Winter Wwoofing at Earthstead
by Lance Riley
Debbie and I are having an amazing time here at Earthstead! The Osmond family has been wonderful and we have truly learned a lot about sustainable living. And we’ve definitely gotten more exercise than we would lazing the summer away in hot Taiwan! We teach at an international school in Taiwan and spending our time WWOOFing at Earthstead here in New Zealand has been the perfect summer – (well, winter!) – getaway.
Hauling Earth Bricks
In our second week at Earthstead, two young men from France arrived (Alexandre and Sylvan) and we all got started on a week-long project moving Earth Bricks. Earthstead contains two luxury accommodations, the Cob Cottage and the Earthouse, which have been built and designed by the Osmonds with help from other WWOOFers through the years. Both of these houses have been built using sustainable, ecologically friendly building materials and practices. There are plans for future building projects at Earthstead, and so there are 8,000 Earth Bricks in storage. With direction from the rangatiras (the Osmond team “chieftains” – Dave and Alistair) we undertook the task of moving three long rows of Earth Bricks from an outside location to a more sheltered location under the shed roof.
A large set of bricks was positioned on wooden pallets outside, and each time we cleared a pallet and relocated the resident bricks to 
the growing tower in the shed we definitely felt a sense of achievement!
Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, the large truck we were using to transport the bricks the short distance from the outside pallets to the interior shed got stuck in the mud – due to the recent rainy weather and also due to the heavy bricks weighing the truck down even more. No problem! We simply paused in our brick hauling and got behind the truck – and with Dave at the wheel, we pushed that large beast of a truck out of the muck and sent it on its way. Let me tell you, moving those bricks is an AWESOME workout – my muscles were definitely tired but happy at the end of each day and I slept like a log. Debbie is using this week of heavy brick lifting to condition and prepare herself for her big Arm Wrestling Extravaganza with Alistair coming up on Monday of next week…stay tuned!
Winter Gardening
In the afternoons, Debbie and I have spent a bit of time with Suzie planting a winter garden. This has involved weeding, hoeing, and clearing the remnants of the old garden away – during which I was excited to find several lovely and reasonably large potatoes hidden beneath the Earth – which we had for dinner on Thursday. This week, with the earth freshly turned over, we began the task of planting the new garden. This involved (of course) planting seeds and young sprouts, but also setting up little net “barriers” to keep the pesky pukekos away from the new garden arrivals.
Here’s Debbie, planting some garlic in the garden, with the green “pukeko proof” netting that she carefully wove together to protect some sort of green leafy vegetables.
Debbie and I picked through several large garlic bulbs that had been hanging out to dry, and from these bulbs we managed to extricate 50 well-formed, quite large garlic cloves, which were promptly planted in the ground by Suzie and Debbie.
Avalance!!
Late Friday afternoon, Suzie and I took off down to the woods on the Osmond property near the small Mangawhero Creek that borders their land. We lugged along a wheelbarrow containing two young Nikau Palm trees.
The Nikau Palm is the only palm species native to New Zealand, so this holds special significance as the Osmonds are doing an amazing job populating their property with many native species of plants and trees. There is a section of their woods that contains only native trees, so we headed to this section and spent some time scoping out a good location for these two Nikaus. I loved it in these woods, as it reminded me of tromping through the woods as a youth in Alabama. New Zealand is a gorgeous, idyllic paradise – but most of it is rolling green hills with well-maintained farmland. It was wonderful being in some wild, unruly woods again, surrounded by native New Zealand trees. I dug in the dirt a bit, clearing away some determined blackberry bushes, and then I began digging holes for the palm trees.
Unfortunately, I got a little overzealous in my digging – I got so wrapped up in shoveling out the dirt that I starting tossing large clods of dirt down the hill, where Suzie was busy transplanting some ferns. She politely and amusedly alerted me to my “avalanche” of dirt that was toppling down on top of her, and I felt mortified, apologized, and quickly adjusted my shoveling in a more controlled manner. My nickname is now “AvaLANCE!”
Memories to Last a Lifetime
Life on the Earthstead farm has been an incredibly rewarding experience. In our days working outside I feel I’ve established a rhythm that is definitely not the same as my regular day job. It is a deep, almost primal connection that is immensely fulfilling. Just as important – our evenings with the Osmond family and fellow WWOOFers have been filled with laughter, intelligent conversations, and a growing camaraderie and ease that is uniquely special. This is an experience that will resonate with Debbie and me for years to come. Thank you Osmond Team! Best of luck in your future projects and may your Earthstead dreams become reality.
Welcome Message from Earthstead Wwoof Hosts Suzie and Alistair
Here at Earthstead, we are privileged to have some of the finest young people from all over the world helping us with the earthbuilding and organic gardening and farming. Our Aacommodation is luxurious and gorgeous, but the building journey towards these beautiful villa accommodations has been paved with lots of sweat, dreaming, and can do attitude. Jake, a *WWOOFer who worked with us in the spring of 2010 put together this video for us, and helped us. Thanks, Jake.
We are so thankful to the hundreds of WWOOFers who have helped out and shared the journey and dream that is Earthstead, we still have a long way to go, and look forward to hosting many more WWOOFers. You can check our our page on the wwoof website here.
* WWOOF New Zealand is part of a world wide community that promotes awareness of ecological farming practices by providing volunteers with the opportunity to live and learn on organic properties. WWOOF is an enjoyable, educational, and safe way to explore and get to know the people in the country.