Wwoofing around Victoria

TODAY I WAS ATTACKED BY A CHICKEN! I was just checking the coop by the stables to see if they had any pellets left and suddenly I felt this feathery thing throwing itself at my back. I screamed turned around and went to scare it with my leg (I had no other weaponry available at the time) and he went to attack my leg. Cheeky basterd. I then grabbed a stick and the battle was on! He attacked the stick! I just about batted him away with enough time to get food into the feeder, but lo and behold, once I was out of sight, the sheep all came and ate it up. In your face my feathery nemesis! I fed you again and I may be obliged to feed you, but this war isn't over..

Thing is, I had been warned about grumpy chook. The owners actually leave his pen open in case a fox fancies coming along and eating him, which initially made me feel sorry for him, but my sympathy has now gone.

Mad Basterd Chickens

Why am I surrounded by livestock? In order to get my 2^nd Year Visa in Australia, I have to complete 88 day of specific work in a designated rural area. So, I ‘wwoof’.

‘Wwoof’, you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked!

I am a Willing Worker On an Organic Farm. Or, to abbreviate, a ‘wwoofer’.

It is an organisation that was started in England that is all about exchange – “WWOOF is a series of host properties you can visit and exchange your culture while volunteering to work for your food and accommodation”.

I work 7-8 hours a day, I stay with genuine Aussie farmers, learn about agriculture and the work qualifies towards my 2^nd Year Visa. Everyone’s a winner! It’s a really great way to get out of the city and really see the country.

Wirreanda Farm

The amount of time you spend on each farm varies, but so far I am doing about 2 weeks per farm. The plan is to ‘farm hop’ my way around Victoria so that I can see more of the state and meet more people.

I am currently about 1hr North East of Melbourne. The first farm I worked on was near Woodend, owned by Alice and Bruce.

Wirreanda Farm House - used to be the local primary school

Bruce is a fantastic photographer and Alice is a life coach who specialises in empathy and helping people to understand their passions and paths in life.

Bruce was an interesting character. Bear in mind, their farm was my first wwoofing experience. I arrived to the unknown (Woodend) and as he picked me up from the station, he told me we were off to the local supermarket to buy a chicken so we could have a candle lit dinner.

I nervously laughed it off. He brought it up again. It was that awkward moment of ‘Is he being serious or do I just not get his sense of humour? Is this an Aussie thing? Is this a wwoofer thing and I just missed out that paragraph of the book?!’

But no, it’s just Bruces flirty sense of humour. Apart from a few awkward comments over the dinner table, (‘So, how many boyfriends have you had?’) it was fine and it was just traveller paranoia. That said, the time when we went Kangaroo spotting started a bit awkward when I walked to the ute and he was peeing in the front garden, ‘Sorry Lela! Mind you, it’s not like you haven’t seen a man’s c*ck before!’. *CRINGE*

Farmr Bruce in the ute, Kangaroo spotting

But I digress, they were such a lovely couple and we laughed lots. Their farm is very organic, the majority of what is eaten is from the veggie patch and it’s all very organic, with limited amounts of sugar and wheat. The farm was like ‘Little House on The Prairie’ meets Granny Donlon (minus the crankiness..!), meets my Aunt Phil and Uncle Derek in New Zealand, with a splash of ‘Anne of Green Gables’ for good measure. It was stunning, really peaceful.

Kitchen, Wirreanda

Making a salad from the veggie patch

..There were moments however, at night where my active imagination would start up. It was so dark once the sun went down, with no one around for at least half a kilometre. Walking to get firewood, I’d start wondering if I was in the beginning of a horror film. I’d been given a false sense of security and any moment I was going to be dragged to a barn where some farm yard crazies would all be wearing white sheets and sacrificing a chicken.

Anyway.. needless to say, that didn’t happen. Things I achieved include: Driving a ute, wielding a chainsaw, restoring the overgrown blackberry and raspberry greenhouse, building a bonfire, learning about the benefits of pine needles in plant growth, planting strawberries, mowing, mulching, weeding, harvesting.. it’s an endless list. And the crazy thing is (and I say this with earnest) is that I’m quite good at it.

Repairing the blackberry house.. half done..

Finished!

After two weeks, I moved onto Prospect farm, where I currently reside. It is a beautiful old estate farm, the 2^nd oldest building in the Kyneton Township. They breed pure East Fresian Sheep.

Prospects Farm House

My accommodation

To say the least, the farm life and work is very differently to Bruce and Alice. Nereda and Peter have 2 daughters, Izzy and Genvieve as well as loads of animals: Sheep, horses, chickens (‘chooks!’), cattle, 3 dogs and 2 cats. I wanted to learn more about working with animals and it’s been a great experience.

Before I came here, I wasn’t entirely sure was a ‘prolapsed uwe’ was. Sadly, I understand the definition. Where before I was hesitant going near dogs, I can now confidently hoist a dog (or lamb!) away if it’s being a pest.

The majority of my work is with the sheep - I feed lambs in the morning and help moving sheep to paddocks etc.

Lambs!

Chicks!

Nereda, John the horse masseuse and Mandy the pony

I can honestly say the lambs are insanely cute. A little bit stupid, but that makes them even cuter. We had 3 born this week and I had to hand feed two of them their milk today. While one had their bottle, the other was looking for an udder to drink from under my knee. As a ticklish person, it was hilarious.

New lambs!

I muck out the horses stables in the morning. The farm has three ponies and two horses, who all get a visit from the horse masseuse once a week (who knew?!). I can confirm, nothing has changed, horses still produce a large amount of shite.

I also work with the chickens and help with the veggie patch. The chickens, as you may gather, can be a bit problematic. Well… there was a slight issue when I collected the eggs the other day. One of the coops really needed to be cleaned and chicken poop is great for growing veggies, so I was gathering as much as I could when I found some eggs I’d failed to collect earlier. The chickens were going mental but I thought they were just arsey because I’d moved them to their outdoor area.

Unfortunately, the eggs I collected weren’t eggs for eating and I nearly killed 6 chicks who were due to hatch. I felt AWFUL.

But Nereda found the eggs on time and a day later four new chicks successfully hatched, so not all is lost! I keep apologizing to the hens, but I don't think they’ll ever look at me quite the same.. Maybe it’s from watching too many Disney films as a child but I feel like they all swear about me whenever I approach the coops. I like to think they have Liverpodlian and Brummy accents.

As you might be able to gather, there is a LOT of time for thinking when you work in the countryside and only have the opportunity to get out about once a week. I’m grateful to anyone who calls with news of the outside world..

At first, all this space to think was driving me mad but I think I am getting used to it now *fingers crossed*. The last nine months have been a bit mental so the sudden slower pace was a shock to the system. Makes me appreciate the fact you should always keep in touch with people when they first encounter a new chapter away from the known as it can be a bit daunting.

So far I haven’t been on a farm with an extra wwoofers apart from myself, which makes me miss my friends even more, but they aren’t too far and I am allowed the odd day off. I returned for the Grand Final of the AFL (Aussie rules – LOVE IT!). I was in my local Aussie pub with my friend Sally. There was a sausage sizzle and some actor from Home & Away sat behind us. All I needed was a hat with corks, a fosters and a kangaroo and I could have been in a tourist brochure.

The family I am staying with are fantastic too. Nereda is straight to the point and we laugh lots, and myself and the daughters were singing ‘Glee’ the other night so I know we’re going to be friends (..even after I accidentally killed their chicks..).

There is other news from the months before farming, but I might write about that in smaller chunks in the next few weeks (I have enough bloody time!). I am going to try and blog more as there are very silly things that take place on a farm which the world needs to hear about!

Miss you all, send me your news!