Well I arrived in Bant two Monday’s ago for my next volunteer site at a biological seed farm. The farm harvest’s plants for the production of seeds for seed companies for those who want to grow a garden themselves. The day I arrived I started out weeding while the others planted away as quickly as possible before the rain and rain it did for 3 days straight! With around 70mm of rain, apparently they say this is not typical (thank god), but things were quiet wet so the garden would haft to wait since we are now truly in clay country. I thought the soil was clay on the bamboo farm; sadly I was mistaken and now know what it looks like and what it is to work with.
Tineke and Herma run the farm together, while they both also
have part-time jobs at the college, Herma with preparing and teaching students
who want to become teachers and Tineke more in the administrative side.
Tineke’s family has own the land for quiet some time and originally they had
milk cows with some crops until Tineke decided to take it over 7 years ago
switching it both to a organic farm, as well as a seed farm.
I think every farm in the Netherlands have chickens, this
seems to be an essential thing in the Netherlands and even people in smaller
cities and other centers have them to, I guess they like their eggs fresh! When
I arrived new chicks were only 4 weeks old and how I have seen them grow and
learn new things, getting farther and farther away from there coop – the new
chicks should arrive within this week.
At this farm Tineke pretty much does all the cooking for us
and she is a really good cook, like my mother she likes to can different foods,
jams, spread and what not and I have become a big fan of her walnut spread. It’s
also kind of nice that we don’t have to cook after work and that we all sit
down together to enjoy the meal.
On first arrival to Bant, there is not much in the town; a
grocery store, church, small school, hotel with bar and hair salon, that’s
pretty much it. So the larger center closest to us is in Emmeloord, which has
about 25,000 people. The farm is also located just outside the main center of
Bant, about a 5-minute bike ride. So to keep ourselves entertained and for hot
showers (our boiler is broken), we go to badminton at a REC center on the
outskirts of Emmeloord Monday and Thursday nights. It has been years since I
have played it, but still not too bad. Rasmus and Gina (Danish volunteers), and
Rachel (previous volunteer I worked with on the Bamboo farm) introduced me to
it.
While the rain kept coming, we did some demolition work for
the girls, taken apart a few rooms to make way for a drying area for the seeds
when they are harvested.
I was also tasked the job of cleaning out the old straw from
the chicken coop and getting them fresh stuff. Not too dirty or smelly for 15
chickens, but I sure did piss off a few trying to lie on their eggs.
On Friday morning, Tineke and Herma offered Rachel and I a
drive to Tershelling Island (what they consider to be the nicest island in the
Netherlands) as they were going to watch a boat race taking place to the island
in preparation for Tineke’s training to hopefully be in the race next year. So
off bright and early we were and just in time to catch the first ferry. After
arriving on the island we decided to do some hiking (walking) around. We stayed
on the trail between the dunes and forest, as we didn’t want shoes full of
sand. We did pretty good and covered about 13km in about 4.5hours. We got to
see the different types of birds that were nesting in the area, try some
hazelnut ice cream (so good!), explore a few towns and walk along the beach. We
got back just in time to see the last of the boats coming in and the crowds
gathering around, but things started to fill up quickly so we decided to head
to the beach and soak our feet!
Then back on the ferry at 5:30 to take the slow 2 hours
ferry back plus a few buses solo, as
Rachel continued onto her next volunteer site and home by 10pm. A long but
beautiful day, I have the sunburn to prove it! And thank god for a super
friendly bus driver that got me to the right connection and home.
Too much sun on Friday, left to a lazy sleep in morning on
Saturday followed by a bike ride with Gina and Rasmus to Emmeloord to explore
the city and find there pretty nifty 2nd hand store.
Back to work on Monday and back into the field as the rain
had dried up with the 25 above temperatures and rain was soon to becoming
again. But we managed to get the last section of the field weeded (by hand) in
two days before the rain was to settle in. But rain always means, days off!
So on our rain day Tineke and Herma took us on a tour to
some of the small village in the area. The first stop was to Schokland, a small
village that really only a church, museum exist in. It once was an island, but
when the Dutch diked the area, it became part of the main land. Majority of
Flevorland (province) is the newest part of the Netherlands, I believe only
being around 70 years old due to the diking.
The island use to have about 1200 residence that for better or worse
loved the island and wouldn’t leave it, even when pretty much the whole island
burned down, until the government stepped in and had them relocated. We did a little walk around and read up on
some history of the place while Herma and Tineke told us about it and you can
still see the outline of where the island joined with the rest of the land.
Then we were off to Urk, a small fishing village to take a
wonder around while the rain poured down on us. They took us to a memorial site
that is still in use today, it lists the men and children that are lost at sea
throughout the years, the youngest being a 16-year-old boy. They even have a
statue of a women looking out to sea to resemble what the women would do when
waiting for the husbands and sons to return home. We ended our little tour at
this tiny fish and chip place, were they treated us to try the halibut fish and
chips, I’m told it is the fresh’s and best place around to get fresh fish and
it was a amazing!! I even tried the traditional Dutch fish, which is a salt
dried herring, complete with skin still on. But I couldn’t do the true Dutch
way and eat it whole in one bite, so we just got the samples for each of us to
try, thank god! I tried it, but let’s just say it’s not really my taste.
We then headed back to the farm and the Danish packed up and
headed home, I got to make a lovely fire in the Hooiberg (translates into hay
house, but is actually our kitchen and hang out area) and relax and dry off.
Now I was on my own till Sunday when Ricardo from Spain was to come.
The next few days we did some gardening, weeding and what
not around the house and had some pretty chill days as the temperatures started
to get higher. Then it was pool day with Tineke’s neice and nephew. They have a
lovely little above ground (plastic) pool right around their garden area, so we
got to dip in and cool off.
Saturday Tineke invited me to drive with her to Lemmer for
her rowing practice, while I could explore the city and bike home when I wanted
to. The city is a beautiful fishing town, complete with a long beach, canals
filled with large sale boats, little shopping stores and Germans. Yep,
apparently the Germans really like this town and spend a lot of time there
because of the beach.
I biked the 10km back on my bike and the ass was a little
numb by the end, still need training in that department.
Later that day we packed up and headed just outside of
Zwolle to a friends long weekend bash. We set up camp for the night in the
neighbors field with the other 20-30 tents and campers and sat down to have a
tasty potluck. I got to meet Rico, who is a substitute teacher and he was
excited to inform us that 4 bands would be playing that night. The tent was set
up for the music, with a large sitting/dancing area, the barn complete with a
variety of German beers and wines, a fire pit for when the night finally
decided to cool off and a whole heck of a lot of people and food. There were
probably 70 people in the end from young to old enjoying the evening. The music
was really great; my first try at some of the German beers was nice too. We
even got homemade French fries from a man cooking them in a recycled and
constructed oil barrel and man were they amazing!
Apparently it had been awhile since I had slept in a tent
and I was a bit tired the next day, but being home early meant I could sneak
off and have a nap. Later that day Ricardo showed up and we all had diner
together.
The last few days we have been out weeding in the beans and
man has it been hot, around 30 degrees the last few days, one night it was
reading 25 in my camper when I went to bed at 10:30. So hopefully some rain and
cooler days are coming this way.
But all in all a fantastic first few weeks here on the new
farm, loving Tineka and Herma and there hospitality and relaxed way of life!
(Tershelling Island)
(Tineke & Herma's see farm)
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