Wwoofer's Dispatches..... News from the Awhitu Front Line!!

Dear Friends...
First of all, thank you to all of you who have emailed me & have been waiting very patiently for
a reply... I have had limited time access to the PC & as Earthtalk is in a Wi-fi 'Dead Zone' - my
hope of using my laptop has faded.... except of course to watch DVD's... more about that later!
I've taken ages to work out how to establish a blog... & even longer to successfully upload photos
from my digital camera onto the blog site...'fingers crossed that finally I've cracked it & if you
wish, you'll be able to share my journey & reply either directly to my usual hotmail email
address or via my blog site!!!
Okay, a whistle-stop tour thru'the photos to your right...
1, 2 & 3 - Tanya & Charmaine, two amazing, radical, hospitable & pioneering women, who 16 years
ago came to the Awhitu penniusular & began creating Earthtalk.... - rather than me wittering on
about what they've done, it'd be easier for you to access their Earthtalk website http://www.earthtalk.co.nz/
These first 3 photos are from the Awhitu monthly Sunday Farmer's Market & show them setting up their stall with many of the fruits, vegetables, flowers, dried fruits, salad bags, pickles,
chutneys, jams, sauces, home-made museli, nuts etc etc I have helped pick, peel, dry, pack - a huge 'do & learn fast'process that shows no sign of abating... & I forgo to mention that all those processes are accompanied by wonderful opportunites to taste those recipes that Charmaine is still éxperimenting' with... Tanya is the taller of the two women.... I helped sell their stuff to customers too! The Awhitu Penninusular is a popular place for Aucklanders to come to their 'batch' - holiday home, at the weekend... because of it's wild & rugged scenery & very friendly
wwoofers too....
Photo 4 is the view eastwards from Earthtalk across the estuary & Manakau Harbour,
towards Auckland... it's about 10 mins from the main house! Lots of varieties of bird life & Mangrove tree suckers... Tanya has told me that pulling them up so that they don't choke up the estuary & Kauri gully is one of the jobs that awaits me... wading into thick mud flats....
I thought I'd uploaded lots more photos but they don't seem to be here so I'll have a go at sending this blog & then search for the missing photos.... & let you know what I've been doing these past two weeks! Please keep the emails coming... it's always great to hear from you!
Love Suz xx