Tauroa Farm & Christmas

It was a pretty eventful 3 weeks at Tauroa considering the fact that I only left the farm twice. Once to go to the doctor because I was suffering from an agonizing full body rash (from toxic shellfish) and once on the night before I left to see a movie at an outdoor cinema. Other than that, I spent my days tending to my boiling skin rash, and cooking for the "family" since I couldn't go out in the sun....or else I would swell up even more than I already was. Sounds lovely, I know.


Heather (from Vermont) is the owner of the farm (Tauroa is a certified organic farm) and I worked with 2 other wwoofers that I became great friends with. Christmas was very different, mostly because it was hot out, and there wasn't a single Christmas decoration to be found in either our house or the house down the road that we had Christmas dinner at. That was Nick and Ana's family. Ana is a Naturopath so she hooked me up with load of herbs, etc to help heal and cleanse my body...I was very lucky to have her.


Christmas day Nick and Ana had a house full of family members (plus 3 wwoofers) and for dinner we had roast chicken and turkey (from the farm of course) and lots of roasted and steamed vegetables....nothing complex, just simple vegetables. Pudding (desert) was amazing. Fruit tarts, custard pudding and wine, wine, wine.

Christmas in the Sun

Just wanted to let you all know that I'll be at Tauro Farm for Christmas. The website is www.tauroatrust.com if you want to check out the place, I can't yet upload any photos, but it's wonderful here. 

It's all run by a wonderful woman, Vermont native, Heather, and always has plenty of other wwoofers around. I've spent the last 2 weeks with 2 other girls, one from Sweden and the other from France. We've had a great time together and looks like it'll be a Girls Christmas! There is a Naturopathic doctor on the farm who works with the animals and has also tended to my intense allergic reaction I've had (assumed to be shellfish but could have been something else?) I'm recovering still, and in good spirits. 

Leaving Opotiki

They even grow bananas

The beach I played at while Claire went diving for mussels

Claire and Em

Another gorgeous day

Patty and I (Mikes sister from NH) holding some massive crayfish (I bet you can guess what we had for dinner!)


LEAVING THE WONDERLAND

I've been at this home for over 2 weeks now and it's really started to feel like home. I guess that's one of the challenges of wwoofing, once you get comfortable somewhere, you're off to the next place to get to know new people and a new lifestyle.

I spent a lot of time at different beaches, some sandy, some rocky, but I hardly ever saw another person on the beach. Everyone here goes out to catch their seafood fresh for dinner. Most commonly they go diving for mussels, fishing for snapper, or setting traps for crayfish. Veges are grown in the garden, as well as fruit from the orchards. Claire prides herself on providing nutrient-dense food, and even has a hand held machine that can measure the nutrient density of her foods. All of her grains, nuts and seeds are soaked before being consumed to get rid of the phytic acid and allow for better absorption and get rid of the poison that's in the grains. The homemade bread is always sourdough made with wheat flour and ground wheat berries, oats, potatoes, etc.

I've learned so much about healthy living from Claire and her family, and hope to pass on some of what I've learned to anyone who is interested in knowing! ~