Field Notes: Farm Life: Veggies, Goats and Good Times

Success! We finally reached the present! Yes, this post is actually about what we are doing now. We arrived at Kevin and Susie's farm outside of Upper Moutere (about 45 minutes from Nelson) on the fourth of January and will be with them until the end of the month. They have an amazing property with beautiful gardens, greenhouses, orchards, sheep, cows, and a couple dozen goats. In the company of two other wwoofers, Marie from Germany and a woman from Japan, we have been learning tons about how to run a productive small-scale farm. We've been busy planting leeks, cabbages, and lettuces, harvesting veggies for sale at the farmer's market, and milking and caring for the goats.

The crew with our harvest ready for the Saturday Market

Lou in the bean plants

The harvested runner beans ready for market

We learned how to milk the goats by hand! (Though most of the time we use a machine)

Sean's a real country boy now :)

Baby goats! (not our photo)

Garlic and onions we harvested, laid out to dry

Garlic, cleaned, trimmed and ready to go

Sean and Kevin feeding the goats their favorite treat on a rainy day: fresh willow branches

The babies enjoying their snack

Last week a bunch of lambs went to the shearing shed for their summer haircut. We learned that to be considered a professional shearer you have to have done at least 1000 sheep. The main technique used for shearing around the world was developed here in New Zealand.

Hugh the shearer expertly handling one of the lambs (not our photo)

Our hosts also use the wool from the sheep to spin in to yarn and then weave into rugs and such. One afternoon we got a lesson in using the spinning wheel.