Farm Life

As I mentioned before, I just spent the past week staying at a family sheep and beef farm 30 minutes outside of Blenheim, in the Marlborough region of the South Island. It was a really really cool experience, I've always wanted to spend time on a farm, and this was a great opportunity. The family I stayed with, the Gormans, were really sweet. They have two small kids (3 and 1) that were really fun to get to know and help take care of, in addition to my farm work and gardening. My main task while I was there was to help clean up the family's garden and backyard area after a big storm wrecked havoc a few weeks ago. I also got a chance to help Richard, the father, out with some of the farm activities which was really fun. I stayed in the house with the family, which was really pleasant as well (except for the 6am wakeups every morning from Freddy and Charlotte, the kids, but we went to bed around 9 so it wasn't that bad!).

The farm was beautiful, surrounded by hills and even large snow-capped mountains. They were near the water as well, and on a clear day you could see from the farm all the way to the North Island! I learned a lot about Kiwi culture too, and had some great discussions with Richard and Victoria about farming, politics, sustainability, and culture in NZ vs the US. Also, since Marlborough is the biggest wine producing region in New Zealand, we had some delicious local Sauvignon Blanc as well!

I've got loads of stories and not a lot of time, but some of the highlights of the week were:

1. They found a lamb that had been mis mothered (abandoned) on the farm on my first night, and we brought it in to raise as a pet until it was old enough to go back on the farm. One of my jobs that weeks was to take care of the baby lamb, feeding it several times a day. His name was Louis and he was so cute!!

2. Richard is an amateur flyer and has a great 4 seater plane from the 1950s. He took me and another Czech couple staying there for a flight on Saturday down the coast. There were snow capped mountains right next to the beach, it was stunning!

3. I got into the farm action by herding cattle and sheep, on foot. Once I also had to face off with an angry bull that had rammed someone the day before, ask me for the story when I get home!

4. They had a Czech Au Pair whose birthday it was on my last day, so they threw a really fun get together with lots of delicious lamb chops and beef sausages and plenty of Sauv Blanc. It was great to share cultures over an evening barbecue!

I'm attaching a few more pictures of the farm from a short hike up the hill that I took and the sunrise that greeted me every morning.. I look forward to sharing a lot more about my farm experience when I get home!