The "lifestyle block" we're at is in the Waihopai Valley, in the Marlborough district of the South Island. It's about 30 minutes outside of Blenheim and an hour and a half from Nelson or Kaikoura. A lifestyle block would probably be called a small farm in the states- in New Zealand, farm refers to a huge/commercial farming operation, whereas lifestyle block is a one-family farming/animal raising situation. Kara says: Where I grew up would be considered a lifestyle block here, and frankly it's a better name for it than a "farm."
The Waihopai Valley is incredibly beautiful. It's one of the few areas in New Zealand that doesn't get much rain, so it's very brown with some pockets of intense green. Many of these green places are the numerous and well-irrigated wineries. Also in the valley are two giant white spheres and a big satellite dish which is a real spy base! There are huge mountains surrounding the area. The wind here is incredibly intense as it goes through the valley- Chicago has nothing on it! We are experiencing an awesome climate.
We're staying at Roaring Oaks, with Summer and Jase Weir and their three adorable children: Nathan, age 10, Ryan, age 8, and Brook (Brooky), age 2.5. Summer and Jase have their own businesses. Jase is an engineer/artist who makes dog boxes and livestock crates for the back of trucks, as well as various artistic things like toy guns and coasters, etc. Summer is an artist who creates paintings, prints, decals, braziers, and mugs centered around a hunting theme. You can check out their stuff here!
They have a BEAUTIFUL piece of land. They also have tons of animals to fill it. They have: Harvey the Hilarious Goat who frequently climbs through the window into the house; Frankie the Evil Goat who has now been given away; Tinkerbell the Rabbit and her boyfriend Troy, and Tinkerbell's half-wild babies from her unapproved dalliance with a wild rabbit; four CHICKENS!!, which are called Chooks in New Zealand; Plum and Willow the LITERAL PET DEER; Silver the Horse; Wendy, Gem, and Scout the Huntaway Dogs who love to stare at you as lovingly as possible; Buster the Affectionate Cat.
I am DEFINITELY planning to kidnap this dog. She's super smart and really good natured, and I LOVE HER.
Summer and Jase have really built a paradise. There's tons of work to do, but it's surrounded by amazing things- picking strawberries in the garden and eating them right off the bush, stringing a new electric fence for the deer and getting to hop around with them (and pet them!), collecting fresh eggs from the chickens, hand-feeding a baby lamb, fending off an affectionate goat, etc etc.
But I literally have no idea how they do it. They each have their own business plus they're going to school for a small business certificate at night. They have two energetic boys plus a really active toddler who loves getting into things. This is where we (and their other helpers) come in. I think the situation for helpers here is a bit different then at other places- most helpx profiles will state how many hours you are expected to work in return for food/lodging, but with Summer and Jase it's more that you're on all day, doing whatever needs to be done, but off when there's not much to do. We're mostly doing chores- gardening and weeding, feeding the animals (!!), laundry, babysitting, etc. There's also chores like helping to set up their new water pump in the river (brief aside: houses in rural New Zealand aren't heated or watered the traditional way. The water here comes straight from the river and a nearby spring- it's not treated, it's just completely fine to drink!- and there's a word-burning stove to heat the water and the house. You don't heat the water in jugs or anything- I think maybe the steam rises to the reservoir to heat it and then it comes back into the faucets and showers? Anyway, it's awesome.
I think a work-all-day situation wouldn't normally be the ideal, but it works great with Summer and Jase because they're so awesome. I'm really happy they've been our first homestay. We've really felt like we are part of the family, and they've been incredibly generous with us. They've also been able to give us great advice on places to go and things to do doing our year here.
We will have another update about some of the badassery we have done, including plasma cutting, BABYSITTING GOD HELP ME, river-exploring, pick-up truck riding, our trip to Nelson, how we spent Thanksgiving, and more. But next up will be about our trip to Kaikoura!