Wilderland Farm

We have spent the last two weeks living at Wilderland Farm on the Coromandel Peninsula. It was a legitimate Wwoof (willing workers on organic farms) job, and it was eye-opening, exhausting, and incredibly rewarding. We were very out of our comfort zone and in the minority in many ways, which led to some learning experiences that otherwise wouldn't have been possible. We are thankful for the experience, and wouldn't change a thing. I couldn't possibly sum everything up in one blog, but here goes nothing....

The Property

Wilderland was created in 1964, and has transformed from a full on hippie commune to a charitable trust aimed at teaching organic farming and sustainable living to visitors and students. 

The property itself is over 150 acres of lush tropical forests, orchards, and gardens interspersed with very basic hand built houses, workshops, and a communal kitchen area. The entire place is self sufficient, the water comes from rain barrels and filtered river water, the toilets are compostable and there is just one shared shower that is heated by a small wood stove (that also serves as the oven and stove for cooking). 
The community building contains a big dining table, library full of books people have left, and a kitchen full of organic oats, rice, and grains. They even grind their own flour from wheat grown on the farm. The entire property overlooks  a large estuary and there are nice views of the town across the bay.

Also on the property, there are bee hives for making honey. The structures that people live in vary from large houses, tents, and old buses to a backpacker style dorm and a large teepee. Outside, there is a large woodshed and workshop, and a playground, rope swing, and trampoline.  Trails run all over and it is easy to explore and get lost. There are not any livestock, it is a completely vegetarian farm. There were two nice dogs, a family of chickens, and a wandering duck who is often being scolded for munching on crops in the salad garden. Since life is in the bush - there are also a few pests, Mosquitos, ants, sandfleas, and a family of rats. Other than the annoying bug bites you sort of forget they are there and they don't really interfere.

Our Jobs

One of the benefits of choosing such a large farm is that we got to participate in a wide variety of projects. Every morning (except Sundays) we all meet at 8:00 for a meeting to go over what tasks need to be done and you choose where you would like to work. All the workers set off for the jobs until the bells are rung around 1:30 (lunchtime). The work was challenging and strenuous at times, but always rewarding and interesting. 
The first day I harvested potatoes and onions in the garden, and built a compost pile using the weeds that were left. The hardest part was carrying the crates of potatoes up the hill to the house in the hot sun. Mike spent day 1 chopping a huge pile of firewood.

I really enjoyed putting on a picking bag (like a kangaroo pouch), and climbing up trees and ladders in the orchards to harvest plums, mandarins, tangelo, uglifruit, and avocado. We learned how to prune citrus trees. In the gardens, we built bamboo trellises for tomatoes and capsicum (peppers). We learned how to pick cabbage, silverbeet, sweet corn, and onions. Mike also tested his lumberjack skills and spent a day chopping down trees.
Some of the projects were maintenance  and construction related. We built a patio for one of the houses, a roundhouse structure, and a graywater system (a giant tub we filled with levels of rocks and a tubes and pipes for filtering system, we planted specific plant species to create a natural water filtration system for the sink where people wash their hands). Saturdays were maintenance days, I cleaned and organized the kids play area and the used clothing area (where people can take and leave used clothes). Mike mowed the lawn and did some weed whacking.

Wilderland also has a roadside shop where they sell honey, produce, tea, candles, postcards, jams, chutney, and lotions (all made at the farm). We each worked a couple shifts there and enjoyed chatting with the locals and tourists who stopped by.
One day at the shop I got asked so many questions about the manuka honey, which is well known for having medicinal qualities. That night I got to thinking about how much tourists like to try new local products and understand each one. NZ has an entire industry based around sampling wine and cheese on tours. I wrote down an idea and proposed it the next morning at our meeting, it went over well and I got to create four hand painted honey signs for the shop. I researched the types sold, and made informative signs about the color, quality, origin, taste, and uses for each one. I had a great time scrounging for wood scraps, got some help with the power tools, and sanded them into nice signs that I painted designs on with my buddy Fanelie from France. 

For our last day, Mike and I went with   another resident, Josh, and spent the day working at Wilderland's booth at the local farmer's market in Whitianga. It was pretty neat to see the full circle - packaging and selling the fruit that we had been up in the trees collecting the day earlier. Mike and I think it would be pretty neat to have our own booth in a farmers market someday.

The Food

Each day after working in the morning, we all gathered around for a big vegetarian (usually vegan) feast. The entire place is vegetarian. We were allowed to eat unlimited fruit, vegetables, and grains from the farm. The kitchen was loaded with spices, supplies, and food. We cook at home all the time, but usually dinner is based around meat. We actually struggled to come up with something the first night, and stood around thinking about what we could do with a zucchini without being too obvious that we were clueless. A nice resident noticed we looked embarrassed and offered us a big leftover salad :) Eventually we figured out plenty of options and had a good laugh about how surprisingly delicious the meals were with some other carnivores.  The lunches were giant bowls of colorful salads, curries, soups, and usually a dessert made with plums or apples. Everyday it looked like a Thanksgiving family dinner. I didn't think it would be possible, but I did manage to get sick of eating fresh plums, mandarins, and avocados.

The People

Throughout our stay, we met about 50 people. Some people came to visit for a day, most for a week or two, and some feel so at home that they find an old bus or build a teepee and move in. Seriously. Every person was so fascinating. There were several families with kids and babies too. It's not every day you can share an "office" with such a diverse crowd. We worked, lived with, and ate daily with people from: France, Israel, Japan, Belgium, NZ, England, Germany, the Yukon Territory, Denver, Pennsylvania, Norway, Spain, and even a guy who lived three blocks from where Mike grew up in Seattle. The lives, backgrounds and occupations were equally as diverse. Some memorable ones included: teacher, farmer, economics student, military sergeant, community  planner, wedding officiant, medical student, Doctors without borders volunteer in Africa, aspiring filmmaker, chef, sculptor, gypsy, surfer, social worker, musician, artist, marine biologist, bar owner, and a circus clown with ten foot stilts. As you can imagine, we had some lively and intriguing conversations over lunch and games of cards.

Free Time

In the afternoons and on Sundays, we were free to do whatever we liked. Since the property was so big, we usually stayed there and walked to the estuary to swim, kayak, and even have a mud bath. We were usually pretty tired from working in the morning, so often we sat under an avocado tree and read. Some nights we hung out with co workers and played games, played music (one guy was very talented at playing his hand made didjerido), and heard some great stories from fascinating lives.

One Saturday, we decided to camp for a night in Hahei. We went with two friends we had met at Wilderland: Karmi and Fanelie. Karmi is a student in Ohio studying biology who is really into three towed slothes. Fanelie is from France, and came to NZ to learn English. She was a fast learner and we had a lot of fun joking around ( even though she claims that American English sounds like there is a potato in your mouth). The four of us took off in the afternoon, picked up some food for a BBQ, booked a campsite, and saw some amazing beaches:

Hot Water Beach - a beach known for the natural heating of lava rock below the surface, so at low tide hundreds of people bring shovels and build temporary natural hot tubs. We got the perfect night, low tide was at 10 pm, so around 9 we started digging. It took us about an hour to dig a tub big enough for four. Once we did, it was so relaxing to sit in the ocean at night looking at the moon and stars while our tub heated all of the new waves that snuck in.

Gemstone Bay - we rented snorkels and followed a "snorkel trail." Throughout the cove, they have floating signs informing you about the fish below. We swam from one sign to the next and saw quite a few fish and urchins. The following week, the front page of the local paper featured a picture of the same bay, where an unusual sighting had occurred: a 14 foot great white shark! Yikes, glad I didn't see that through that little mask...

Stingray Bay - in my opinion, the most beautiful beach in NZ so far. Bright white sand, clear teal water, and it was protected by large cliffs on both sides. And, the best part was that it lived up to it's name - we saw several black stingrays swimming! They are really beautiful to watch, they just glide along the bottom of the sand. 

Cathedral Cove - one of the icons of the north island, a 40 foot cave that opens up to gorgeous beaches on either side. It was really nice but also really crowded. We lounged around, jumped in the waves, and Mike swam out to a rock that people were jumping off of. The area was recently filmed as part of the set for the new Narnia movie. 

What's Next?

We are now back in Auckland, preparing for take-off to Australia! Thankfully, the flooding seems to have subsided both here and in Oz. Since we found wwoofing to be so rewarding, we decided to spend part of our time in Australia doing another job. I sent some emails and found a good match, we will be living with a lovely young family in a cottage on 100 acres of eucalyptus, kangaroos, and wallabies. We are also looking forward to having fun with some familiar friends, exploring Sydney, and maybe getting a chance to see the Great Barrier Reef! We will write again soon.
 Love, Megan and Mike