Gardenstone

We are WWOOFing at Gardenstone, a 180 acre farm in Dannevirke on the North Island this week. It's such a lovely place to be. Most of the land is devoted to a dairy farm with about 250 cows. A tanker truck comes each day to haul away the milk to be processed into milk powder, cheese, and other milk products.

A B&B house and cottage, gardens, and an event hall (designed for weddings and other outdoor events) takes up about 10 acres. This area is working to keep the farm self-sustainable. The garden is huge with every vegetable that you can think of. Yesterday I was weeding around the corn, asparagus, chives, and strawberries. I cut back the grape vines and Corey dug up the broccoli plants. Next to the garden is the chook (or chicken) house/pen. We have fresh eggs everyday and tomorrow we are killing and plucking 3 roosters (Mike is doing the killing, Lyn, Corey, and I are doing the plucking). And next to the chook house is the pig pens. The day we arrived at Gardenstone, Lyn had one of the pigs slaughtered and was working all day to butcher the meat. So we've been having fresh pork and bacon! And next to the pigs are the donkeys. Not sure how they come into play with the self-sustainability, but they are fun to watch!

The event area is beautiful! A large wooden covered stage area was decked out for a wedding that took place the day before we arrived. The place is wonderfully landscaped with fruit trees everywhere. It brought back memories of my family's old Fremont house when we picked plums right from the tree to eat! There is even a labyrinth grass area that is fun to work your mind at. And there is even a bush walk that you can explore! It's amazing and just a magical place.