Farm life part 2: part of the family

They call me the Dutch foreman or clog boy. And I say I need to get a certificate for looking after all these senior citizens. Those are the jokes being made back and forth while working on the block (vineyard). I am by far the youngest working for the Hudsons (Andrew and Roslyn) and am surrounded by about 8 other workers in or around their sixties. I take care of the time sheets, inform everyone what we are doing where on what day and generally function as a medium between the workers and Andrew and Roslyn. It feels a bit weird since most of these guys have been working as fruit pickers before I was born and now they need to listen to this crazy ‘young’ Dutchie who has never set foot on a fruit block before in his life. But everyone is ok with it and very chill about it. I even sense that they are happy not to have to deal with time sheets and logistics.

One of my other, self-appointed, jobs is taking care of the chickens and the geese that are located in a pen out back. I make sure they have ample food and water and collect the eggs. Funny how chickens or chooks as they are called in Australia can guilt trip you for taking their eggs. Every day I come by and find one or two chooks sitting in their little barrel guarding their eggs. As I reach underneath their skirt to grab the eggs they make little clucking noises and have this slight panicked look in their eyes. It makes me feel bad, but only until I think of the bacon and eggs I’ll be having the next morning.

The geese are a different story. I am at war with them. There is a big blue bucket full of water for them to cool off in. A rope is tied to it through two holes in the side to help tip it to refresh the water. Every other day the geese have managed to undo the knot and pull the rope out. One rope just fully disappeared. When I made a new one I first tied it with a reef knot. That didn’t last. Next was 3 or 4 half hitches on top of each other. That lasted for 3 days. I tried the bowline next and it is still holding. I looks like I’m winning this battle!

It has gotten a bit busier at the house. Two family friends have come, like they do every year, to help out with the harvest. Jeff and Pat are a lovely couple that are retired fruit growers. Jeff is a jolly guy, always joking and in good spirits. Pat is a lovely, very polite lady with a good sense of humor. She had a stroke a few years back and moves a bit slower and is sometime a bit forgetful. But she deals it with very well and is lovely company to be around.
Another family friend which I became really fond of is Bernie. He is a 77 year old man who lives close by. He pops in now and then for tea or to help out. His sense of humor is amazing. Very dry and a bit sarcastic from time to time. I would tell him something and he would reply in his slight hoarse voice: ‘I believe you, thousands wouldn’t’. It just cracks me up. What a wonderful person.

Their oldest son, Daniel, came to help on the farm for a week. It was very nice to have him around. He is around my age and we ended up at his house one night with a box of beer and a bottle of whisky. That was a welcome change which I paid for the next morning.

The youngest son Luke, who has Down syndrome, is quite a character. He doesn’t like doing the dishes and every evening we have a bit of a tug of war to get him to help. I think he doesn’t really mind and just likes the game of trying to get out of this chore. I find it a fun ritual we go through daily. He is a good kid. Nice, polite, a good worker and quite independent. I like that he is not treated much different than others because of his disability, as it should be. And it makes him a full and enjoyable member of this wonderful family.

The last week has been a bit hectic. Adrew’s mother passed away one night and as you can imagine everything changed. As he was busy taking care of all the arrangements and legalities, work on the block had to continue. With this family being so great to me I was glad that I was there to step up and take care of a few less things for him to worry about. As a result of his mom passing I got to meet most of the rest of the family that came down for the funeral. And not just Andrew, Roslyn and their sons are great, but everyone I got to meet are warm and kind people. A bit rough around the edges but all with hearts of gold. I was introduced as ‘part of the family’ by Roslyn and Andrew and they really made me feel like I am.

Next to meeting many new people I did and learned a lot of new things. I learned a lot about growing and harvesting grapes for dried fruit. I drove quad bikes, dirt bikes, 4 different tractors and a 1927 Ford model T truck. I fired a firearm for the first time in my life and went trapping rabbits. It is not allowed to ‘trap’ rabbits anymore so we used ‘mechanical restraining devices’. The only thing I caught was but of fur and all rabbits escaped to live another day. I swam in the Murray River, saw kangaroos (my first ones), goannas, a bearded dragon, cockatoos, parrots, pelicans and weird bugs. Enjoyed many beautiful sunsets, saw a dust storm and awed at the night sky seeing a million stars on a black canvas. I learned to hate flies with a passion since they are abundant and ever present and end up near your eyes, ears end sometimes in your nose.

Another thing I learned is that do not speak English in Australia but Australian.

A few examples:

Breakfast is brekkie, lunch is dinner and dinner is tea. Yesterday is yestie and afternoon is arvo. Chickens are called chooks and baby chickens (chicks) are called chickens. A work break is smoko and thanks is Ta. Goodbye/ see you later is Hoo roo and a cooler/cool box is an eski. Something broken is stuffed and tired is buggered. Although buggered can be used for a lot of things and you can say bugga when you hit your toe or something like that. If you are sick or angry you’re crook and a beer bottle is a stubby. A gas station is a servo where you fill up your pick-up truck or ute.

I also got introduced to a ‘camp oven’. You start by burning vine stumps and Mallee (type of tree) stumps to create coals. You put those coals in a drum cut in half or in a hole in the ground. Put whatever ingredients you want in a heavy cast iron pot with close fitting lid and put that on the coals. In this case it was a big chunk of beef, leg of lamb, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and dough to make dampar, a type of ‘bush baked’ bread. I found it a very interesting way of cooking and everything was delicious.

 My new family really went out of their way to give me the full Aussie experience. And as said before they made me feel very welcome as they ‘adopted’ me into their midst. I will surely miss them when I leave this place and am glad to know that I always have a welcome home to go to in Australia.