TreeHugger Organic Farm - By Alyssa

Well, WWOOFing didn’t start off easy for us, that’s for sure, but after the sunburns have healed and our muscles stopped aching, the days haven’t been as challenging.

We’re slowly getting the hang of it thanks to our first hosts, Nath and Steph and other WWOOFers, Jess and Matt. We’re currently working at a fully operational organic farm called TreeHugger Organic. They grow just about any type of fruit and vegetable you can grow, but are beginning to specialize in strawberries, garlic and asparagus. Nath is also a bee keeper and makes some really sweet honey that we enjoy on a daily basis. This farm is very large, about 19 acres of so.

We just completed the garlic harvest of over 3,000 heads of garlic. Who knew there were so many varieties? Among the weeds we pulled hundreds upon hundreds of garlic out thanks to the handy-dandy harvester (an addition to the tractor). Steve learned to drive one of the tractors, while Alyssa rode in the back trailer holding the garlic in place.

Daily activities include weeding (A LOT), strawberry picking, garlic braiding, irrigation, opening and closing the shop, playing with the dogs, chasing the chickens around, and we picked a few plums today.

We’ve had a ton of fun with our friendly hosts who have fed us well and taken us swimming. Here you can see Nath making the thickest pizza in history, inspired by “Mexican” flavors, along with fresh venison.

We have about 5 more days here, and then drive 20 minutes south to Waimate to spend a week at “Earthwood.”