This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://michael-keefe.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://michael-keefe.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Naseby and the Hunt

Welcome to Naseby! Truly above worry level.

David and Kimmer are amazing. David grew up in NZ but lived in Alaska working as an acupuncturist for 30 something years where he met Kimmer a native Alaskan who has hardcore wilderness survival knowledge. I've been learning so much from the both of them. Most of the food is homemade, and there is a wealth of preserves. To put it simply, this is how I want to live.

This is Buddha, and his brother Herb is not pictured. They are the happiest dogs I've ever met. David and Kimmer have 70ish acres on which the dogs go rabbit hunting while David and I work in the field, mostly we've been fencing and setting up irrigation for their orchard.

Soooo... David invited me to go Tahr hunting with his friend Brent. Tahr is an introduced Himalayan Mountain Goat that thrives in the high altitudes of the McKenzie Basin in NZ. David was a vegetarian for 13 years but is now an advocate for intelligent meat eating. Kimmer actually lived above the arctic circle for seven years surviving off of only what she could forage and hunt. I've come to the understanding that everything dies, and that game hunting is much more humane than buying slaughterhouse meat from a supermarket.

Brent and David having some wine the night before our hunt. Brent is a contract hunter for DOC (Department of Conservation), he helps keep the introduced possum species under control.

I'm sure that what follows will shock my friends and family who know that I've been a vegetarian for 3 years, at which point I was even a raw vegan...

We biked into the mountains, and it was about an hour before we spotted what we thought were two Tahr halfway up the ridge. Brent, was the first to spot them.

As we moved closer we had to keep an eye on them so we didn't lose track of our meat, a game of stealth When we finally got close enough, we discovered that what we had seen were actually two Chamois, a goat-antelope native to the Swiss alps.

By the time we worked our way up the hill, we came upon only one of them, an old looking male laying on a rock. He knew we were there, about 180 meters away yet he didn't move. Three times David silently told the animal that if he wanted to live, he should run. The Chamois stayed where he was so David fired...

David talked me through the whole process as he gutted the Chamois. Showing me all the organs, which are nearly identical to a humans. Here he is holding the heart. We packed up the animal, I carried out the head and the organs.

David the adventurous drove us home through a beautiful 4 wheel drive route.

Upon my suggestion we made a shepherds pie using the organs: as he cut the heart, liver and kidneys he gave me more anatomy lessons.

Kimmer was pleased.

And so we sat and munched on our hard earned meal.

Later that night we cut and packed the rest of the cuts into the freezer for storage. Again, I learned valuable anatomy lessons.

First Month at a Glance

Alright!

I've finally gotten a chance to post a quick edit of my time here. I've been staying in the Christchurch region on the South Island which is beautiful and in some ways reminds me of Marin County. My first host family was out in Diamond Harbour on the Banks Peninsula; Di and Nigel were wonderful and so kind to me. I was fed well, and there was plenty of work to be done on their property. I cleared over 200 sq meters of weeds, laid down weed mat and mulched it all in about 2 weeks. During my free time I would read or go on a walk. There was a really adventurous coastal trail that walked right along the edge of all the small bays in that region, so I found myself doing one section of the trail at a time.

Eventually I decided to move on, so I thanked Di and Nigel for making me feel so at home and I found my next host, Ron. Ron has property both on the tip of the Banks, and in Christchurch. He is renovating his property on Mt. Pleasant in Christchurch with the intention of it becoming a Buddhist Darhma center. I helped with some projects around the house, but eventually he decided that we needed to go to his other house out in Akaroa.

Ron also manufactures medical grade ozone machines with which he has cured dozens of cases of terminal cancer. He took me to his place in Akaroa and showed me his process, in the hopes that I might be able to bring ozone to the US.

While at his house out there, we were surrounded by nothing but farmland and beaches. I spent days cutting back a MONSTEROUS juniper-like hedge that bordered one edge of his property, and when I finished for the day I had a chance to walk down to the private beach down the hill. To get to the beach I walked through acres of sheep land, which was quite an adventure in itself. I enjoyed many hours of having that beach all to myself, and so far it has been the highlight of my experience here.

In a couple of days I'm going to leave the Christchurch region and head further south to stay on a farm in a small town called Naseby.

It's hard to believe that a month has nearly gone by already! I've learned and experienced so much in such a short period... I am truely loving every moment. Some days are certainly more challenging than others, but I've found it is just all part of the experience.

I hope to post as often as I can, so check back in a couple of weeks!

My new friend and guide, Ron.

My walk to the private beach

I had this place all to myself

A curious finding

This was part of a beautiful path I found in Mt. Pleasant

My Coastal Trail walk in Diamond Harbor

The rising moon on an afternoon walk

Tide pools and my five fingered shoes which I love

Diamond Harbor at sunset

Let the WWOOFing Begin!

Well I'm off to New Zealand in three hours! I fly from SFO to Auckland, and then from Auckland to Christchurch to begin my journey. A very nice couple Di and Nigel have offered to pick me up in Christchurch and invite me into their home in the Bank Peninsula just Southeast of Christchurch.

My excitement is pouring out of me. I will be WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) around New Zealand for five months, starting in Christchurch and ending in Auckland. From Auckland I will fly to Sydney and repeat the process for another five months!!!

I am so fortunate that a program like this exists, to enable travelers of all sorts to wander gracefully about the country of their choosing with virtually zero financial cost. I am so excited to trade work for food and company, it seems too good to be true.

I apologize if this entry is short and spotty, but I still have packing to do and its hard to keep my thoughts straight right now anyway. I will try to update this blog as often as possible, but I won't have access to a computer too often so we will see.

I love you all!

-Mike

The Conscious Philosopher

Today I had a great time with my friend Andrew. We collaborated on a cover for his e-book The Conscious Philosopher. It was very impromptu, but I really enjoyed the process and I like the final product.

Canon 70-200!

I received an amazing telephoto lens for Christmas and these shots are the wonderful product! I got to practice by taking photos of my sisters Fibershed work! She created a sweater for herself, a hat for me, and a beautiful scarf for our mom. Rebecca handled my camera beautifully and took the one of me. To learn more about Rebecca's Fibershed work read her amazing blog:

www.ecologicalartist.wordpress.com

I also got to take some shots of my friends dog who I was taking care of. I had so much fun!

Happy News

I've finally found what I've been looking for!

Happy News!

Finally...