Life on the Farm

Friday the 10th, we moved out of the Ponsonby Backpackers and started our life on the road. We stayed the weekend with Holly and Ryan, our Kiwi friends, in Holly’s parents’ house—a beautiful old Victorian place on a hill overlooking the bay north of Auckland. It proved an excellent base for further exploration of the area. We went on an unbelievable hike with Holly and Ryan along the west coast near a place called Bethell’s Beach. Unfortunately we forgot the camera (!), so if you’re curious you will have to Google the beach for a few images. We hiked along the cliffs above the water, on a path that varied between native bush and windswept pastures. From a small grassy perch overlooking the Pacific Ocean, we shared a great lunch of hummus sandwiches and banana chips. On our walk back, we befriended a sweet white horse who ate the remainder of our carrot sticks and let us pet his velvety-soft head.

The Smith's Beautiful Home

Later that night, back in Auckland, we were treated to our first game of Apples to Apples. We were previously unfamiliar with this American word game, but quickly became big fans. We played with some of Holly and Ryan’s friends, a hodgepodge group made up of Kiwis, a Canadian, and a couple of American travelers who were just passing through. We enjoyed the new pastime so thoroughly that we were enticed back for another round Sunday night after a quick game of 3-on-3 basketball in the park.

Basketball at the Park

The weekend also involved the discovery of the feijoa, a fruit that is new to us but as common as the apple to New Zealanders. The feijoa is about the size of a big lime or small lemon, with a hard, green rind and a soft, fleshy inside that you scoop out and eat with a spoon. It is delicious, as it tastes and smells almost exactly like sweet tart candies. We harvested several bags from the neighborhood and spent the afternoon on Sunday preserving the majority of them and making a feijoa crumble from the rest. Fantastic.

The Crew Processing Feijoas

On Monday, with the van all organized and set up as our home on wheels, we said goodbye to Holly, Ryan, Derwin (Holly’s brother), and Treize (the family dog) and left Auckland in search of greener pastures. Successfully navigating Motorway 1, we traveled along the east coast and made our way to our first wwoofing site. About an hour north of Auckland and a few miles southwest of Warkworth, we arrived at our new home, a restored turn of the century villa set among rolling green hills dotted with cows and sheep.

Our Kitchen/Dining/Lounging Area :)

Our New Home (Thanks to our wonderful hosts)

Our hosts greeted us with a tour around their beautiful property. We met the family, sheep (including several lambs), chickens, ducks and cows (from a distance). Then we put on our gummies and made our way through the glasshouse, garden and up to the new orchard where we’ll be spending the next few days planting native trees. After our tree-planting lesson, we went through the feeding schedule and got our first chance to bottle-feed the farm’s newest lambs. While our host directed us into position, much guidance was offered by our host’s four year-old daughter who was amazed that we’d never fed lambs before. After a short day’s work, we took a walk up the hill to get a better view of the area. For two desert rats like us, the valley’s beauty is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Imagine California’s wine country, mixed with upstate New York’s forest, growing in a Hawaiian climate.

The Cow Paddock

All said we have much to look forward to and even more to be thankful for.

Goodbye Tucson!

Our beloved plants (currently residing at Cait's house)

The past couple of months have sped by as we have packed up our lives and prepared to leave it all for a year. We've been busy trying to see friends and family -- balancing brunches, dinners and hikes with shopping, planning, and research. In some ways it's hard to think about leaving Tucson since we have such wonderful friends and family there. Luckily, driving all around town on errands in 90 degree weather, through nasty traffic and unfinished construction projects, has really helped ease those feelings of regret : )

Annetta did her part in reminding us how much we love our home by throwing a lovely goodbye dinner party last Friday.


When I got to her house in the afternoon to help cook, I was surprised by the thoughtful and creative decorations she had made for us the night before. All around the living room she had taped colorful paper cutouts reading: "Just a few things you might miss on your travels..."

(Note the purple elipses. A nice touch, I thought.)

Then to the right of the doorway were hand-drawn pictures of things we will miss, including Kino Bay, Tucson Meet Yourself, Hipster bikes, Day of the Dead, Tumamoc Hill, Monsoons, and more...


It was not all sad, though, as she ended her wall art with this message: "But they'll be here when you get back!"


So true. Thanks for the sweet send off, Annetta!

Thanks to the rest of you as well... Beth and Chris, good luck starting your big adventure. April and Javier, we wish you all the best this year. Bria and Gus, welcome to Tucson! Maya, good luck with nursing school, you'll do great. Emery and Chris, congratulations on the new addition to the family, you will be fantastic parents. Cait, thanks for babysitting the plants and we can't wait to see you in September! Annetta, may you come to love Tucson even more.
We will miss you all!!!

A good way to start the New Year...

It's a lovely rainy day and since I decided to take a sick day today I get to really enjoy it, instead of simply admiring it from glances stolen out my office window. Today is one of those days that make one think, "Hey, Tucson's not so bad. The weather here is amazing." How quickly one forgets the six-month long summer...

It was sufficiently chilly on New Year's Day when we headed to Mt. Wrightston for a hike, joining some friends who have turned this trek into an annual tradition. Originally we had talked about summiting, but you know how that goes. We all went to bed too late to jump up at the crack of dawn, so we didn't get to Madera Canyon until after 10am. Nonetheless, we still had the perfect amount of time for a comfortable hike to Josephine Saddle (through occasional patches of snow and ice), where we had a picnic lunch -- complete with boxed red wine and a shrimp plate -- before heading back down.

At Josephine Saddle

Sean's brother Nate with his ears aglow : )

A close up of one of the beautiful sycamores near the trailhead
~~~

The weather has been perfect for lazy weekend mornings on the porch. I love to sit and read while the sunlight streams in through the catclaw vines that cover the screens.

My favorite elements to this particular morning: drinking hot tea from my new, hand-painted, yellow mug; a steaming bowl of polenta; and the thick, snowflake covered, winter socks that keep my feet oh so warm.

A busy month

I see that my last post was on the first of this month. It's shocking how quickly this month has passed and how it felt like I had no time for blogging. I didn't just get behind on my own posts, I couldn't even find the time to check my friends'. I went home to visit my parents the first weekend in December and that visit launched a week-and-a-half long project that consumed every moment of my free time. I was busy creating my father's 60th birthday present, which I can't describe yet since his birthday isn't until Christmas day. While there is basically no chance of him getting on the internet and reading my blog (he's a serious technophobe), I wouldn't want anyone else to ruin the surprise.

The cool thing about this project is that it gave me the opportunity to scan a ton of my family's pictures, which means that I now have copies of some of my favorite photos. It also means that I may be including the occasional baby shot or other favorite in my posts...just for fun. Like this one:

This is my sister and me. I'm the little one : )

This month has also brought new developments in our spring plans. With our tickets purchased and our visas approved, we are ready to start making concrete decisions about our time in New Zealand. Our WWOOF member book arrived in the mail and we've been spending a good deal of time pouring over the descriptions of the different host situations. There are full blown, 100+ acre farms, B&Bs, lifestyle blocks (I need to research this, but I believe they are referring to intentional communities/communes), private homes with big gardens and orchards, etc., etc. I'm excited to start contacting some of these places and searching for the right place to begin our adventure.

One of the most thrilling features of the upcoming departure is my imminent resignation from my job. It has been the opportunity of a lifetime to work with such a diverse staff in a very interesting and dynamic field. That being said, I have discovered that life as a social worker in and underfunded non-profit does not exactly provide the spiritually uplifting environment that I naturally crave. Instead, I find that my efforts to help people are routinely thwarted by the endless bureaucratic red-tape in the state welfare system, health insurance companies, and the social security administration. I now fully understand that our country, and our state in particular, is not designed to provide any meaningful support to families or individuals struggling with poverty, mental illness, physical disabilities, and the like.

I desperately want to help the clients I work with, but encounter frustration at every turn. I feel terrible leaving the families that I currently serve, but at the same time I know that I cannot save them. I cannot lift them out of poverty or take away their pain; I can only give them the tools to be their own advocates and hopefully improve their chances of success. Now, I am not referring to success according to the modest middle class vision of owning a house and a couple of cars and someday retiring with enough money to send your kids to college and travel a little. No, I am referring to something much more basic: finding a job, keeping a roof over your head and food on the table. It may not sound like much, but when you come to America with no English, suffering from PTSD, and trying to weather an economic depression, it sounds like a miracle.

The refugees will always be with me. I'm sure I'll continue to hear Arabic in my dreams and I know I will never lose those memories: late night pick ups at the airport (AA flight 403), watching the television screen at the bottom of the escalator and straining to catch sight of that glossy white IOM bag, hot cardamom-spiced black tea, loading up the big green truck in a freezing downpour, speaking at a crowded Lutheran church service, staying at the office until 11pm to sort holiday gift donations, witnessing the reunion of a Somali family with long lost friends... My mind is flooded as I remember the past year and a half. Certainly my relief at leaving the job will be mixed with sadness.

The Holidays begin

Last week was all about family. On Thursday we drove to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with Sean's family, hosted by his oldest brother, Tighe. His other brother Nate and girlfriend April drove down from Flagstaff, and the Tucson clan (his sister Cait, grandmother Pat, mother Andrea, and uncle John) all went up as well to share the Thanksgiving feast and pass the night together.

His family is really into gourmet cooking, so the food was fantastic. The full spread is pictured above, and at the near end is Andrea's famous stuffing. I've never had anything like it. She makes it Santa Fe style with cornbread, chorizo, dried apricots and cherries. There was also a roasted winter vegetable medley with turnips, butternut squash and carrots, and excellent homemade cranberry sauce.

My new sisters April and Caitlin

The morning after Thanksgiving we drove back to Tucson and were at home just long enough to shower and put on fresh clothes before we drove to my grandparents' house for another Thanksgiving. This night differed from the one before in just a few aspects: there was no gourmet food, no sit-down dinner and really no mention of Thanksgiving at all. In fact, the night was more of an early Christmas than anything. Since the family would not be all together at Christmas, it was decided that we would celebrate early for the kids. It felt like a total time warp as we exchanged gifts while listening to Bing Crosby and drinking eggnog.

Everybody
(Well, almost. Of course we forgot to take the group picture until after a third of the people had already left.)

Me in some holiday bling with my grandma. She is a genius with bows for her X-mas presents and I happen to love putting on said bows during the unwrapping extravaganza.

Annetta came with us and received her first ever present from Santa : )
(A hand soap & lotion set, which she said she actually needed. How did he know...?)

At home at last, Sean and I spent Saturday cleaning the house and decorating for Christmas. It was my first glimpse of his amazing collection of antique tree ornaments and holiday decorations. It was a little overwhelming at first as I put my three ornaments in to the mix, but it turned out really lovely. Our first Christmas together!

The Huntington

Last weekend Sean and I flew to California to visit my Aunt Carmen and her family. The highlight of the trip was our tour of the Huntington Botanical Gardens and museum. Our second day in L.A., we borrowed my aunt's car and drove out to Pasadena. I had been there once when I was about 14 and remembered very little; my overall impression was of the cool, drizzly spring day and the expansive, manicured grounds. We had only spent a couple of hours, but the experience remained with me. So much so that when we decided to do this trip, my first thought was that we had to see the gardens. Sean, the eternal plant fanatic, was immediately sold on the idea.

The cool thing about the Huntington is that because of its location in temperate southern California they can grow just about everything, from cactus to tropical plants. Among other things, there is a Japanese garden, a huge rose garden, an herb garden, and a rain forest greenhouse. They also have eleven gorgeous acres of cactus and succulents that made Sean's face light up like a kid in a candy shop. (And if you know Sean at all, you know the truth in that comparison.)

A (bell?) pepper from the herb garden

There were thousands of varieties of roses, in every color imaginable. It kind of renewed my love of a flower that is usually dismissed as cliche.

Of all the new plants I learned that day, this was my favorite: The dragon tree. It's incredible. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but it's huge, and the canopy of the tree is composed of hundreds of agave-like clumps at the end of rounded arms. The most notable aspect of the tree is the sap, which bleeds red from the tree. That's right. Red.

In the rose garden

Breakfast for dinner

Note the only slightly misshapen heart pancake I made for Sean. If I had thought of it earlier I would have made them all into shapes, but it didn't occur to me until the very last one went on the griddle. Darn. Anyway, I made buttermilk pancakes for the first time and was thrilled with the restaurant quality results. So that's how they make those pancakes so light and springy! Now, the question of what to do with the rest of the buttermilk. As it turns out, they only sell buttermilk in quart-sized bottles. I already made a cake and pancakes and I still have half the bottle left. What am I supposed to do with all of it? When I was little I remember my mom used to drink the buttermilk that we would buy for special recipes. She claimed it was a Southern thing, a remnant from her grandparents' Kentucky origins.

I know this breakfast-dinner hybrid doesn't look like much, but this has been one of those weeks where I am proud to have pulled it together to make anything. It has not been overtly stressful... in fact I can't really even pinpoint what is making me tense. Work is busy, but no crises to speak of. Everything is great in the old homestead. Nevertheless, I keep catching myself clenching my jaw -- to the point that it has caused me jaw pain for several days now and, I believe, directly contributed to the migraine I had yesterday. (Emery, is this how it starts?!) No, I'm sure there's no TMJ here, just a deep need for a little vacation. Thank god it's almost Thanksgiving. Yay for federal holidays!

I have another picture that I wanted to post. It has nothing to do with food or aching joints, but I thought it was too cute to keep to myself:

Pobrecita Petrie. Is it wrong that this picture makes me smile?