AMERICARNA

Feb 25th, 2010

AmeriCARna happens once a year in New Zealand. And we just so happened to be in Opunake the day over 700 American made cars roared into the sleepy little surf town and overtook the beach cove, their first stop on the North Island. As we drove into town that morning, we noticed the red, white, and blue balloons and streamers hanging from the lamp posts, the American flags lining the Surf Highway 45, and the people setting up along the road in front of their houses and figured something was up. After talking to some of the spectators, we were told that alot of these cars are shipped over from the U.S for the event. They drive all over the country, and they are heading south (just like us!). Anyway, we had to go check it out. Here are some of the pictures from the event...just another American cultural export!

CONUNDRUM OF A CONCIOUS CONSUMER

At the end of our daylight hours, we cook dinner and eat with Simon. Simon is surprisingly lively after working such a long day, and is always jazzed to talk with us. Our dinner conversations usually revolve around tourism, agri-policy, and their property. Simon had an organic farm in Ireland (he’s kiwi), where he sold his produce and supplied a restaurant there. He was certified organic for three years, then decided not to pay for the certification but still adhere to organic growing principles. They purchased the Wheturangi Homestead almost two years ago and are converting it to organic. They haven’t used any sprays since they took over and things seem to be sprouting up just fine. As in the U.S, it takes about three years to convert to organic certification status in New Zealand. Although Simon and Maria want to be able to live off their land, and maybe sell produce here and there, they do not have any plans to go through the certification process.
Before the introduction of man-made chemicals into the food supply, all food grown was organic. Now, foods grown or processed with chemical aides are called “conventional”, and the old fashioned way of growing food is called “organic”. For livestock to be called “organic”, they have to be fed an organic diet and not depend on the aide of antibiotics or hormones. Organic certification exists to distinguish those products that adhere to organic standards (generally, grown without chemical aides) and those that do not.
Organic foods are on the rise. Here in New Zealand, we have not come across Whole Foods-type super markets. I don’t think they exist here. For the most part, the only place you can get all organic food is in small, independently owned food stores that specialize in organics (and they are usually pretty expensive). However, since the industrialization of some organic goods (mostly milk, cereal, and corn products) they are readily available in the local supermarkets. Organic products are in higher demand than they were in the past, and therefore are attracting more producers. But can organic sustain the large scale?
Consider the ingredients of simple corn chips. If the organic corn is shipped from the U.S, and the organic oil used to cook the chips comes from New Zealand, and the product is sold in New Zealand, is it really organic? That corn had to be shipped over 7,000 miles. Consider the emissions required for that, especially when all of the components could have been grown in New Zealand. Peanuts are another good example of unnecessary food miles, at least here in New Zealand. We have been hard pressed to find organic nuts, or nut butters (which, I’m ashamed to admit, have been a staple in the diets of these two travelers) that did not come from China. This fact floors me even more when I look through the WWOOF book of possible hosts and at least half of them harvest nuts from their property. The label usually reads “made from local and imported ingredients”. Which really translates as 98% importe7 (nuts), 3% local (oil).
So, should my two examples of corn chips and peanut butter (they taste good together, by the way) really be considered organic? What does organic even mean? Is it enough just to know that the workers who harvest and produce organic goods, anywhere in the world, were not exposed to harmful chemicals? Would you choose to buy local conventional over imported organic? For the conscious consumer, these are very real questions. And judging by the increased popularity of organic products, and the supply and demand of food products in general, most of us are conscious consumers.

PICTURES AS PROMISED

Well, the batteries in the digi-camera mysteriously powered up enought to take a few shots...the first and last pictures are of the property we are living on. The second is of Kris weeding the veggie garden with a fork, and the third is of Molly. Enjoy!

WWOOF STAY IN URENUI

Feb 21st, 2010
We arrived at our next WWOOF stay in the rain, again. We are situated on a 10 acre lifestyle block (what the kiwis call a small farm, usually for personal use) a few kilometers inland from the coast among native bush. The Whangaru Homestead, it is called, is owned by a kiwi couple, Maria and Simon, along with their 1 yr old Australian terrier named Molly. We wake up to the rooster and all day we hear cicadas humming and their six Hereford cattle mooing. The cattle are especially vocal lately because Maria and Simon just added three calves, but the mooing really blends into the background. Maria is away for a few days organizing a cheese making class and Simon works 12 hr days as a seismic driller, so our calling was perfect timing for them!
This property is beautiful and quiet and just far enough away not to be too far from town. The town of Urenui is about 5km away and we are about 45 min from the nearest city, New Plymouth. Everything you could want is grown, or can grow, here. They recently discovered alot of clay here so Maria and Simon are researching earth houses. They also have plans to build a pizza oven with the clay and to host pizza-making courses here.
Our days consist of feeding the chooks (chickens), feeding Molly (who is a constant source of entertainment for both of us), weeding the veggie garden (the quintessential WWOOFer duty because weeding takes virtually no experience and always needs to be done; it can be meditating), harvesting veggies for the roadside stand (which is monitored by an honesty box), weed-eating along the roadside fence (one of the weed-eaters malfunctioned yesterday, leaving Kris to finish up while I moved on to other things), mowing the lawn (nothing worth parenthesizing about here, just pushing a lawnmower really), looking for surf (most days), and making dinner while Maria is away (Kris made delicious hamburgers last night using ground beef, or mince, from one of their cows slaughtered just outside on the paddock). And typing. All this amounts to about 5 hrs per day (minus looking for surf).
The expected work for a WWOOFer is between 4-6hrs/day, but even that is flexible depending on weather and need. This summer has been unusually wet and we have been working later in the day when the ground has dried out a little. Because we are in the trees, it is cooler here than when we stay closer to the coast. This morning is cool and calm and perfect for getting some reading/writing done.

Our digi-camera is out of batteries and we have yet to get film developed so pics will follow soon, but check Kris's blog (www.newsurfdialogue.com...it rocks!) for more pics. I think managed to snap a few of this place.

TOWED AGAIN

Feb 17th, 2010
The rains keep coming, but have tapered off to a slow drizzle. We are still coming up short on surf or WWOOF stays on the east side so we decided to move west to the Taranaki region. We both need a shower and a change of scenery anwyay. We stopped along the way to call a few potential WWOOF stays and one was able to host us! It is so strange that we have been on a lush island where sheep outnumber people, and we cannot find surf, fresh fish, or lamb meat (but plenty of ocean chop, fried fish, and beef).
The highway around Mt. Taranaki follows the coast about 2km away from it, so there are no ocean views. On our first impression, the rain clouds hung so low there weren't many views of anything except fog! Pretty much every road you can take toward the coast will lead you there, so we turned on a couple to check out the surf. One road lead to a gated end so we turned around. And the van got stuck, spinning out on a slight slope covered in wet grass! This seemed like a perfectly fine place to turn our hunk-o-junk around, and would have been if it were not wet (or if it had an ounce of power). We were in front of a house so I walked up to see if I could use the phone (we have AA coverage, kind of like AAA). The door was open and the place was cluttered with trinkets and lace. A little terrier started barking before I could knock and was followed by a lean, middle aged man limping on a prosthetic leg with a large scar in the middle of his forehead. He quickly told me, with forced annoyance, that he’d seen us get stuck and that he had no phone, no cell phone, no tow rope and couldn’t help because of his leg. I said OK, no problem, sorry to bother you, and headed back to the car, but he had more to say. “And that’ll teach’ya for drivin’ all crazy!” Followed by other choice phrases. Whatever, this was the last yokel we wanted to deal with. Then he follows with, “Rodney might help you, he lives next door.” I thanked him for the tip and went next door. Rodney was just waking up after a "late-night" and his wife let us use her cell phone to call AA. Rodney was more accommodating than his neighbor, even excited to help because he just bought a little RAV-4, the 2-door kind, and wanted to see what it could do. That little thing was just enough to pull our piece-of-shit van out and get us back on the road. And then the freaky neighbor yelled at us again to stop drivin’ all crazy-like. Rodney offered us to clean up at his place, but we needed to press on. Many thanks to another kiwi savior!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Feb 15th, 2010
We have now moved south to Mahia Penninsula to wait for another WWOOF stay. We contacted a couple places, but they were full and suggested we call back next week. So we figured we’d surf and study. Mahia is rarely without surf because the peninsula picks up swell from most directions, except for this weekend. We have been in the famed Mahia for two days now and in addition to choppy seas and high winds, it looks like a storm is making its way toward us. Today, we decided to drive about a half an hour east to Wairoa where we found a library to study in and power up the laptop. Because we are often without power, we have re-discovered hand-writing which is great because you can do it anytime. Reminds me of elementary school, hand cramps and all! We contacted a WWOOF stay in the Taranaki region on the west coast so looks like we are headed cross-country…
Still, at this point in our journey about the only fresh fish we have found is offered fried. Although we found some delicious fish & chips in Gisborne area, one can only eat so much fried fish; I think we have reached our limit for a while.

Here are a few pictures of Mahia. (sorry, can't figure out how to add captions to them. For now, I will just describe the pics at the end of my posts.)

LAST DAYS ON THE EAST CAPE

Feb 11th, 2010
Just as we were set to move along from Waipare Homestead, Kris and I got another WWOOFing opportunity on a vineyard close by, so we stayed in the area for an extra 5 or so days. Louia and the girls went to Auckland for the week so we opted to stay at the homestead and keep Scrubbs company. We really had a blast with Scrubbs, and the surf picked up for a couple of days! The three of us would wake up with a surf, go to the vineyard for 5 hours, eat, meet back up with Scrubbs for another surf, and then cook up a nice dinner.
The vineyard work consisted of moving down the rows clearing excess leaves to allow sunlight to get to the fruit and prepare for the application of bird nets. The job was fast-paced and our time passed rather quickly, but it sure made for rough, sore hands. In hindsight we should have asked for gloves. In all my years serving and drinking wine, I’ve never been to a vineyard so we welcomed the opportunity to help out for a couple days.
The vineyard produced merlot, chardonnay and muscat grapes. The muscat is organic and the others are simply no-spray. The owners would like to keep the option of applying a fungicide when molding occurs, a fairly common affliction among vineyards in this area. Because this was a short-term commitment (we worked the vineyard for 3 days), under pressure (they wanted to get the bird nets on pronto), there was not a lot of opportunity to ask questions. Although one morning Kris and I were driving in and saw a helicopter spraying crops over what looked like the vineyard, so we had to ask about their practices because we did not want to spend the day showered in pesticide. The copter was spraying a couple farms away, but being an airborne application I can’t help but wonder what if a big wind was to blow? Wouldn’t that spread the stuff on to other farms? (Note: I am only guessing that the spray was toxic.)

First WWOOF stay in Anaura Bay

Feb 3, 2010
We arrived at our first WWOOF stay in the rain. And it continued to rain for three days straight. The road was washed out after the first day of rain and the rivers rose beyond their limits. If the rain had continued another day, there would have been full-on floods. Our first morning brought some work though. The rains uprooted a tree (very strange to see, it was a live tree on flat ground) on the property which blocked the path to the orchard. The moisture also weighed down a trellis into the flower garden. So we had a lot of trimming and hauling to do the past few days.
The property we stay on is called Waipare Homestead in Anaura Bay. It was built in the 1880s by Colonel Porter who married a Maori princess. It is now owned by Scrubbs and Louia Blakeney with their two teenage daughters, Juliet and Honey Lee, a handful of cats, two dogs named Lady and Bum Bum, and a rabbit that died while we were there. The homestead feels like it has really grown into the land. The roof needs to be replaced, but the structure of the main house is solid. It is made of kaui wood which is a soft wood, but the house feels surprisingly solid. There are modern out houses and showers for us to use and surf breaks in the bay out in front of the house, that is, when there is surf. Because of the heavy rains, the shorelines are lined with drift wood and sea-plants and the waters are muddy. It looks like they’re made of chocolate…if only! But Anaura Bay looks cleaner than the other beaches we’ve seen along the coast. The weather is clearing up today and we’ll have more hauling and clearing to do over the next couple days.
This WWOOF stay is more like visiting a friend and helping out around the house. The garden is barely producing right now, but I imagine at one time it was quite productive and tended to. The orchard has a variety of apples, peaches and avocados and some mornings we drink tea from kawa kawa leaves which are abundant here. Every inch of his property has history, including the hosts. Scrubbs is a kiwi. He used to be an accountant in London, but retired at 30 and soon after became a New Zealand film producer, most notably for the film Utu. Now he is on the school board and loves to surf. Louia is a Maori mamma who loves surfers and rock’n roll. She is very involved with motivating local youth. Their two teenage daughters are obsessed with make-up and clothes, and are hilarious. They have been hosting WWOOFers for 15 years, and prefer to call them ‘visitors’. Everyday brings something new here, and the only schedule is that there is no schedule. Generally, guests and residents sleep when they want, eat when they want and play when they want. Unless Louia needs something done around that house, and even that is flexible. But there are always hands to help out. Currently, we are two of three visitors. We plan to leave by the end of the week because, really, we’d like to move on to more commercial farming. But it’s been nice to wait out the rains here and have had some great conversation with some of New Zealand’s knowledgeable locals.

PICS: Waipare Homestead from two angles, Kris and I working on the fallen tree, Anaura Bay

TOWED (this has nothing to do with food)

Jan 29th, 2010
Still no surf in Gisborne. We’ve had some bad car juju, but the engine seems fine. The day after we bought it in Auckland we got towed, the trunk lock started giving us trouble and we have tried about 80 different ways to put up curtains, with plenty of help and little success. Last night we tood a road that led to a marine reserve to park for the night. And got stuck in the sand. We tried for about 2 hrs to dig it out, which only seemed to help the van fall deeper. We tried jamming flat pieces of wood around the tires for traction, which didn’t work that well.

Covered in sand, I decided to put on my walking shoes and go for help when suddenly we saw headlights coming our way (it was dusk at this point). “Y’oll roight thea?” said the man in a big truck with a Department of Conservation logo on the side. “A little stuck.” I replied. “I know! I’ve been watching you from the camera.” He points to the top of the bluff and sure enough, there was a small camera on top of a long pole pointed straight at us. The man’s name was Jamie, a curly haired Kiwi who monitors the marine reserve via the camera for the DOC with his equally curly haired dog, who’s name I couldn’t understand. I imagined him and his cronies watching a monitor taking bets on our fate. “Saw yous diggin’, took dog out for a wok, came back and yous stull thea! I’ll tow y’aut! He says with a happy voice. (By the way, I’m trying my best to convey the Kiwi accent)

The towing process took a while. We broke 2 tow ropes, Jamie almost got stuck himself, and he had to go home for stronger rope. On the final pull, Jamie really went for it. Kris was behind the wheel and I was supervising the scene. Our van was hoisted out of the ditch. It fish-tailed and tipped onto the right two wheels, then flopped over on the left two wheels before it bounced to a stop. Our heavy van, which was barely budging out of the sand pit, all of the sudden looked like a feather in the wind. Kris got out of the car and I tried not to look totally freaked out. “I was not expecting that,” he said. We were out of the ditch, thanks to our Kiwi savior, and it only cost $20 to fix the bumper. I wish I got pictures after this, but our stuff shifted around so much that I couldn't find my camera.

The next day we received word from a couple of WWOOF stays. We have one set for mid-Feb so we will look for a place to take us short notice until then.