shearing sheep and butchering trees

[first, thanks to everyone who sent me some sort of a happy birthday wish :)

thoughts on turning 20 (and not 21 like most of my friends are this year):
it is going to be strange to be able to drink here and then have to go back to the states where i can't
my excuse of "being just a teenager" no longer works when i do something idiotic
but at the same time, i am quite quite happy not to be a teenage anymore]

i didn't spend my brithday on some remote peak in doubtful sound as was the original plan. a huge horrid storm hit the west coast this weekend and so the trip got cancelled. a big group of us were keen to get away anyways and just try to avoid the horrid weather, so at 1 pm on friday afternoon, we threw together a basic trip to the two thumbs range, east of the main divide and mt. cook (so hopefully no rain), and left around 6. now if that isn't last minute planning, i don't know what is.

we're set to do a picture exchange tomorrow during happy hour, so hopefully i will post pictures from this weekend sometime later this week.

but! i have pictures from my farmstay for today.

butler (i.e. the program i came through) organised "a country life weekend" for all of us, where we divided up into groups of four or so and went to stay at a farm in central otago, to get an idea of what farm life is like. a good idea i think, considering that there are 40 million sheep and 4 million people in new zealand.

my group was four girls total: me, avery (a girl from bc), samma, and ralynn. we stayed at a tiny tiny little farm near balclutha - about 40 acres and only 150 sheep [some people were at farms with over 10000 sheep, so yes, this one was quite small). barbara and louis have owned the place for 28 years and are both retired school teachers, so the farm is basically a side project for them. louis is quite obviously an ex-science teacher - he was constantly telling us random facts and having us try new things and play with fire and the electric fences.

it was a pretty good weekend (not as good as butler had hyped it up to be, but still, quite nice to get out of dunedin and spend a fairly relaxing weekend at a real home with comfy beds and good food and company).

the first night, louis took us out on a tractor for a tour of the farm and let us fire his shotgun. i'd never fired a gun before, so i was pretty excited. and he talked to us about the dynamics of running a farm. obviously, with only 150 sheep, this farm is tiny, but at the same time, louis was able to give us a good idea of what the business is like. it sounds like a really difficult business - a ton of work goes into shearing sheep, for example, but you don't get much money for it. not to mention all the little political things between the government and farmers.

their farm is built onto a hill with fantastic views of the clutha river:





and what is a farm without a ridiculous looking pig?



[if you look closely, you can see that this guy has teeth sticking out of the side of his mouth, horizontal to the ground]


and ducks?



[such fun to feed. there was also one, solitary nanny goose that watched over her horde of ducks]


louis has also planted pines in areas of his farm to sell - as firewood and planks for construction. we helped to "kill and butcher a tree" - by using chainsaws to cut it down and then chop it up. i tried splitting wood with an ax and barely even made a dent. using a splitter is so, so much easier.





[actually doing work]


and the sheep! so stupid and yet so fun. it really just made me laugh to watch them run around and remember "mutton bustin'" from the tucson rodeo - the little kids with their helmets trying to ride sheep. hahaha. (and that might just be a tucson thing.....)





[look at those bangs]


[the poor sheep looks dead ... being shorn does not look like a fun business]


all in all, it was a pretty good weekend.