The Adventures of Michalina

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Goodbye to Laura and off to Fiji

Some last farm photos... Picking beautiful kuri squash in the garden.

Feb 24:

As per usual, Laura and I stumbled across a food festival in Auckland…. Well this was actually the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival (in our favourite park!) but it was heavily food-oriented, aka trillions of stalls along the street by the park. I got some stir fry and a pork bun and we shared some pan fried dumplings. The place was packed; it would take half an hour to walk a block! There were beautiful floating lanterns strung up among the big gnarled trees, and there were giant fabric lanterns dotted around the park too. There was a main stage with entertainment. First there was teeny bop kids dancing to mashups of hit songs-including gangam style. Then there was an acrobatic group and a magician! Then there was an amazing girl band that played all types of cool instruments. They were kinda like asian musician rockettes. Last was my favourite, a Chinese rock band. They played kinda lame poppy-rock, but they had a trumpet and a sax so I approved. They reminde me of Brasstronaut for that reason, so I suggest they change their band name to Brasstrasianaut, or more simply Asianaut. My mandarin is a little rusty, but from what I could tell the lyrics were going on about the guy losing his dog, so he went to buy a cat, etc. Laura didn’t believe I could understand and she got mad at me. I also realized that as much as I love awkward in-between-songs banter, it is at least 20 times as better in a language you can’t understand. I just shouted Ni hao ma (Hello) and Gong hai fa choy (happy new year: rough translations) after everything (did I mention I was completely sober?).

The next morning we met up for breakfast at an organic fair trade café. Then I went off on my lonesome to fathom the jungles of Fiji. Bonus Travel Tip: there is absolutely no problem bringing biohazards into Fiji. I don’t think they even looked at my sketchy declaration saying I brought feathers, teeth, shells, used camping equipment, and had been on a farm and forest and around farm animals… I’m not really sure what they are looking for if they don’t care about those things they listed… So feel comfortable on your next trip to Fiji knowing that any dead animals, diseases or other biohazardous paraphernalia you bring over will be safe!

I just got to my hostel/resort and it’s lovely! I got upgraded to a private room since there is no one else here (except a bunch of the sweetest rescue dogs and the friendliest rescue cat with 3 legs named Pebbles!). Turns out it's the rainy/off season here (who knew??). This place is out in the country/jungle, and it’s one of the top rated hostels in Nadi. The downside it was POURING rain when I arrived. And windy. So my dreams of biking though the jungle to the hot springs and orchid gardens may have been dashed. The rain is warm at least so if I decide to go and get soaked it won’t matter much. I’ll write my touchstone reading summaries and just hang out with Pebbles! She followed me into my room (she kinda wobble-walk-jumps due to lack of leg) and onto my lap for some scritches before dinner. She’s too cute! Michelle (the owner) made me chicken enchiladas for dinner! She is too kind! This place is ridiculous! There are also a TON of big-eyed frogs that hang out on just outside my room. I almost stepped on one. They are really easy to catch. Maybe I will smuggle one home if I’m already smuggling Pebbles home…

Today is a bit overcast but still sunny and hot and not rainy! The owner will give me a ride to the store later where I can get some groceries, and I'll probably swim in the pool later tonight. It reminds me of Mexico a lot here. Very fun! I'll pretend to be Frida Kahlo and do some art in my sketchbook.

We made fennel and herb fritters for dinner with a tomato salsa and minty yogurt sauce. Accompanying home brew in the corner..

Harvesting kuri.

Natural swimming pool at the neighbour's.

A woven willow hut.

The neighbour's beautiful straw bale home. It's been featured in home magazines!

Scruffy and Bear.

Children playing in the water in giant bubbles at the lantern festival. It was weird. laura liked it because the children were confined.

Fish lanterns.

In the glow of some pink lotus lanterns.

Acrobatic troop.

My favourite band!

Eating a bbq pork bun while listening to my favourite band. I was so happy!!

My room in Fiji!

The view from my window.

Friday, February 22, 2013

The most magical ecovillage experience

Laura hanging out (literally) on the patio.

Feb 15

This morning we arrived at Otamatea ecovillage with Sabine and Wolfgang for our last wwoofing stay. We’ll be here for 9 days until I fly off to Fiji on the 24^th. Ahh!! It’s a beautiful place so far, full of loaded peach, pear, and apple trees! We will be eating a lot of peaches and pears in the next week… They have 3 ducks (that patrol the gardens for slugs and snails), chickens, 2 cows (for meat), and 2 lovely dogs (named Jesse and Lily, aka bucket head since she’s been biting herself lately, poor thing. Jesse dug in the garden with us and munched on 2 baby mice. Yum!). We broke up the potato bed today after a delicious lunch of fresh fluffy bread, AMAZING cheese, AMAZING home kill sausage, garden tomatoes and cucumbers and--OMG WOLFGANG JUST WALKED IN WITH TWO TALL GLASSES OF FRESHLY SQUEEZED PEAR JUICE WE ARE GOING TO DIE OF DELICIOUS HAPPINESS OVERLOAD—sorry, this place is just too magical. Ahem where was I… oh yes really good food and new fruit discoveries yet again! We tried a pepita today, which is like a melony thing: small apple-sized and round with white skin with purple stripes and light yellow flesh that tastes like a melon. In a few minutes we are going to help Wolfgang make pasta for dinner.

We have our own wwoofer cottage, which is a tall open loft room with our own kitchen and loft bedroom. It’s so bright and sunny! And made of earth. We have our own composting toilet outside (we pee under the trees) and a shower in the workshop/garlic hanging area. Sabine and Wolfgang’s house is also beautiful! It’s made of earth as well, and has big open rooms overlooking the valley and gardens. They have a huge pantry stocked with eggs and preserves and cheese… drool… There are also lots of ponds around here. The perfect place to wrap up my New Zealand trip in paradise…

Wolfgang taught us how to make pasta, and we had it with a delicious creamy pumpkin curry sauce. We also had white radishes and the most enchanting watermelon radishes. AND we had some beer that they made. Wolfgang suggested we make a food schedule to make German pasta and tortillas to ensure that we make all the food we want to in our short stay here.

Sunday

Today was our day off, so we had a pancake breakfast with whipped cream, honeycomb, and peaches and pears! Then we had coffee, then went on a walk around the peninsula to put out some possum bait. We found some rat skulls that I’m gonna see if I can smuggle back to Canada. My chances of all my stuff making it back to Canada are becoming slimmer and slimmer as I collect more and more feathers, skulls and teeth… I’ll see what I can do.

Then we went to a beautiful sandy beach with huge sand dunes and cool shells. We stopped to get some local ice cream on the way. It was a lovely drive through farmland. Sabine and Wolfgang are TOO NICE!! We are already plotting how we are going to come back and live here.

We are haymaking tomorrow, which should be interesting since I’m a weakling and it involves 200-300 lb hay bales. Hopefully I will come back with lots of muscles. In any case, we will celebrate with home brew after it’s done!

Feb 21. Thursday

Haymaking wasn’t as hard as we thought. We lifted bales of hay onto trucks all day in the sweltering sun. We had a view of the river and the hillside across it, and there was the added excitement of picking up bits of the tractor that had fallen off, and removing old cow bones from the field so they didn’t jam the bailer (a person that used to live at the ecovillage didn’t take care of their animals and two died in that paddock…).

We’ve been picking green shield bugs/stink bugs off of the plants around here, a task that I enjoy immensely but Laura hates. There is a certain trick to it: you have to understand the bugs. I have it down to a science. They usually swing over to the underside of the leaf when they sense you coming, and then sometimes they jump off the leaf and fall. Other times they fly away. If you position the water bottle catcher contraption under them you can almost always get them (and then feed them to the chickens!). Sometimes you have to employ other various kill techniques, such as squishing with your finger, a twig, or stepping on them. Anyway, I think it’s my true calling. Laura says I can come to her garden sometimes and kill bugs in exchange for food in the future.

I also tried feeding a stink bug to a praying mantis but the mantis ran away from it. What a wuss. When Laura starts raising praying mantids I will request a special strain that is tough.

There was a community dinner here last night, and about 20 people came. It was fun getting to know everyone and trying all the food they brought! We were very stuffed at the end. There is actually a lot of tension and drama at the ecovillage because of differing interests etc. They are having trouble agreeing on what projects to do, what to spend money on, whether to become a partnership or corporation etc. Despite this, it was a nice evening without anyone strangling anyone else. And the dessert was real good.

One day Sabine sent us out to collect pears on the ground to make juice. We came back with two giant baskets we could hardly lift. (I promise I will have muscles when I get home, guys). She put some pears in the bottom of a quark cheesecake she made (omg…) and then we fed the ugly ones to the cows. (When they fire up the oven—literally, with wood—they often bake lots of things. Sabine made the cheesecake, a giant zucchini chocolate cake, and two loaves of whole wheat sourdough. Why do I have plans to leave this place again?) The peach trees are also dripping with peaches still, so we have to eat lots. We also harvested purple beans, other pole beans, sorted onions, prepared a bed and planted carrots, turnips and radishes, and will pick some beautiful pumpkins later. It’s nice to be here during harvest time!

We are having lots of fun hanging out with the dogs (minus a bucket) and playing in the garden here. There are lots of cool creatures and bugs! They also have a lot of great books to read! Especially cook books. My journal is actually full of recipes, so I guess I will have to buy the books when I get home.

Feb 23

We left the farm today. I’ll definitely be back to visit one day! Wolf and Sabine are such special people willing to share a few laughs and their practical points of view of sustainable living. I went to a singing workshop with them for the day while Laura headed for Auckland. It was so much fun! We sang songs in lots of different languages and some stuff by the “O Brother Where Art Thou” composer and some of my favourite choir songs. We went out for sushi for lunch (you got to pick single pieces for yourself). It was a great day! I got a ride to Auckland with the conductor and his wife, and they drove me straight to my hostel. Laura and I are meeting up in a little bit, we had to get different hostels because the one I booked first got full.

Yesterday we got to see one of the neighbour’s straw bale homes and went swimming in their natural pool! It was a beautiful place with a beautiful dog and huge frogs and tadpoles in the pool!

Watermelon radish.

Laura's favourite spot.

Our Woofer Hilton.

View on our possum poisoning walk up the hill.

Looking at the before and after photos.

Wolf, Jessie, Lily, and Laura and I on the hilltop lookout.

Mangawhei beach with the Hen and Chicken Islands in the back.

Eating mountains of fruit...

The tiniest lizard in the world in our house!

All the shells I found on the beach.... I promise I didn't take them all home.

laura watering the tomatoes in the glass house.

Feeding and watering the chickens in the evening.

Our home! Made of light earth (mix of sawdust and clay in a timber frame).

Hanging out with Jessie in our doorway.

Otamatea Ecovillage Emblem.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Caves and Farms

Feb 14 The Underworld…

I couldn’t have come to New Zealand without exploring the limestone caves that lurk underneath all the sheep pasture. We were in Waitomo (the caving capital) for 2 nights. There are over 300 caves in the area, 3 of which are pretty commercialized and touristy. We met a man working at the general store that had guided in the caves for 20 years and we got his recommendation on which tour to do (there are approximately a trillion companies). He recommended the Spellbound tour because it is small group (10 people!) and you get a really long time to let your eyes adjust. So we did that one!

At the mouth of the first cave there was a little stream that carved out the cave over thousands of years (rainwater absorbs carbon dioxide and becomes slightly acidic and then carves out caves from the limestone rock). The fun began before we even got in the cave! There was a freshwater eel that lived uner a rock, and we enticed it out by wiggling our fingers in the water. It was at least 2 feet long and it slithered out and tried to bite us! Apparently the tour groups usually feed it. We got to touch it and it was all slimy and squishy. It even raised its head out of the water to try to eat us! Eventually it got fed up and went back under its rock. Then the real fun began! We went into the cave and walked along amongst stalactites and stalagmites and soon we saw a trillion little blue lights on the ceiling. They were thousands of glowworms! Turns out (unromantically) they are actually the larval (maggot) stage of a fly. They were about 2 inches long, and they glow at their rear end to attract flying insects. (They glow by combining a waste chemical they produce with oxygen and a protein to make light, and then recycle the chemicals to glow continuously.)

Here is a rough sketch of their entire lifecycle (nerd moment):

*disclaimer, this is from memory, feel free to do your own wikipedia-ing*

First a female glow fly comes along into a cave and lays about 300 eggs on the ceiling. Glowworms like caves with water running through them to bring them food. They also need about 90% humidity to keep from drying out. Eventually hatch (I don’t know how long that takes), but immediately after they are brought into the world they start to build a nest for themselves out of silk and mucous. I think they can build a centimeter every 15 minutes, so they are done their building quickly after hatching. Then they spin up to 70 threads and suspend them from the cave ceiling. They put little droplets of mucous on the threads to make them sticky. They do this by moving their head back and forth a number of times and then pushing it down the thread. Then the wait until the stream carries some insect larvae into the cave, which metamorphose into flying bugs (they could be caddis flies, mosquitos, etc.). The flying bugs fly up towards the glowworm lights since they think they are the stars (flying bugs always try to fly to open space, aka the sky), and they unsuspectingly get caught in the sticky death threads of the hungry worms. (Who knew glowworms were carnivorous fisher-bugs?!) The glowworms chew up their threads to reel in their meal and gobble it up. Then they go along continuing to monitor and repair their threads for their next catch. The glowworms stay in maggot stage for about 300 days before metamorphosing into glow flies. They are only in fly stage for 3-4 days during which they must find a mate and lay their eggs in the cave again. I asked, and apparently the adult flies occasionally get caught in other glowworms’ threads, so these carnivorous fisher-bugs are also cannibals!

We got into a little boat and then went along the stream to a waterfall. There were ropes above our heads so our guide could pull us around. There was a milky way of glowworms above us! As our eyes adjusted more, we could see even the tiniest of lights above us (about 10 feet high). There must have been millions! It was so magical. We tried to make up constellations. Everyone was excitedly chatting but eventually we were all quiet and just sat in awe.

Then we had tea and cookies in a little shack in a field between the two caves. I thought it was really adorable!

The next cave had a few glowworms, but it was mostly full of calcite crystal formations. There were off-white crystals all over the walls. As the rainwater loses its carbon dioxide to the cave air, the calcium carbonate (I think) solidifies in the cave. Near the front of the cave their was a goat skeleton that could have wandered in and then died. Later on there was a HUGE cathedral/room with a high ceiling. There were also moa bird remains, and a cow skull form a cow that fell down a hole in the middle of the cave and couldn’t get out. We also saw a giant cave cricket and some cave spiders.

After the cave tour we went on a 3-hour walk with anew friend from the hostel to see a giant natural tunnel and some other little cave formations. There were lots of cows along the way and karst rocks jutting out of the fields.

Our hostel was a one kilometer walk from the town, and it had fantastic neighbours! Aka 2 goats, a young cow, a big deer thing and a little pig! We made friends with the deer first by petting it and feeding it leaves, and then the pig wandered over to the fence and Laura touched it and it fell over. We petted it for at least half an hour. It was so happy it closed its eyes and crossed its ankle (I LOVE pig feet!!) and grunted a bit if we stopped petting it. Our new best friends!!

Then we came back to Auckland on Valentines Day… what a mistake. There were hormonal, crazed young travellers everywhere at our hostel. It’s unsettling. Our plan was to dress up in our baggiest clothes and/or stuff out bellies and pretend were pregnant and try to go see some music somewhere without getting bothered. We went to our favourite Irish Pub and had a ball dancing by ourselves!