Rambling thoughts from Thames & the Valley...

Unlike the rest of the volunteers I made the "smart" decision to walk down the mountain into town...in other words a good 2 hour walk where the steepness of the trail left my brain rattling against my skull, but the views of the stream cutting the canyon walls, the exotic rainforest plants of every shape and color green imaginable lining my walk and the blistering sun beating down on my neck made the trek worthwhile. I got into downtown Thames around 10am and was greeted by the usual hustle and bustle of the saturday morning market place where vendors were selling anything from organic, hippie, tree-hugging soaps, lotions and spices and your typical antique dealers, to your meat pies, lamp chops and mounds of sweets. Inside I was beaming at the thought that as I mindlessly strolled down the colorful awning lined streets that I was blending in with the locals--a real kiwi, yet only to have that dream cut short when I realized the huge LAX to AUCK airport tag I had on my backpack was freely flowing in the wind for all to see. Let me back track a little...I have had two full days of working out in the field. The last couple of days have been filled with "releasing the trees" in other words it's a nice way of tricking innocent volunteers into thinking you are about to engage in some sort of religious rebirthing experience, setting the little trees back into the wild...well, not quite it was more like a bunch of weeding and mulching, but you do have to admit calling it "releasing" does have a nice ring to it, eh? So between weeding and mulching a good hundred chestnut trees in the morning we headed back to the bunkhouse for lunch. Let me just say never in my life have I cooked like I'm cooking here...we're talking two hour meal prep time for both lunch and dinner. Cooking here is a real ordeal...without an oven and only solar power and wind power running the kitchen you have to be rather resourceful and creative when concocting different recipes...and making them completely vegetarian and able to meet the different dietary requirements of 7 other people as well, doesn't help make the job any easier. In the afternoons so far we have been working in the orchards picking fresh zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, apples, oranges, tomatoes, etc. and gathering up eggs from the chickens and clipping their wings, as well as tiding up the general area. Being in the orchards has brought back memories of my days working on the organic farms in Ohio...although these orchards are on a much smaller scale in size, yet somehow manage to have more chicken, geese and duck poop than thought humanely possible. Somehow all of the other volunteers remain fairly clean all things considered yet I continue to come back night after night caked in mud, crap and with random bits of twigs and leaves in my hair and thistle galore all over my clothes--what a gift I have, I know...thanks mom and dad. The supposed gossip or backstory behind the valley is that Jon (the 6'8 bearded founder) and Dagma (Miss Frazzle, the german cofounder) had been a serious item for a good 8 years while they started up the Tararu valley sanctuary only for them to breakup, Jon to start dating a young 20 something volunteer (although Jon's off the market he wasn't jewish anyways, so don't be too sad mom.) While Dagma spent a year travelling met some local kiwi a couple of months ago aka Mike (the buff asian man) who quit his job as a high paying architecht and came to live at the sanctuary...talk about quite the interesting love triangle. After I finish a couple more errands around town I'll be headed back to the valley for dinner. Later this evening we will head back in to Thames where I will get my first real taste of kiwi nightlife, wish me luck or at least a "cheers!"