Campfire Smores & City Tours

Well the last couple of weeks have flown by so fast and now we are two left on the farm, at least until other volunteers show up.

Jessica and Leonardo headed back to Italy, but not before Jessica prepared us one last Italian lunch, I think we all miss having the Italian cook around – but hopefully in my journeys I will make it to visit them both!

Work at the farm seems to go by quickly and there’s always new experiences every day, having three-day weekends is also a most enjoyable time. Especially since Rachel and I found this really good café/bakery in Amersfoort. We even brought Jessica and Leo one weekend and the newest volunteer William (from Scotland) to the hidden gem. We’ve been there the last 3 Fridays to enjoy it all, for me the hot chocolate with the chocolate served on a stick to dunk in my milk is the thing I love, but also sampling all the treats they have. This Canadian woman loves her chocolate and sweets, but as amazing as they are here, I know there will be other things in other countries to try. Unfortunately this weekend my coffee (and dancing/singing) partner has left to continue her travels and visit her boyfriend in the North of Holland, I hope to meet up with her again before she returns to England or visit her in England someday too!

Before Jessica and Leonardo left, I introduced them to smores and roasted marshmallows – there first experience, as well for a few others too. But first we had diner on the fire with salmon, corn on the cob complete with pasta salad - I got the sign of approval! They even said when I come to Italy, that we will have to do it all again.

The rain has finally set in and I’m hoping that there is sun around the corner as it’s made for a cold working week and sleep, but thanks to my electric heater – at least one of those I can change. But the guys at the farm are pretty cool, they let us work inside and pot plants when the rains are too hard. Which sounds easy, but when you’re trying to pot a 2-meter high bamboo in a container and make it stand straight, it proves to be difficult some days.

I think most can handle the rain, but when that wind picks up – it’s a doozy! Especially while biking to and back from Amersfoort, only 5 km each way seems twice as long when riding into the wind, but it’s made a little nicer now that I bought my own bike! Yep, 75 euro’s for a fully functioning purple bike, I just have to buy saddlebags for the back and rig up a basket in the front for Mocha. Apparently it was a good deal from what I’m told, so thanks to the bike store in Leusden!

We had a going away diner for Rachel at Erwin and Kyra’s Friday night – pizza night. Muuse helped load the pizza’s on and Lova skipped away, even both gave a performance and danced to the music. I got to tuck Lova in for the night; thankfully she picked the English book about San Francisco! We also got to see some clips of Kyra’s brothers performing group – they are quiet talented.

I was off Saturday to Utecht to catch up with Paula and get a tour of the city center. We biked down from my campground to the city center and made our way through the streets until arriving at the Yogurt Barn for lunch. I think this is definitely now one of my favorite places, complete with brownie yogurt and chai latte, I was good to go!

Then she showed me the old historic buildings, canals, churches and museums. She translated the written information and explained to me why certain things were there or how they worked, all in all a pretty good tour guide and a well-informed woman that knows a lot about her city and country.

Eventually we came to one of her favorite hang out spots at the theater. A theater that plays only indie and foreign films, complete with 2 cafes and a restaurant so that you never have to leave. So we sat down fro the traditional mint tea with the whole plant in the cup and looked over the guide. Since it was a rainy Saturday, we decided to stay for a movie and watched “The Grande Budapest Hotel” which was pretty good. I think my favorite part was that you could actually take a beer from one of the cafes/restaurants onsite and take it in with you to watch the movie, amazing! I think we need this in Canada.

After the movie, the sun decided to come out and clear up – but the wind definitely picked up. So we stopped by the store to get some things for diner and picked Mocha up at the campground. She got to ride in the backpack as I rode the bike to Paula’s house. Paula said that we are definitely Dutch now!

Paula prepared a traditional Dutch diner complete with white asparagus (which I am told they call “White Gold”) ham, potatoes and boiled eggs with sauce. It was fantastic!! I think I am an instant fan of the white asparagus. They even have the double-sided peeler just for them.

The wind and rain was more than I wanted to deal with on Sunday, so the walk to the top of the Dom and the Botanical gardens at the University will have to be saved for another day.

Now back at the ranch for a relaxing Sunday while it pours outside, can’t wait for the sun!

Kings Day!

New volunteers and Kings Day

After the Easter weekend the next batch of volunteers joined us at the farm with the old ones heading out. Rachel joined us from England and Jessica and Leonardo came from Italy. It didn’t take long to know that the new team worked well together and we set the rhythm right away.

We were very delighted when Jessica cooked Danish pancakes (crepes) for us the one evening. They didn’t last long, but we got the best of both worlds and even had desert crepes!

This group seems to be a bit more social and we like to cook group diners together and have some drinks after some of the long days. It’s a welcomed change.

The days are defiantly getting warmer and even getting up to +25 a few afternoons this week, which was a little bit too much for this Canadian one day.

The one-day we had to go to the other field and weed and cut down the roots of the Christmas trees, which as work was pretty easy. But as the temperature rose in the afternoon and the farmer let out his chickens, not quiet the whole 30,000 of them – but a good hundred at least. Thankfully most of them stayed on the other side of the fence with only about a dozen getting through to annoy us. As you were weeding they would creep up and get in the way to get all the bugs and worms that wiggled there way out – and they were pretty brave chickens too.

If you had to leave the fenced area into the area with all the rest of the chickens, they were excellent at shadowing you and following you to wherever you were going – obviously they new humans meant food. Thankfully that day was my Friday and a few beers after work with the crew was much enjoyed by all, we even followed it up with pizza from the cob stove!

A much needed rest day with some running around, which was suppose to follow with the Kings Day festivities, was cancelled due to the thunder and lightning storm – we were not brave enough to venture out that night.

Kings Day (which was called Queens day until she retired just two years ago) is a celebration of the King and his family. Everyone where’s orange, which I’m not sure why orange to be exact and then on the actual Kings day all the stores close down so that everyone gathers around the city centers and puts whatever they want out on the street to sell. I’m told in the larger centers, people even sleep out the night before to get a good spot – sort of like what some would do for concert tickets. Then everyone wanders around and buys super cheap stuff. This is combined with food, games and some live music to celebrate the day.

I and the Italians were not brave enough to take in Amsterdam at this time, apparently the city which is already over 1 million people, explodes into something around 4 million and the streets are packed with people barley moving from where you started.

We on the other hand ventured out to Amersfoot, which were just enough people that at times you were shuffling along. Then we headed back to Leusden to have a beer and listen to the live music.

After some diner and a quick bonfire that Muuse wanted to lite up back at the farm, we headed out back to see the live music in the evening and have some drinks. I think I seen more older people grooving and shaking it to all the music and having a good time. The music was all English pop and they didn’t sing the whole songs, a few lines or half of the song then onto the next so it was a full on mix. I’ve also learned that Dutch people are super tall, especially when trying to see live music, ha ha!

But a good time had by all and an interesting bike ride back made for a sleep in day the next morning – especially since it was non-stop raining.

A good weekend and my first Kings day experience!

Tulips and Hungarian home brew!

Well this was the first weekend of adventure and touring around in the “Beast!”

So I decided to head to Northern Holland and check it out, also trying to avoid the hoards of people (apparently Easter weekend is opening weekend for the Germans to come to the ocean in the Netherlands) and hopefully see some tulips. 

With a little planning and some help from Kyra, a plan was in place to take a gander at some of the lovely towns Northern Holland had to offer and to get off the beater track.

So I first headed through Amserfoot and up a little north of it before heading west and a quick detour around Amsterdam and under the tunnel and I found myself at my first destination of Waterland.

A beautiful little area spread out next to the ocean with canals running through it (as I am finding out like most places in the Netherlands) and old brick farmhouses. I then headed to the little island with a town called Marken on it connected only by a berm on both sides giving it access to the mainland and another smaller island off of it. Full of history and a large section dedicated to a tourist attraction full of historic buildings, museums, boat shipping and shops.

Then off up the coast off the beaten path and what would appear to any Canadian a one car road only to pull over and let others pass by and avoid the groups of bikers both pedal and motor.

I enjoyed the beautiful weather as I toured the countryside and the small towns and cities, admiring their architecture and history. The fields full of sheep, goats and other farm animals along the coast weren’t much different than being more inland, minus the fields and fields of colored tulips. Red, yellow, orange, purple, white and any color imaginable catching the eye. I first laid my eyes on an almost florescent pink field in the distance nestled between green. I had to double take to realize just what it was.

Then I found it, after that all the colors came as I drove more into the middle of North Holland and since the wheels gave me the access to get off the main highways, I could actually pull over get out and walk into the farmers fields to admire all the blossoming tulips.

But as the day progressed it was time to find a campground, so helpful little James pulled up some suggestions for me and I headed for the one nearest to I – not exactly what I would consider cozy and no sign of life, so off to the next I went.

That one happened to be a better choice and it actually had people staying in it, most of whom I was going to soon find out actually live there year round.

As I pulled up the owner found a cozy little campsite for me next to a party of people Barbequing. I unpacked and set up shop for the night and both Mocha and I got out for a stroll around to see what was around. A pretty small town called Winkel was where I landed for the night. Not much open on the Easter weekend after 5pm, but the peace and quiet was okay with me.

As I was unwinding and having some cheese and crackers with my beer and seeing what I could plan for the following day, my neighbors came over to invite me to a BBQ. So of course I accepted and was introduced to 4 people from Hungary and 2 with their 2-year-old daughter from Romania (I knew they weren’t Dutch as the way they were talking was not at throaty). They were really lovely people and tried to keep feeding me more and more. Apparently in some countries in Europe they celebrate what is called a “Name Day” this is not your birthday but apparently each day of the year is a celebration of someone’s name and happened to be Naomi’s. So I even got cake of two kinds and one was a traditional Hungarian one, which was really good! I also was of course offered Hungarian home brew, which I thought I would try and not be rude of course. I think I sipped on two shot glasses for a few hours, while the men seemed to down them quiet quickly. Apparently it was 48% proof that one of their fathers had brought for them and not much better from the stuff in Canada I had tasted.  The guys were also drinking whiskey scotch with apple juice, which I don’t think I have ever seen before. The rest of us drank beer and champagne. It was a good night of food and drinks and meeting some people.

The next day I headed out and headed to the West side of North Holland and toured around in the towns and cities and what not before making our way back to Leusden.

Easter Monday was the Egg Hunt day. We tidied up t he bamboo farm and got it all ready for the kids and families that were on their way. Apparently they hid about 500 eggs throughout the farm – so far I haven’t found any that didn’t get found.

There was probably a good 40 kids that showed up with there families and they were pretty excited when it was time to grab there Easter baskets and head out. So excited that not too many wanted to stop and get a photo taken, but I managed to get a few good shots!

Once the egg hunt had finished it was time for the egg races around the pond, this consisted of one very raw egg and a spoon. The kids were off first making their way around and then it was the parent’s turn. But we decided to turn it up a notch and have them put the spoon in their mouth with the egg on top.  A few eggs were lost in the games, but surprisingly quiet a few made it through and we had lot’s to cook with over the next week.

We ended the Easter Monday with a campfire diner with the a few family and friends, complete with campfire bread on a stick, corn on the cob and salmon on the fire. All and all is was a lovely weekend.