A Happy Home for the Winter

Sorry we've been out of touch for so long but here's our biggest blog yet to catch you up with our most recent winter adventures. And yes, in case you all forgot, it is the middle of winter here, but with great luck we have found ourselves a very comfortable place to roost for the cold season. At the end of June we left Kerikeri and moved south a couple of hours to our new wwoof hosts at the Otamatea Eco-village, which is located on a peninsula in the Kaipara Harbour north of Auckland.

The house and garden

Our very cozy home/ workshop

Our wonderful hosts, Sabine and Wolfgang (that’s right, more Germans! : ) have a beautiful solar powered home and permaculture-designed property.

The plentiful garden

In Maori, Pukahu refers to the rich decomposing matter on the
forest floor which gives life to the everything

Life at Pukahu (Wolf and Sabine's place) has been very busy. Here’s a few example of the things we’ve been doing:

The new glass house

Sean helped with the final stages of the construction right after we arrived and one of our first projects was to lay water pipes and put in the water taps. After that we continued our “fun in the mud” with more trench-digging, putting in a drainage system around the front of the glasshouse and down the hill. The aim was to divert at least some of the water from the boggy area in the shade to the thirsty sugarcane below. It was a messy job, but successful. With the trench done, we were able to plant native trees and shrubs out front. Inside the glasshouse, the final step was to lay cardboard and mulch on the ground to kill any remaining weeds.

One of many

We’ve had a number of projects over the past few weeks, but our daily duties always include feeding the chickens in the afternoon and cutting grass for the cows.

Louisa feeding Maggie (baby cow) and Marilyn (momma cow)

This second activity has been one of the highlights of our stay here, as we have been introduced to the art of scything by Wolfgang.


It turns out that scything is awesome, and according to Sean, “way easier than weedwacking.” We tried to post a video but it said it would take 8 hours and well, here a photo instead :)

Doris (the golden one) and Kak-kak (with the black head)

Every afternoon, after giving the chickens their water- or whey-soaked grains, we go down to the pond to give the ducks a handful as well. They always wait for us at the top of the hill and the moment they see us heading down to the water, they take off, quacking and waddling as fast as they can to meet us at the feeding trough. Hilarious.

Lately, we've started walking in the evening around the village and in the bush.


The sunsets here are particularly breathtaking.

One of the more unusual and creative homes in the neighborhood

A purple sunset from the backyard

The village

On one of our walks we spotted a flock of wild peacocks which are considered pests here as they compete with the native birds for food. We also learned that is best to eat them before grasshoppers season, otherwise they taste terrible.


Wolf and Sabine are constantly surprising us with their diverse talents and skills. In addition to scything, Wolf has also showed us how to make homebrew beer, home-made sausages, and has offered to teach us book-making in the coming weeks. It also turns out that Wolf is a great musician and every Monday night we've enjoyed sitting in on jam sessions with him and and a few friends. The guitar, banjo and accordian trio are eerily reminiscent of the music sessions at the Bifano home with Steve, Larry and Vince. Feels just like home!

The brewery

Heirloom Swiss Chard (known here as silverbeet)

Meanwhile, Sabine has taught us heaps about cooking seasonally and from the garden, as well as how to make home-made cheese, yogurt, a variety of breads and cakes, chutneys and jams (She's written and co-authored two cookbooks!). Louisa is also learning to knit from Sabine. These are just some of the many things we've been learning about since we arrived!

Harvesting the dinner salad

We've also the art of washing and wringing by hand :)

Last weekend, Wolf and Sabine hosted a mid-winter feast. Being a proper feast, it was a seven-course potluck dinner, with entertainment from the guests between every course. After seven hours, the twenty plus guests had consumed a wide-variety of homemade foods starting with hummus, dolma, and mini-pizzas. After a rap session about possums came an incredible fish a la mediterranean (the cook was also the fisherman!) and a lovely garden salad.


Next came a wonderful duet on the ukulele followed by a beef roast (formerly known as Roger), baked taro and a nut pie.

The talented ukulele duet

A magic/science show and a few lovely poems entertained us before we were treated to a apple tart and vanilla ice cream dessert. More ukulele music, then banjo, then a round of palmas (a Spanish clapping drum circle), storytelling and jokes all happened somewhere between coffe, homemade chocolates and grappa. We had a great time time and didn't get to bed till 2 am (which is way past wwoofer bedtime).


We're looking forward to spending another month here before Cait's (Sean's sister) arrival kicks off our next leg of our adventure.

And now, if you made it this far, here is your reward:

The cutest cow in all the land, baby Maggie!