Wwoofing in Gore...

Hey all,

It's Monday here and I wanted to shoot a quick note that we've started our first Wwoofing experience in Gore, South Otago Region. WWOOF is the acronym for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and we're on a 3000 acre sheep and cattle farm named Marama Organics (www.maramaorganics.co.nz) with Graham Clarke. We arrived on Saturday and were surprised to find Graham out in Dunedin watching his son play in a cricket match for the day. Luckily, farm-hand Walter, a nice guy who started as a Wwoofer from Austria, showed us around and got us settled.

So far, we're diving into work here, a combination of our feeling the need to do work and the fact that there's plenty to do here! I've put my quasi-carpentry skills to work and Janwyn was pleased to find a vacuum and has thus far very much enjoyed the opportunity to make things sparkle and shine (surprise, right!). We'll turn our attention to the vegitable garden, Graham's admitted non-interest leaves lot's to do there. However, the region's getting some much needed rain, so we're focussing today on things to do in the dry indoors. Graham's also asked us to provide some much-needed Marketing and Business knowledge, which we're beginning to dole out, including an intriguing Japanese "Adopt a sheep" program. Definately an interesting consideration!

We'll be here for the balance of the week and it's very nice to both be relaxed regarding our travel and dig into some genuine work for a change of pace.