Christmas Break 2 – Wooffing & Wellington

After the wonderful trip to Northland, I was looking forward to the next one where I was wooffing at a farm near Fielding, a small town two hours from Wellington. This was a solo trip and I landed at Susan and Vivian place by early evening, after a six-hour drive. On the way I stopped at Blue Springs (one of the purest forms of natural water) and was stopped by hail storms while passing through a mountain pass. Their house was situated in rural area on a gravel dirt road with the nearest grocery store 20kms away!

Vivian, 65 I would guess, was reading a book as thick as a Webster’s dictionary. Kindle could have never given me this range about him. Thick or thin, Kindle takes away the charm of the book, its title and its cover. It takes away a plausible conversation starter. Kindle lacks character. A book on the other hand is just like a child – very happy, very sad and but rarely balanced. When you start to read one, its heavy towards the right and then after a few hundred pages it stabilizes for a short while when you have reached midway until you are well over interval and gunning towards the end as the weight tilts towards the left till you reach climax. While making it clumsy at times, the constant view of the pages done vs. left is a reminder of anticipation. 28% done or 1.5hours left in this chapter, as the Kindle suggests, do not impress. They are functional pieces of information with no feelings.

Meanwhile their house was full of books. On the dining table, on the center table, on the sofa besides of course a large shelf. Humanities, history, science, religion… an interesting range as well. A fireplace in the middle of the living room with a CD player alongside reminded me of MCY 1 audio system and irritatingly gave me a sense of which generation I am closer to – a 65 year old or someone in their mid-twenties.

Susan had made a nice soup of beans and lentils and after gentle pleasantries and simple conversations over dinner I headed to my room while the couple sat alongside reading and sipping herbal tea .

The first couple of days I was mostly weeding in the orchard which had apple, pear, plums, apricots, grapes, berries, peaches and even a couple of olive trees. Getting used to the Kiwi ways of doing things, I would start early and finish by 2 PM so that I had the evenings to myself. Typically, you are expected to work 4-6 hours a day. But Vivian had his ways. He would start early then stop in between and browse the computer or read a book and then start again. He didn’t care how many hours I put. He guided me but did not nag or watch over my shoulders. He left me things to do as and when I wanted them to which worked well for me.

Zucchini

Thats Poppy Seed!

Macadamia nuts

Garlic

One day he took me to another farm from where we brought a wood cutting machine. Over the next few days, we mostly did firewood cutting using the machine. This puzzled me as otherwise the couple lived on organic food, minimal plastic usage and had a simple frugal lifestyle. Then why were they using firewood instead of electricity heating during winter?

The couple were well read and well-travelled. Susan was a practitioner of zero balancing, a kind of manual body therapy that helps to clear blocks in the body’s energy flow, amplifying vitality and supporting a greater sense of well-being. Vivian was life time farmer and gardener. They met in the US at an ashram of some babaji (yes!). They have three children – one each from their previous marriages and one of their own. Vivian also had a 650cc BMW bike!

Dinner on one of the days - Susan would cook a different meal every night (which is a big deal by the way) and I realised later after a few days that they were all vegetarian and very tasty.

During evenings Susan made lovely dinner mostly from the fresh farm produce. She would take her little cane basket and go looking around for ripe fruits and ready vegetables. And in the morning, she would make this super nutritious smoothie with fruits, veggies and herbs. Once they served me Gin, made by their son. It was very good.

One day they took me to Fielding as they had some shopping to do. It happened to be animal trading day where farmers got their cattle and sheep to trade at the market. Animals were brought in lots assessed and measured by age, health and weight after which they were put on an auction. While explaining this to me, Vivian said that they raised an yearling in their farm for over a year feeding it with nutrition and when it was ready, they got it skinned and had its meat stocked in their freezer. He did this to make sure he was having good quality meat but was complaining that that he has been eating the same beef for over a year now.

Auction with officials on far side and bidders on this side. Notice the weight and other details on the display

After a week with them, I left for Wellington. This is what Susan posted on the wooffing site, “We LOVED Vineet's help and presence here. Great to have a mature woofer who understands work and is fun and interesting to talk with. I really enjoyed cooking and sharing ideas with him. He knows how to pitch in without having to be asked and shares his culture and culinary background easily and comfortably. Vineet always started work on his own after he understood his task. No reminders necessary! In fact, we had to get him to stop sometimes. Very quickly, he became a member of the team. He took us on as a part of his world and vice versa and it was extremely amicable AND productive!”

Wellington was not expected to be anything different than what it was. I saw the museum, aimlessly roamed on the streets trying to find someone who did not exist. The streets were crowded and yet empty and I allowed myself a twinge of disappointment before I shook it off for some strong coffee. Dinner was with a college alumnus. And the next day I opened Google Maps and clicked on “Home”. At least that is what I had started calling Auckland these days.