop

While I was there I also had the oh so “glamorous” job of picking up manure pops and spreading them on the garden.  Actually not as bad you would think.  Cow poop doesn't smell too bad.

When Rikki discovered I love cooking she put me to work. I made apple pie, pizza, lemon meringue pie, pumpkin curry soup with naan and just helped out in general in the kitchen.  I never mind being in the kitchen. 

 Ask anyone I’ve lived with and they will tell you I live in the kitchen.  I think I spend between 3-5 hours in the kitchen a day now.  Hmm…. I should really start working on that culinary degree.

My two weeks went by so fast.  I was sad to leave, but it was good.  I had a long commute back to Waiheke.  About two days of travel by boat, bus, walking and hitch hiking.  But it was time to start work again.