When I told people my plans to work on a farm in Australia, their responses were usually doubtful.
“But you’re not a farmer.”
“You won’t last a day.”
“Do you have any idea how hard farming is?”
They were right about one thing. Farming is tough! Some of the work is straining, but mostly it’s just tedious and time-consuming. It’s harder than the nay-sayers said it would be and harder than I’ll ever know given that I’ve done so little.
However, what those people neglected to tell me is how rewarding and soulful farming can be. You’re in the great outdoors, basking in the sun and working with the land. The work you do is evident. There’s nothing like looking back on a days worth of weeding blackberries and seeing with your own eyes all you’ve accomplished.
2/21/10-Can you tell which row of vines has been weeded? Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon
Further, there’s not much thought in most of the work. Once I got into a groove, it was basically just repetition. That gave me a lot of time to think about…everything.
People in my life, things I’ve accomplished, people I’ve met, what I want to write about next, how I’m going to write it, things I’ve said, analyzations of why I did something, how I wish I did it differently, my favorite moments, my favorite sandwich, my first love, friends, family, what I want to accomplish, how I’m going to do it, things I wish I had said, why none of that matters, how I’ll do things differently in the future and I wonder if it’d time to eat yet.
In the midst of it all, I’ll look up for a moment and just go blank at the sight. In the afternoon when the sun is setting, it shines through the leaves and grapes just right to brighten the colors. The mix puts me in my place as to how lucky I am to be here.
2/24/10-The grapes and leaves look especially impressive when the sun hits them just right, usually around 5 p.m.
All that thought, can really give a person peace of mind. It comes so naturally too. I don’t even realize I am so into my thought until I look back at meters and meters of completed work and think, whoa how did I get from there to here. It’s extremely relaxing, minus the random pricks from the thorns on blackberry vines.
The soul-searching is only going to get more intense as Lise and I are heading to WWOOF at a yoga retreat center three hours outside Sydney next week. If we thought we were in the middle of nowhere at Kancoona, I think we’re in for a rude awakening.
When I say we’re going to WWOOF at a yoga retreat, I mean that theoretically. There isn’t actually a yoga center there quite yet. We’re going to help built it. I’m not sure what resources are available at this place, but I’m sure not many if there isn’t even a building on the site.
But none of that matters. It’s just another adventure and learning experience in Oz and this one comes with group yoga and meditation.
I’m pretty excited for the trip there as well. Lise has a station wagon, so we’re driving to the center. It will be my first time kind of road tripping in Australia. The place is ten hours away and we are doing it all in one day, so there’s not going to be a lot of time to stop along the way. From what I hear, Australia has a lot of interesting things along its highways, including a massive lobster. From what I know of this country I’m banking on open roads surrounded by grand landscapes.
