Monday, November 17, 2014

Whimsical Ecovillage


wwoof workaway new zealand northland
wwoof workaway new zealand northlandwwoof workaway new zealand northland Nestled in the rolling hills of Northland, New Zealand, there lies a whimsical dwelling overlooking Kaipara harbor. Massive mosaics flow intricately throughout, while beautifully crafted wooden stairs meld into a bridge over an airy floor plan, and a fanciful spire crowns an impressive tower. Rob and Marijke have been designing and building this one-of-a-kind home for over a decade, and one glance is all it takes to see how much creativity and love has gone into it.
wwoof workaway new zealand northland     We arrived with Rob from Ian and Marcia's, and were immediately enchanted by the abode. We met Marijke, Rob's wife; Anton, their son; and Ben, an Aussie volunteer. After a quick chat, we were shown to our cozy little cabin, and called it a night.
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Wood-chipper-turned-apple-mill
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Belly full of apples
     The next morning we all prepared to press apple cider (or "juice," as it is called in New Zealand, "cider" is strictly the term for what we would call "hard cider"). Rob and Marijke live in an ecovillage, where neighbors with shared ideals own and maintain communal property, including cows, fields and and an apple orchard. The orchard was laden with apples, and the whole community was coming together to reap the harvest. About a dozen of us gathered a trailer full of apples, and then headed back to Rob and Marijke's to press them. Everyone had a good time, and we especially enjoyed the out-of-season treat of fresh cider in April.
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Fish-bird gateway to the cafe
wwoof workaway new zealand northlandWith the house almost done, they of course needed a new project to fill the whimsical building construction void in their lives. Luckily, down the street, a wacky whimsical cafe was on the market. When we first went down to the cafe to help out, we were dumbfounded that such a place even exists, much less in rural New Zealand. The cafe's progenitor was Peter Harris, the self-proclaimed "Wizard of Eutopia," using "ferrocement" and rebar. In his words:
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Even the storage rooms outback had a whimsical feel
     "I am a 'eutopian' visionary philosopher who has temporarily abandoned his search for the precise           meaning of 'Life, the Universe and Everything' and its ideal formulation, to spend the last 12 years writing a sprawling epic fantasy pentalogy called The Apples of Aeden; also building the domed ferrocement carved 'Dreamspace' of Cafe Eutopia, Kaiwaka, New Zealand, and writing Fantastic Ferrocementa Passport to Eutopia, Passport to CreativityThe Nautilus Project, and Icon of Ainenia; and building a carved 'Tree of Life' idea-creation game called Eutopia: the Game."
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Hidden details often revealed
themselves upon closer inspection

wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Unfortunately his resources dried up and he had to abandon the project. Rob and Marijke had bought it several months ago and were working to make it a more viable business. We all went down every day or two and cleared brush from around the building, cleaned out the storage tent, and even helped make mosaics. Several years ago, trees were planted around the cafe, and inexplicably, each one had been planted in the middle of a car tyre. Over the years, the tyres had begun to girdle the trees, and removing the ingrown tyres was quite an arduous task. One of the perks of working at a cafe was getting to try Rob and Anton's caffeinated concoctions, they were learning the art of being baristas and made a mean "flat white."
wwoof workaway new zealand northlandBack on their farm, work included the usual  weeding, cleaning up the garden, and planting seedlings. We also used a rowboat and nets to skim a floating aquatic plant off the  top of one of their ponds. The slimy biomass was then used to mulch the gardens.
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Randy's still life: Bee, Grape, Thumb no. 1
There was a smattering of animals around the farm to keep us company while we worked. The two horses  liked to hang out around the house, the two pigs enjoyed the cider pressings, the one lonely chook who had dodged the axe and taken to hanging around with one of the horses, and one fat pony who ruled the pig yard with an iron hoof. They also had a small herd of cows, some of them collective ecovillage cows, and some of them their own personal cows. This meant that we got to eat lots of delicious grassfed beef, yum! They also had quite a nice personal orchard, and we enjoyed fejoa, charimoya, lemons, apples, and oranges. The cherimoya looks like a less-defined artichoke, and has a creamy center reminiscent of a pawpaw. The fejoa, is incredibly popular all across all of New Zealand. About the size of a ping-pong ball, it has a tough outer skin, with an inside consistency similar to a pear. To eat it, you usually cut it in half and scoop out the softer inner part with a spoon.
wwoof workaway new zealand northlandwwoof workaway new zealand northlandAfter the workday was over, there was plenty to keep us entertained. We got in a few games, both Hive, and a card game called Yeniv, with Ben, and a game of Rummikub with Rob's parents who live nearby. Marjike was interested in the artistic hobbies of others, and encouraged Randy to do a painting while we were there. Since they were right on the harbor and had a few kayaks, we enjoyed an afternoon of paddling through the mangroves, glimpsing kingfishers. The mangroves are quite invasive, but they do create a mysterious, maze-like environment to explore. 
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Ben and Randy
Another member of the family was a local fantail, a small cheerful, talkative, insect-eating bird. Its elongated, fanned tail feathers, besides giving it its name, also enable it perform incredible mid-air acrobatics. When we were working outside, we were often accompanied and serenaded by fantails. Rob and Marijke had one that would come into the house, catching flies on the fly and scouring the windowsills for spiders. After hanging out for a bit on the chandelier, it would leave. There is a Maori superstition that a fantail in the house portends a death in the family, but we don't see how these cheerful little birds could ever bring anything bad. 


wwoof workaway new zealand northland
Anton, Rob, and Marijke inside Cafe Eutopia
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
View out the back door
wwoof workaway new zealand northland
From atop the pasture hill

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