Week 1 - Orientation; January 24-30

[Anything in quotes ("...") is a direct quote from my diary sheet.]
Arrived 11:20 on Monday, settled in, and started meeting people, very few of whose names I remembered until well into the week. (Some people I only matched up with names after six or seven weeks.) Made contact with Masterton croquet club about days and times. Called home with correct holiday dates, as we had been informed incorrectly.
Tuesday: Day's activity started at 8:15 in the dining room/lounge, where all hostel meetings are held. We went through all the details of the Welcome Book, at which time I discovered that we have weekly diary sheets to fill in which make up 50% of our weekly marks. These diary sheets are what I'm using to write up this blog. After the first week, tutors have been complaining that they don't want a novel to read... (Except for lecture weeks, my diary sheet usually extends from the given single page to 3 or 4 pages.) I tell them it's for posterity. ;c) I also discovered at this meeting that there is a student older than myself, Dick Tredwell (41). He's English, ex-army (22 years), lives off-campus on 90 acres with young son and daughter, wife getting out of British army end of year. We both find great relief in being able to have sensible conversation, particularly at lunch-time, after the mostly-nonsense of the other students! 10:00. Agriculture with Ivan (more commonly known as Ebb - his sons called him Ebenezer Scrooge), getting an overview of what is coming. It does look as though I'll be learning to overhaul an engine, but I'm not sure to what extent. 11:00. Tech 1 with Alistair. It was nice to be already familiar with one aspect - the woolshed. 11:30. Tech 2 with Dave. "I hope memories of those photographs do not affect my sleep, but it is an excellent caution in the use of chainsaws and all other potentially hazardous equipment." Lunchbreak is always 12:00-13:00, plus an extra half hour on Tuesdays for lunch-time leave (so we can get into town while the banks, etc, are open). 13:00. Lectures with Shane and Martin. "I was almost daunted for a moment by the volume of paper, but deciding to take it one day at a time and remembering that I don't have to sink when there are others to help me swim helped to put it in perspective, and I relaxed again." 14:00. Dairy with Chris. "By now I was starting to get information overload." 15:00. Tech 3 with Callum. "I'm not sure that I heard much, as I was getting sleepy, but on being told that not completing non-compulsory units, such as spraying or building repairs (because of the weather) or killing animals, would not be a big issue, I determined to accomplish every single possible credit. The more I learn this year, the less to learn later, and the more valuable I will be as an employee." We finished with a trip to town, which I put to good use, learning where things are. The day's activities closed with a hostel meeting. "A summary of the day would put the predominant memories as 'Safety First', the impatience and negative attitude of certain students, and the often very wide gap between myself and the other students - and not necessarily because of age. I am, nonetheless, very excited about the year ahead."
Wednesday: Tech 2. Shifted sheep, watched killing of pig and helped scald and shave it. "Interesting fact: pig's head must be screwed off." Skinned half of a sheep. Jetted sheep against fly strike, taking my turn with the spray gun, and admininstering Maggo to fly-blown sheep. "Changed from gumboots to lace-ups (steel caps), but not having broken them in, had to change back to gumboots after fetching sheep because of blisters." Drove the tractor 30m, and helped return sheep to another paddock.
Thursday: Out to Glenburn - overnight. Tech Tour. "Callum drove us to Taonui, pointing out landmarks, etc. We went all the way to the airstrip and back. I had packed my notebook instead of carrying it, so I could take no notes. By the end of the day I had received so much information that I had forgotten a lot." Farm Management. "Here I learned something of the history of Glenburn and the stock... We went out to the yards to trap a couple of steers in the race so the we could see inside their mouth. Next I discovered how unfit I am. We moved a group of sheep into a wide race so that we could learn to lay them down and tie them. I succeeded with a bit of coaching from Dave, but was puffing heavily during and after the operation. I later discovered I had strained my shoulder a bit, too. That session and the next tied pretty closely for favourite of the day. The next was quads, with which I had no experience at all. Ivan did a good job of teaching me, and I had soon completed the required circuits. Then came a great ride up to the tops where the view was stunning. Unfortunately I had to concentrate on the track and practising gear changes, so full appreciation waited until the next day. I was a little stiff in places after that ride, but the satisfaction of a new accomplishment made up for it. Last session of the day was Weeds&Grasses. I liked the taste of Pasja, both leaf and root. Thistles, barley grass, perennial ryegrass, and four different clovers were also looked at, dug up, and discussed. Later I also spotted some Italian ryegrass. We ended the session by learning how to press the plants."
Friday: "First session of the day was Kitchen with Steve. Being very experienced in this area, helping to make scones was a breeze. It will be fun to be 'cook for the day' while on Glenburn duty. The Glenburn Tour with Brent (BA) rounded things off nicely." Back to Taratahi for dinner.
Saturday: Croquet - lost first game [doubles] 13-15 (3 hoops mine); won second game [singles] 11-6. Made farming contacts in the process. Good possibilities for work experience.

March '05 Brief

At Taratahi going into 7th week. Doing fine. Will start writing updates when I get my diary sheets back and have some spare time in the evening, hopefully this week. Lectures this week, which I have every third week. In spite of the working day being shorter on lectures (8:30 - 16:30), I never seem to have an extra hour; it fills up with other things. A brief look at what I've been doing so far:
Week1: Orientation
W2: Tech 2 (mostly electric fences and moving stock - on foot)
W3: Tech 1 (more fencing - on deer unit "Arahura")
W4: Lectures
W5: Agriculture (lots of tractor-driving, drain-laying, and some digger-driving)
W6: Glenburn Station (Friday - instead of Sunday - return so that we could work at the Golden Shears on Saturday. It was great.)

Week 5 was my favourite week so far, followed closely by 6. Wednesday of W5 was my best day on course so far.
Life in the hostel can be quite a trial at times. Last night and the night before I had rowdy neighbours, so am seriously lacking in sleep, which is not a good lead-in for Lectures!
I've put on weight. The food is excellent. They manage really well with my gluten-and-dairy-free diet. Most of the extra weight is muscle from all the hard work, such as digging post holes, controlling a quad (hard on the shoulders), and hefting sheep about, but I've gained a little bit as "reserve", too. Bruises come and go. At present I have 5 or 6 on/around my left knee in varying shades. Any more and I think I could accurately describe that knee as 'all black and blue'.

Coming up:
W7: Lectures
Home for weekend.
W8: Tech 3 (gates, fences, butchery, welding - I won't know exactly until I'm into it)
W9: Tech 2
Easter Holiday - home for long weekend.
W10: Lectures
W11: Glenburn
Holidays! (2 weeks)

It's 2005 and the year seems to be flying past already. Mid-December I received a third grant ($500) to aid with the Taratahi fees. I finished work as a rousie on the last day of last year. This evening I will pick up my last pay record and a reference. I doubt that it will be the last I shall see of the people, though. I shan't forget the interesting people that I've met, and I somehow doubt that they'll forget me!
Yesterday I had my first game of croquet in more than two months (I made three hoops). I shall be playing again on Saturday, plus some practice time, because next week I'm playing in our Junior Women's Tournament over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I shall enjoy it, and will be very interested to see how well I do with the little practice I've had!
This morning I had an interview with a reporter from the Dannevirke News. Narelle very obligingly let them know about my upcoming year at Taratahi and the scholarships, so I shall be in the paper sometime over the next week.
Speaking of Taratahi, I am just a little nervous. It's making sure I've got everything packed that's occupying my thoughts at present. I leave here on the 16th, but I don't go to Taratahi until the 24th. The intervening week will be spent with Grandad while my aunt and uncle have a week's holiday. The idea is to have all my Taratahi baggage packed and left here at home, then Dad will bring it down when he picks me up and delivers me "to school", bringing home the things I'll have with me for Wellington, but won't need at Taratahi. It requires a little forethought. Aside from a trip to Palmerston North and a trip to Norsewood for a few items (three, I think), plus some minor shopping in Dannevirke, I have everything now, including two knives and their accessories, boots, overalls, raingear, etc., etc., etc. I'm even packing a motivational (that is, "Muttivational" - it has delightfully appropriate doggy pictures) calendar with such inspiring sayings as: "RELAX. If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live", and my favourite (from my birthday month): "ATTITUDE. A healthy attitude is contagious, but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier." It was a well-selected Christmas present.
Slightly nervous I may be, but I'm also excited about the year ahead, one through which I would fear to tread without the Lord's gracious leading. I go with God.

Nephew #1, Tima, just woken from mid-day sleep. 

Nephew #2, Misha. He was somewhere between 3 and 4 weeks old at the time. He is now 7 weeks old.

Me after a long day's work in a woolshed. A zoomed-in picture would show all the fine wool attached to the shirt and the general grubbiness. Add to the smell of the sheds the smell of cigarette smoke from the other workers in the van...

This is the airoplane that I flew in my first training flight. 

Taking God shopping

My older sister Narelle and I went to Palmerston North to run several errands, but the major one for me was to spend some of my hard-earned money on materials for several pairs of work trousers, which Narelle had offered to sew for me. Narelle, in the hope that she wouldn't have to do all the sewing after all, suggested that we visit Savemart, which sells masses of second-hand clothes, mostly in extraordinarily good condition. [I always wonder why people throw out such things.] Well, I did find one pair of longs, but that was all in that department, so we had to go to Spotlight anyway (after which I shall end up with three pairs of longs for $16.50 each!) BUT... here's the blessed thing: I came away from Savemart with 6 good-quality work shirts (actually, one makes a pretty good winter dress shirt, including a button-down collar - I got them all out of the menswear department - hehe), two of them summer short-sleeved, the others brushed cotton or heavier, including one that new would be worth $80-100, and another not far behind; 2 pairs of knee-length shorts, both very neat styles - I don't see any necessity to be scruffily clothed just because I'm farming; plus the longs, all for $56.40!!! The $80+ shirt was also at half it's usual Savemart price, so was only $4.50. Add to that the fact that a Dannevirke friend had accidentally left his glasses in a fitting room, came back for them, stopped to chat to Narelle (who was acting as room attendant, passing clothes back and forth - you're only permitted three items in the fitting rooms at one time), found out why we were shopping, and mentioned a certain type of shirt that might interest me, pointed out where they could be found, then left - with his glasses. We checked out the shirts and found only one - that normally-so-expensive one! I'm sure God somehow hid that man's glasses so that he would come back for a divine appointment! I should take God shopping more often.
Now I have had to empty out the bottom drawer of my scotch chest - it held an interesting assortment of objects for which I have had no other space - so that I could have somewhere to store all my work clothes. That pile of clothes was also added to by Narelle, who has been hoarding favourite old plaid shirts and a couple of work jerseys for 9 years. We find it rather incongruous and perhaps a little ludicrous that Narelle, who would normally disappear into my clothes, is not only giving me hand-me-downs - or hand-me-ups, in this case - after at least twelve years of my being bigger than she, but she's giving me work clothes! She who hasn't been capable of that sort of work in over 9 years! Will wonders never cease?
(Narelle does have long arms, but it is I who slimmed down enough to need a size or two smaller in some things.)

Scholarship Update

Wow! Wow! Wow! God has done it again. It's not the provision I'm amazed about, it's the "over and above". I had the interview, which went well enough. I've been waiting nearly four weeks for an answer. The application form said that they provide up to $2,000 for 20 students, so I was hoping for the $2,000. The letter and certificate finally arrived today (I didn't get home until 6:20pm, so various family members were strongly tempted to open it for me) and I'm sure my eyes nearly dropped out, they were open so wide, and I suppose my jaw nearly hit the floor. The amount is for $3,500!!! Praise the Lord! What wonders God performs for His children when we let Him.

Scholarship Interview

My application for a scholarship to the Edmund Sanderson Jeff Farm Trust and my references must have been okay, because I've got an interview! It will be at 10am on Thursday, November 4th, at Taratahi. The Salvation Army operate the Trust, so I'll be interviewed for about 20 minutes by two Salvation Army representatives from Wellington and one person from Taratahi. I'll keep posting...

!!! I had my first flying lesson yesterday !!!

Mum and Dad gave me a birthday gift of $50 for an introductory flying lesson (which left me speechless). I was able to put it into action yesterday! I got to do much more than I expected, including the take-off, which freaked me out a bit - not the take-off, but steering it with my feet (pedal control of front wheel and rudder)! We were in the air for about 30 minutes, during which I was experimenting with the controls and trying to realize that I was actually flying a plane!
The flight was mid-afternoon, but I still hadn't come down to earth when I went to bed. =c)
Unfortunately, I have to save for going to Taratahi next year, so I don't think I'll be continuing the lessons until after then. I feel incredibly blessed. I am doing so many things this year some of which I hadn't even dreamed of a year ago, let alone thought I might actually accomplish!

I'd better come down out of the clouds before long, 'cause tomorrow's pickup for work is at 5:15am. What a life I lead...and love it!

I've been shearing - that is, wool handling - today and yesterday. I arose at 5:30 this morning to be ready for the pickup just after 6:00. I took breakfast and lunch with me, plus smoko snacks, all made the evening before. Today the farmer 'shouted' us fish and chips for lunch, so I didn't need it all.
This was my second day, and I'm getting the hang of it now. I now know what a 'frib' is. It is shorn with the 'belly', and is the part that covers the ribs. The frib is separated from the belly and put in a fadge separate from everything else. It's very easy to see which part is the frib, 'cause it has no nice wool at all. It's all thin, dirty, and stringy. Rather like 2- or 3-inch lengths of a dirty, brown yarn compared to a new sheepskin. Not that the belly all looks like a new sheepskin, either! But the inside couple of inches would if you cut away the rest.
If I didn't have M'tech's SPORT, my thighs would be screaming. I do a lot of crouching, particularly when picking up fleeces from the floor. I was told today that I'm doing very well at picking up fleeces for someone who is only on her second day. That is, the lead shearer told me that one of the girls was astonished that I was only on my second day, because I was picking up the fleeces so well. That made me feel good. :c)
I particularly enjoy picking up bits of information that will be helpful down the track once I'm a shepherd, etc. I'm trying to find out the shearers' perspective of things, so that one day maybe my woolshed will be one that all the shearers remember as one in which they love to work, and my sheep ones they love to shear, and me a farmer with whom it is a pleasure to deal.

My head was originally all there, but I chopped some off because it was the most ghastly picture of my face that I have ever seen! Tima is sound asleep, having fallen asleep in my arms during house meeting.

Something new

I started learning something new today. I'm about to become a wool handler with a shearing gang, and this morning we had some training. The six or seven other girls have already been out with the gang working - mostly pre-lambing, which I gather has shorter wool - so I was the only one completely new to it. Not only that, but I am at least six years older than all of them, and I'm pretty sure that one or two are only sixteen. Makes me feel old. A foretaste of next year, no doubt.
It will probably take me a full day's work to get my head around the shearing lingo. 'Frib' has me the most puzzled at present. As far as I can make out, it's the dirty bits around the edges that get put by themselves. And the act of removing them from the fleece after it has been laid out on the table is called 'skirting'.
Today's training was actually to prepare the girls for a wool handlers' competition in Gisborne this coming weekend, but it went a long way towards showing me what was what as well. Hopefully I'll be able to see the real thing in action tomorrow before pitching headlong into paid work.
I was quite nervous about it before today, but now I think I'll cope just fine. It certainly looks a lot more interesting than kiwifruit!

Best news of the month

Early in September I received notification that I had been accepted for the one-year Sheep and Beef Agricultural Course at Taratahi Ag. Training Centre down near Masterton! But that's not all. I have been depending on God's leading all the way, and the only way for me to do this course is for God to supply the money. He has certainly been confirming the decisions I have made - and been giving me lessons in faith. There is no way I could raise the funds in four months. God knows I do not want to go into the year of study without knowing that all the fees are taken care of, as well as my personal needs. After receiving the notification of acceptance (which I fully expected unless my Lord really didn't want me going there), I applied to a local Trust for a grant. I am also expecting forms to come from Taratahi this month so that I can apply for two others. Well, on Sunday evening when I arrived home from Wellington, I had a small pile of mail on my desk. One was from the lawyers who run the trust. I tore it open and opened the letter with bated breath. Then let loose a yell of amazement and joy. The trust would pay the tuition fee! That's nearly $3,000 accounted for!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!! I was mostly confident all along, but now I know without a shadow of a doubt that He will also provide the rest, whether through my work efforts or through other means is His problem. Praise the Lord!! (It took me nearly an hour to settle down again after that letter, I was so excited!)

Docking

Oh, I'm still stiff! I spent 5 hours docking lambs on Monday, and the unaccustomed movements have announced the presence of muscles that I generally take for granted. Some of the lambs were small enough for me to lift with one arm, but others I would grab at with both hands, then decide to leave for the other guy. We had to swing each lamb up onto its back on the bench along the side of the pen and hold them there like a great baby. The trick was to hold tight to the upper part of the back legs which generally kept them from struggling while the blue injection-type stuff was scratched on, then the ring was slipped over the tail (and another elsewhere if it was a male), then an ear was clipped: right ear for the males, left ear for the females - unless they were Suffolk breed, in which case they were designated for meat not breeding and earmarked on the right ear. Only once did a lamb have the wrong ear clipped, so it ended up with an earmark on both ears. Somebody was distracted... After the earmark, the lamb was dropped nilly-willy outside the pen so it could run away to find its mother, generally complaining at the top of its voice. Meantime, the pen was being filled up with lambs, and I had to bend and grab another to swing up onto the narrow bench. Sometimes the pen became too full and I had trouble turning around, especially with a lamb or two standing on my foot!
Some of the lambs were sooo cute. They would lie and look up at me like a baby, with a half-worried, half-trusting expression. Made me want to croon. I think I refrained... :c)
Anyway, I enjoyed the whole morning. If I am required again, I shall try to remember my camera so that I can post a photo of myself working at this charming occupation.

September activities

Sometime during September I put an ad. in the local paper under "Work Wanted" - Girl Friday sort of stuff. It was worth it. I got two jobs. The first was a gardening job, which gave me ten hours' work and the beginnings of a spring tan - and made me stiff for a couple of days. The other is a house clean-up/decorate job. That one will continue in short bursts till the end of the year; that is, until the job is done. Have you ever heard of a situation like this?: A young dairy cocky about Gareth's (my eldest brother) age is a solo dad with three kids aged about 3, 4, and 7. He knows about vacuuming and keeping things reasonably tidy and doing the dishes, but little else when it comes to house-keeping. His friends have told him that his house needs a woman's touch. He saw my ad. in the paper and eventually rang to see if I would come and clean it up for him. He had never heard of 'spring-cleaning', ("You mean, more than vacuuming?" was his query) but his house surely needs it! Anyway, I shall be doing a bit of redecorating in my spare time, and will be quite well paid for it. The poor guy was pathetically pleased at the ideas for improvement that I suggested, and has practically given me a free hand. I'll be keeping to as low a budget as I can, but he's not worried about that, saying that the improvement will be priceless to him. So, my "woman's touch" will brought into play every so often over the next few months.

During September I also answered an ad. for babysitting over the school holidays. I got the job without any trouble. At that stage it was the only work I had, so the low pay seemed better than what I was then living on, which was nothing. It was a live-in job in Pahiatua, half an hour south of D'virke. Two children, a girl (9) and a boy (5). A few days before that job started, I got a call from Aunty Gillian in Churton Park, Wellington, asking if I could stay with Grandad for a week so that she and Uncle Ewen could have a desperately needed holiday. That sort of care is paid, and since I don't get to see much of Grandad, I jumped at the chance. I rang the woman for whom I was going to be babysitting and asked if she could find someone else for the second week as there was a family emergency for which I was needed, which was the exact truth - there was nobody else available, and my aunt and uncle badly needed that holiday. To my surprise (I can only see it as God's doing), the children's mother said yes instantly and wasn't at all stressed about it. So, I ended up spending Monday evening to Saturday morning of the first week of the holidays full-time babysitting and cooking for the two children, who gave me very little trouble. I learned a few useful tricks that week. I spent Saturday night at home, then left by bus on Sunday afternoon for Wellington to spend an even easier week with Grandad. It was a great week for all concerned. The holidayers had a wonderful few days away, Grandad loved seeing so much of me, and I enjoyed seeing so much of him and also finished a very difficult photomosaic tiger jigsaw puzzle and read 5 Biggles books. Oh, and continued an old tradition while staying with Grandad - watched his copy of "The Sound of Music"! We used to watch it every New Year while staying at his place. That was back when he lived on his own. I came home by bus on Sunday afternoon, rang a farmer about a job he had for me, and got up early the next morning (in spite of the Daylight Saving time-change making it difficult) to go out docking. Anyway, I spent 5 hours yesterday morning doing that, then came home and finally checked my email after two weeks away to discover quite a few birthday messages that had been sitting waiting for me for most of those two weeks. :c)

Little sister's wedding

Can you believe I went to my sister's wedding without taking my camera? Narelle, who is never seen at such events without a camera, was also without one! I shall have to wait until the official wedding photos are printed before I can post any of myself with the bride and groom. Anyway, it was a wonderful wedding, and I've been sent a few photos by someone who did remember their camera.

Mum and Dad with the bridal couple. 

The bridal party 

My little sister, Katrina, and her new husband, Jeremy, August 28, 2004. 

Proud Aunty

Me and my nephew, Timothy, in April 2004. He was 10 months old, and had only been in the country for about a week. (He was born in Ukraine.)