Lani, Shiloh, and Aarla's Farm

It turns out that being ditched by our wwoofing host was a blessing in disguise. We decided to stay with a friend of a friend of someone we volunteer with (at the Alemany Farm) at their home in Ngatimoti (outside of Motueka). Good luck finding it on Google Earth. The first picture is of the general setting of the property and the second is of their house, which they built themselves.
The property is about 60 hectares (roughly 120 acres I think?) in all, but they don't use all of it. Some is native forest restoration. They grow probably 99% of their food, everything from apples to zucchini. Probably the most impressive was the fact that they had enough rye and other grains to bake bread almost every day (even challah for Shabbat!). They grow around 25 varieties of apples, along with plenty of other fruits. The first day we were there they were pressing the fruits for juice. On the second day Natalie helped pasteurize and bottle the juice which they will drink throughout the year. They use a composting toilet, have a water wheel and solar paneling for electricity (which they use very little of), and make their own baskets and candles from things on their property.
We felt very blessed to have been taken in for three nights with no expectation of having to work or help out in any way, even though we did contribute a few hours of field hoeing. It was an impressive example of how to live your life with very little impact on the environment, and was exactly what (Dave) was looking for in a New Zealand farm experience. There is so much to tell we can't begin to write it all here, so feel free to ask us all about it when you talk to us. For now it's back to the tourist track, so we'll post more mountains, rivers, oceans, and maybe even something from our wine-beach-sunset photo set soon!