Moyarra

You gotta love farmlife! And I'll tell you why:
Once we had done most of the things we needed to do in Melbourne, we still had quite a bit of time on our hands before we were handing over the car to the shipping company and heading off to Japan. To fill it, we could either go and explore more of Melbourne's surroundings or look for a workaway host in the area. If you've never heard of "workaway", it's a platform connecting hosts all over the world with travellers that look for a cultural exchange. The deal is you work for about 4-5hrs a day and get free accomodation, meals and most importantly cultural insights in return. Our goal is to be with at least a host in every country, so starting in Melbourne was very appealing.
Luckily, Karen and Al agreed to take us in on very short notice and so we just spent the last 5 days on their gorgeous little farm in South-West Gippsland. Situated on top of a hill, it provides a gorgeous view, but unfortunately it was raining when we arrived. Al and Karen had made up for the gloomy weather by lighting a fire in our bedroom and turning on the heater in the living room and so we spent the first couple of hours getting to know each other and the five birds and three cats that live in the house. Yes, Al and Karen have a big heart for animals and have rescued most of theirs from bad fates. Apart from the in house family members, there are a Maremma (north italian sheep dog), five Murray Grey cows, two Highlanders, three horses, three goats, a flock of guinea fowls and a few chickens. No wonder Al and Karen moved further away from the city to find a home for all of them!
Over the next few days, we learned more and more about how to take care of all of them (the animals), as well as what it means to set up a farm on a long-time neglected property. Our hosts not only had to clear vast areas of the land but also take on huge renovation projects in the houses (there are two on the property). Step by step it's all shaping up.
I was particularly impressed by the community spirit that seemed to be present in the area. The neighbours would trade use of machinery for stock feed, bring over leftovers if someone's kitchen wasn't working and generally be very supportive. Al and Karen have some ideas for further community building as well and being the great hosts they are, I'm curious to keep on following their journey.
Our work mainly consisted of help in the household, clearing out some concrete in the back paddock and stacking up some wood. Al was a great teacher for the big machinery, including an excavator and a front loader. Tom had fun like a little boy and I equally loved playing and cuddling with all the animals. Both of us enjoyed the physical activity and being outside (despite of the rain) and yet appreciated coming into the house to enjoy great food by Karen and have meaningful conversations over dinner in the living room (that were interrupted by the birds needing attention only every now and then ;-)). Karen's interest in sourdough gave Tom a chance to bake bread in her great oven almost every day which of course added another plus to the whole experience.
As we had spoken about food in general quite a bit, Tom and I thought it would be a good idea to have a Bavarian dinner on the last day and so we cooked bread dumplings with a creamy mushroom sauce (Semmelknödel mit Pilzsauce). And since no real Bavarian dish should be served without beer, we got some local craft beer to pair it with. After dinner we watched an episode of "Fawlty Towers", a TV series Al introduced us to, quite similar to the "dinner for one" humour. Picture perfect cultural exchange.
All in all we had a marvellous time, learned new skills and have just been strengthened in our wish to some day do something similar somewhere.
All the best to Al and Karen and the pursuit of their vision!Leggi altro