All You Need is Love: Life in Wilderland

If you hate spiders, you should probably not come here. If you need to shower and shave every day, you should probably not come here. If you love the taste of steak and can’t live without it on a weekly basis, you should probably not come here. If you need constant internet and have a favorite weekly television show, you should (you guessed it) probably not come here. If you need a toilet that flushes, an electric stove, a dish washer, cubed ice, soda, guaranteed hot water showers, water that’s bottled or purified, a microwave, a clothes dryer, alcohol and/or cigarettes, marijuana, (and any other substances even more illegal), indoor heating, air conditioning, a bathtub, clean nails; and if you have an aversion to peeing in the bushes—you should probably, really, honestly, and sincerely not come here.

A few days ago my friend Josh (another Wwoofer--Willing Workers on Organic Farms) asked me quite earnestly, "So. When did you discover you were a hippie?" Good question, Josh. I suppose I've always had an inner hippie...

Funnily enough, the main people who run Wilderland at the moment don't identify as 'hippies'--and they aren't, but they are fascinating, determined, and all around excellent individuals. Shaki and Avner are a married couple from Israel with two lovely (and hilarious) little girls, and they care deeply about making a life outside the typical expected system. From what I understand, they wanted to break the cycle most people get stuck in in their life--working and working and working to afford a place in a world that expects us to keep working until we die. They felt that there must be something better... so they bought tickets to New Zealand and embarked on an adventure--a quest, if you will... and eventually settled down here in Wilderland, keeping it going after the previous residents had retired. Avner and Shaki oversee everything along with a man named Russel because they are all residents--they deal with all the official work of the markets and marketing, sale of honey, land issues, etc, etc. There is plenty more to it than that, but I don't know the details because I'm simply passing through. It's a lot of work to be a full time resident, and although I admire them greatly--I don't envy them their workload. Truly inspiring people, though.

Sustainable living takes a lot of work, but when I look around at the place where we all live right now--it seems truly worth it. There are gardens and orchards all over, and if you want a salad--you can go pick it. Carrots, snap peas, beans, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, silver beet, rocket, mescuna, spinach, turnips.... you name it. For fruit, there are heaps and heaps of tangelos (a cross between tangerines and oranges--amazing, and the juice is honestly I kid you not the best juice I've ever had. Liquid. Sunshine. Liquid. Happiness), tangerines, mandarins, plums, apples, loquats, lemons, goldfruit (a sweeter kind of grape fruit), and avocados. They also grow nuts (do people 'grow nuts'?) and keep bees and bee hives. Wilderland is famous for their honey, and it's well deserved. I recommend the Manuka Honey--very good, and it has some medicinal qualities. People do some flax weaving too, and there's a current candle making enterprise taking off in hopes to bring in further income.

Here's a typical day:

8 o'clock we can do morning warm-ups (of the tai chi variety) with J.P. (from Israel, he's hilarious.)
8:30 is when we all meet in the hall and have porridge made from rolled oats, water, raisins (and I like to put peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon in mine.)
9:00 we start work. We can go to Hena Hena--a place of large garden beds and primarily tangelo and avocado trees. We work there digging beds, weeding beds, composting and putting mulch on the beds.... harvesting tangelos and avocados, raking left over grass clippings... pretty much whatever needs to be done. Other jobs we do usually take place at other gardens--the Hot House garden, and so on. It's pretty much the same kind of stuff, but we move around some times. Once a week, I work at the Wilderland Shop, which is a really cute little shop off the side of the road that sells honey and fresh organic produce... as well as freshly squeezed tangelo juice (squeezed by me.) Also once a week (unless there are a lot of people and I manage to weasel out of it... like this week, hopefully--sue me) I am responsible for cooking a big lunch for everyone here. Last Friday, I cooked vegetable curry, brown rice, salad (with home made citrus dressing) and a fruit salad with coconut. FOR 13 PEOPLE. It was rather successful, though the curry was a bit spicy. Some people liked this, others, not so much. Regardless, it was quite an accomplishment....
1:00 We stop work for the day (when we hear the loud lunch bell... or rather lunch gong) and head in towards the Hall for a big communal lunch. Our meals here consist of loads of veggies, beans and lentils, brown rice, raw sugar and organic honey, herbal tree, fruit (especially citrus right now, as it's in season...) and the occasional potato. Also, every two or three days someone makes fresh brown bread, and we go through that so quickly, it's ridiculous. But, well, it's very good! We have a refrigerator for individual food--for instance, I have my own rice milk, and when someone goes to the store, I like to get apples, or kiwi fruit, or tomatoes. I spend very little money here, but some gets spent because of special requests to the store--like for things like bug spray (I am getting EATEN up here) or...less necessary things... like dark chocolate. Cough.

After this... the day is free. I've spent afternoons doing crafty things (making a wall hang out of bamboo, string, gold foil, keys, shells, and purple ribbon that read Aroha--which is Maori for 'Love'. I gave this to my housemate at the time, Ilana as a going away present because she and three other close friends are going to buy some acres on the West Coast of NZ and name it Aroha... Ilana was seriously awesome. Still is... but she left, sadly. It's the traveler's curse--meeting cool people but having to say goodbye...) I've been reading a lot too. I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Pigeon (weird book), Little Johnny's Confessions (a book of poetry) and I am currently halfway through An Unexpected Light (Travels in Afghanistan) by Jason Elliot. I've spent a good amount of time making my living space my own, and for about two days I completely reorganized the Wilderland library--I made a cool Library sign out of canvas and glued on teal string, and then I redid all the labeling as well. It looks badass now, and Shaki and Avner were thrilled. I had dust in my nose for quite some time after, however... I've done some kayaking (always an adventure--I went yesterday and almost got stuck when the tide went in...oops. But I got quite the arm work out!) I wander, I read, I occasionally check my email, I explore, I talk to people, I listen to music...

That's a typical day.

On the Wilderland property, there are loads of houses (or more like Cabins), and I'm living in the Magnolia House because it's right next to a Magnolia tree. I absolutely ADORE the name of our house, and I also adore the house itself. It's wooden, dusty, and beautiful. I have a double bed that looks out through the windows out onto our porch that looks out over the whole property, including the ocean. Everything is so incredible green--and the pathway to the Magnolia house is pretty much canopied by trees bent over each other--it looks magical. It can get cold at night, and there are rats running around under the house and on the roof at night, but by day, it's not a problem.

Yesterday, I had to empty our compost toilet. That was hard core. And... kinda gross, but perhaps not as bad as I expected.

The shower here is communal, and sharing between so many people is hard... which pretty much means that most of us smell... some worse than others. I'm getting used to lots of smells, including my own. I'm getting used to dirt permanently under my fingernails, and not caring, because what am I going to do about it? I've got sun kissed skin, and my acne has been clearing up for the most part... I pee in the bushes all the time here. You know how they say that the bedroom floor is a shelf? Well, that idea can be changed to--the whole world is a shelf--so many places to put things. And then take it further from there to... the whole world can be a toilet. I'm getting a lot better, too. I don't fall over anymore... ;-)

The group of people here is pretty excelent. Occasionally I'll hear some what I like to call 'preaching' by some folks passing on through (people don't really stay here more than 3 weeks, unless they want to try for residency, like a lovely young Australian named Luna is doing) about yada, yada, yada. 95% of the people here are completely cool ALL the time... but occasionally, you can get some real pious few who are just as bad as "the man" they are against. Luckily, all those folks are gone at present....

Anyway....Wilderland has a good amount of wwoofers--Myself (USA-IL), Maria (Germany), Clara (Germany), Andy (UK), Tony (UK), Luna (Australia) Johnny (USA-Seattle), Molly (USA-Connecticut), Josh (NZ), Zach (USA-New York)... Ilana (Israel, France, UK, NZ) was here for two weeks, and there was Jim, an older man from the States who believed strongly in the power of homemade yogurt, and a man named Mike also from the States who (I've got to be honest here) really did not strike my fancy whatsoever. He didn't have much worth sharing, but he said it loudly. And he was also rather racist. I was not sad to see Mike go... Too honest? Perhaps, but I'm not apologizing.

Maria and Molly are considering taking off this weekend, and I intend to stay for a bit, but I'm really hoping to travel with either Molly or Josh around mid-December to a BIIIIIIG hippie event in the South Island called Rainbow Gathering. Apparently they are very popular in the States, but this is the first one here. I would go for a week, and then head up to Auckland for Christmas... we'll see what happens! I really do love Wilderland, but you know me, full of Wanderlust. Plus, Ilana gave me a long list of cool things to explore in the South Island. Around February, I intend to load up on actual backpacking supplies, and just going full throttle backpacking--I want to backpack through both islands, fruit picking, wwoofing, etc for money along the way. I plan to camp and the like at approved campsites.... should be fun :) And then ideally, in around April or March, I'd like to go to Australia to see my friend Chloe, in Melbourne. I intend to check out Melbourne and Sydney... and then I have *no* idea. But I'll probably stay North, because in the USA summer months, it will be wintery here, and we all know how Sarah feels about cold....

So that's my life right now :) I'm going to try and put up my pictures on photobucket or something... but if you're my facebook friend, check out all the pictures I took of Wilderland and the cool people I reside with.

Ah yes, and how could I forget? The Beatles are very popular at Wilderland. This is in part because they are simply awesome, and because the two little girls here--Zoe and Anna--LOVE them, and are particularly partial to All You Need is Love and Yellow Submarine, both of which they get someone to play daily if they can manage it. The girls like to alter the lyrics too--things like, All You Need is Glove, All You Need is Avocado... you get the picture. Anna is actually rather incredible--she can keep pitch like you wouldn't believe. And, um... she's THREE.

Well, I'm going to go see if I can get photo bucket working for y'all...

All is well here--and hopefully your lives are full and brimming with Aroha.

If you ever get down, remember...
all you need is glove.

I'm Off to the See the Wizard...

that title isn't really appropriate. I'm not off to see any wizard, but I am off. If I meet a wizard on the way, all the better.

This can't be long--I am currently chilling in Steve's room for my last night in Auckland. We had a HELLA awesome day. Walked all along the coast, starting in Takapuna and ending up in Devonport. We found a rope hung from a tree and swung from the rocks--and took awesome pictures. I also forged my way through the ocean to conquer some epic free standing rocks.

Anyway--tomorrow I am off to the Wilderland Intentional Community up in the Coromandel, and I am buzzing with excitement. I have loads of packing and tying of loose ends to do tonight, but Steve and I are also going to watch Arrested Development and Buffy, because get this--I'm leaving my Buffy at his place. I figure, I don't want to be glued to my laptop while I'm immersing myself in wilderness. Learning is about sacrifice, right? Maybe not, but I'm doing it anyway...

I've been taking a lot of risks (good risks, climbing trees, trying to ride unicycles, etc) and discussing things like fate, universal energy and God, etc.

In summary, I love my New Zealand life.

But, I may be rather incommunicado for the next few weeks/months. I'll have my phone and computer (for writing, I've got projects saved) but I doubt there will be wireless, SO if you message me and I seem to be flaking, I'm probably just climbing a tree somewhere or picking fruit or harvesting honey. But I will eventually get back to you.

I love you all!

PostSecret says it all.