Release the Trees!

That title makes me think of Mr Burns -- 'Release the hounds!', but my experience with releasing trees is quite far from the villainous Monty Burns.

One of my tasks on the farm was to (you guessed it!) release the trees in the wetland. Along one edge of the farm's property runs a very small stream, and they are actively trying to reclaim the wetlands. Reclaim them from the cows, that is. The cows muck up the land all around the stream from walking their heavy bodies on it (called pugging), and basically the stream gets lost in the process. So fences go up around the streams (or where the stream should be, and the lucky streams at that) and native trees are planted within the fence's borders. But, until the trees are a tree-like size, the grass (that is no longer being eaten by the cows) grow up all around the trees, sometimes so much so that the trees aren't visible. Gosh dang, environmentalism is hard work! So a few times a year (while the trees are still wee babes) someone goes down and releases the trees from the grasses. (A simple task made more challenging by their number --800!) As intuitive as the job sounds, I couldn't remember what my host called it, so until the name stuck in my head I called it freeing the trees. Which made (and makes) me giggle.

Life on Bushlie's Corner is treating me well. (other than the splinters, of which I've had 4 that required needle attention, and a handful of smaller ones) Today I saw two of the ducks wagging their tails -- ha -- ducks wag their tails. I have just under a week left here before a night in New Plymouth, then up to Thames for some relaxation (hmmm.... I wonder who colonized NZ? It's a shame the names of the towns are so unfamiliar....) before heading back to Auckland for my flight to Sydney. So I have just under 2 weeks left here -- hard for me to believe that I'm so far into the trip already. Time marches on (especially when one's traveling).

I promise to upload heaps of photos once I get to a place that recognizes my camera (some of the computers here have been quite mean -- ostracizing it, not letting it play any reindeer games and such).

Cheers!