Forgoing much of my previously planned itinerary, I took up the invitation from one of the guys I met in Fiji to come help out on his family's sheep farm near Christchurch in exchange for room and board. So here I am on quite a large farm near the town of Rangiora, about 40 minutes drive from Christchurch proper.

 

Today was my first day at the farm and I learned that you are not supposed to put gumboots on like proper shoes. Instead, you stuff your pants down inside them so you look like the model example of a fashion no no (or, more accurately, how we dressed in the 80s with those tight pants that went on underneath our calf high poofy socks). It really makes a whole lot of sense, given that the entire point of wearing gumboots is to keep your feet and pants dry and as mud free as possible. This I learned under the stern gaze of Carolyn, the farm's matriarch, who really isn't stern at all but certainly felt that way when she said "are you kidding" to how I put on my boots the first time.

 

Carolyn also taught me how to drive an ATV and I managed to reverse it and hook up a trailer on the first try. Fancy that!

 

From today, I gather that my duties on the farm include letting the sheepdogs out of their kennels, feeding the chickens, and cleaning out the old farmhouse nearby the main house site. I managed to clean the entire house today, a task that involved several hours of good hard scrubbing on the linoleum floor that had been used as a feeding place for baby cows, meaning that it was caked with a layer of dried mud. Who knew that the linoleum underneath is a nice shade of pastel pink!

 

My favorite part of the farm, other than riding around the fields and the 1000 sheep and herd of cows in the ATV, is of course the kitchen. I follow Carolyn around and learn recipes from her that her mother used to make or that she learned from friends. She is the perfect source for recipes because she measures everything precisely and keeps track of her cooking. I got a great recipe for bean and rice salad and a cookie recipe that her mother used to make when she was a kid.

 

The farm is huge, beautiful green pastures separated by wooden fences and bordered by stands of trees. After work, I entertained myself by watching sheep. Or, more accurately, by watching the sheep watch me. They have this uncanny way of suddenly looking at you, the whole flock all at once. And then one turns around to run away and the rest follow in that waddling sort of run that is distinctly sheepy.

 

I think that in store for tomorrow is house painting and cooking some Chinese food for the family. Mom, those sesame noodles are making a comeback!