Winter Woofing, July 6 – 12, 2012

We recently finished up another week of woofers with a great crew of young gals from the States:   Jess and Jessie from Atlanta, GA, and Chelsea from Reno, NV.

I was excited to have woofers again after our brief hiatus due to our May stateside trip.  Three gals meant that I would likely be in charge of their chores and I had a lot in mind for them to do with weeding the floral gardens as my number one task!

The ladies were smart, fun, open-minded, enthusiastic, and full of vim and vigor.   Chelsea, who majored in nutrition and who was very much into raw foods, kept us astounded and well-fed with her culinary salad making skills.   Kale, kale, kale was our main ingredient for the week!   Kale and raisins; kale, avocado and cocoa powder; kale and rice.  You name it, we ate kale!

Jess and Jessie, acquaintances at university in Georgia, found themselves on independent visits to New Zealand and decided to do some woofing together.  Both in mid-stages of their university studies, they were both very eager to learn about whatever topics Bruce and I brought up.  We had many conversations about nutrition, food growing, soil health, metaphysics, and sacred geometry along with the regular fun chats about dating, love, and men!

We started the week with some seedling transplanting and Jerusalem artichoke washing and a few days of digging out the difficult weeds from the floral gardens.

We also managed to tackle a few hours in the blackberry thickets, chopping out inch-thick, 15-foot long canes which Chelsea and Jess really mastered.

We also had fun doing arts and crafts one night, making decorative veggie markers for the garden.

Neighbors Barb and Tuesday joined us for evening tea and Bruce got to regale the ladies with his absinthe making prowess!

There was also time every afternoon for doing chi gong and meditation with Bruce.   We put everyone to use to help us decide where to locate our new kitchen stereo speakers.  And we managed, on the ladies’ last night, to belt out karaoke.   I don’t think Bruce has ever been serenaded like he was that night.

It was sad to see our time come to an end!  Yet, everyone must move on and we finished up with our requisite group photos on the front lawn featuring our little Nina!

And now my winter comes to an end as I transit back to the Florida summer.   My dad has become quite ill in the short period of time that we’ve been back in NZ and I fear his time may be drawing near.  So I’m off again for an indefinite period leaving Bruce and Nina behind to kept things ticking along at home.   The wheel of life, as the change of seasons, keeps on turning, whether we are cognizant of it or not.   Right now I am ever so aware of the present delicious moments that make life so wonderful.   I am grateful to you, my friends and family, for making my life so rich and worthwhile!