Kings Country

I am currently in the middle of nowhere New Zealand, and it’s amazing. When I thought of what this farm I’m staying at was going to be like it is exactly what it is like

                When I originally got the email from Jenny (one of my hosts) saying that her house was at the middle of a dead end road with no other house in sight, I was a little nervous. HOW out there was I going to be I thought.  Now that I’m here I cannot think of any other place I’d rather be. All around me is rolling green mountains dotted with sheep and cattle. The sky is bright blue with puffy white clouds, and more stars than I’ve ever seen at night. I can constantly hear the baaa, mooo, cluck or song of the native birds and the occasional bark or the sheep dog, Chief, herding sheep to be docked.

View outside my window

                I’m staying with a couple, Jenny and Perry who are organic farmers with 600 chickens, 400 sheep, two dogs, two horses, wild boar, wild deer,  a few hundred cattle, and two wwoofers. That’s right TWO! I have a companion staying with me. His name is Matt Neil and he comes from Ohio. He is easy to talk to and we get along well. One night we even jammed out on his guitar. In addition to Matt, Jenny and Perry are super nice. They are truly interested in what my story is and also teaching me about their farm and way of life.

Matt 

Matt and Perry

                Jenny is also a terrific cook. So far for dinner I’ve had: steak and potatoes, wild venison pot pie, beef sausages with veggies, sheep shoulder with broccoli, and roast veggies, and tonight I had steak stir fry. For breakfast I usually just have cereal with some of their unhomogenized, unpasteurized milk, straight outta the cow. It sounds gross but trust me its good. And for lunch every day we have some egg dish because they are eggs farmers as well. It also probably doesn’t hurt that all their food is free ranch… I can tell you it makes a huge difference. The steak and eggs and everything is just so much better.

Chickens always end up in the car, which is manual, which I can now drive!

                In return for their delicious food and a bed to sleep I have to work for 4-5 hours. What I have to do ranges from collecting eggs to docking sheep (which will have to be a different post entirely) to power washing to just about anything else you can think of.  It’s not bad, and I secretly enjoy the work. The best part is that when we finish early Matt and I can do whatever we’d like.

Tilt-shift shot of a hike up a mountain to herd the sheep.

                So two days ago we finished at 3 so we decided to take out the ATV’s and go exploring. We drove them to the edges of the farm and as far up the mountains as we could take them. At one point we hiked up a creek and found a beautiful 20 foot waterfall.  Matt and I also hiked through the native brush, which is a legit jungle. My secret desire is that later on they’ll let us take out the horses on an adventure.  Perry also mentioned he owns a rifle that other wwoofers hunted deer with…

Drinking from a natural spring.

                Even if you don’t like farms you would love this farm. It’s everything I’d hoped for and more.