wow, so i have been a terrible blogpostcaid! so much has happened that it seems silly to go back a month and a half - to a whole different DECADE, so i will start from today. right now.

i am at gilly and greg's again (hooray!) after a wonderful whirlwind trip with katherine and jodi that took us all across and up and down the south island to christmas with carolyn's magnificent family to new year's with someone who speaks welsh (who speaks welsh?!) to beaches in a sandstorm to sunsets and moonrises to the north island to a 20 km day hike up and down a windy active volcano to laughter and finally to exhaustion. now meta is here visiting and she and robin have flown to the south island for the weekend as i house sit for gilly and greg and feed all of the animals (dogs, cats, piglets, baby cows, horses, chickens. the sheep fend for themselves).

life as a wwoofer is still amazing and is teaching me so much. i am humbled every day by how much there is to know. for some reason, i had been under the ghastly assumption that learning could only take place in buildings called "college." how mistaken i have been, as i have learned more in these past four months than i did in four years at university.

a few days ago i looked down at myself and couldn't help but laugh and be oh so grateful. i was holding a dying hedgehog (or at least we think he was dying) in my left hand, had an armload of squash and zucchini all the size of my calf in my right, had scrapes on my knee from going snorkeling the week before, and had scratches on my thighs from moving bales of hay before i learned to wear pants. life still feels so full and productive.

for lunch today i made a vegetable stir fry with green and purple broccoli, carrots, turnips, beets, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and beans all from the garden i helped to build. it is so satisfying eating almost completely from nothing but your own sweat, sunshine, rain, and a little bit of time.

it is raining in auckland right now, and boy, do we need it. there are cracks in the dry ground that i can stick a pencil in. i had noticed this in ghana and again am reminded of it here, how rain takes on a different connotation to populations that grow their food for either their livelihood or hobby. rain isn't a dreadful waste of a day, but rather it is the life-giving force that all plants and animals need to thrive. ghanaians, although weary of their rainy season, taught me to be always grateful for rain and having a farm life in new zealand has reinforced that.

the other nice thing about the rain is that it makes such lovely music on top of gilly and greg's tin roof that it drowns out the unwelcome cacophony of the bellowing hungry calves and the two noisy roosters. AND it makes the lilies smell even better than they usually do, so much so that i can smell them all the way inside at the computer.

cheers, rain! drink up!

love,
maggie

robin put up oodles of pictures from katherine and jodi's visit and christmas and fun things. i would promise a blog post soon, but it's not polite to promise things i maybe can't give!

love,
maggie