goin to the farm... fb here... July 22nd

We woke up ready and raring to hit the farm and do our bit of wwoofing. We found out that pistachios grow on trees and felt confident that we could bluff our way through the rest.

We had organic muffins and coffee, an auspicious start for Australia, where our best meal had been a Subway tuna sandwich, and headed over the the Festival Center in Adelaide where Stewart and Yvonne would pick us up. Stewart had told us what kind of car he had but neither of us knew what the make of model looked like so we sat on a wall watching parrots fly just above our heads and hoped we looked like two people waiting to get back to nature.

A small pickup flashed it's lights, pulled in and Stewart jumped out. He grabbed our packs, threw them in the back and we got in the two rear seats.

Both Stewart and Yvonne had been nurses. Stewart was in the Army and Yvonne had worked in hospitals. They had recently retired and moved back to Quorn, Yvonne's home town moving into an old trainmaster's house at the end of a rail line. Yvonne continued nursing for awhile and Stewart decided pistachios were the answer to his retirement dream.

After heading out through North Adelaide and into the Baroosa Wine District Stewart stopped talking long enough for us to ask a few questions. Our first - have you ever been to the States - was answered with "No, I've never had the slightest desire to see the U.S." We let that pass and let him keep talking.

The next conversation was between Stewart and Yvonne. She said they had some friends they'd like us to meet - a bohemian couple who are building a beautiful two story house out of native wood and stone. Stewart informed all of us that it wasn't a "2 story house" that there is no such thing, that it's really a house with 2 floors. Now we started to form some opionions. Everyone in the world calls it a 2 stories but if Stewart says no, it must be so.

This would be the first of many Stewartisms. We also found out that there is too much education in the world, that far too many people go to college and that no one learns a trade anymore. On our way through some small towns looking for a place for lunch, Yvonne hesitated at suggesting to stop at a small cafe so Stewart said too bad, you had your change we're going to the local bistro. Evidently it would have been too great a hardship for him to turn around or stop and park and walk 50 yards back. We felt like we were getting to know the man.

On arriving at their house, Yvonne got ready to go to an art class in Port Augusta and wouldn't be back for four hours. That left us alone with Stewart. He gave us a quick tour of the yard and gardens and showed us the pistachio grove. Our job for the next seven days would be weeding around the trees. He likes people to commit to seven days because it's too disruptive if they stay for any less than that. A week was beginning to look like a long time.

It was time to go inside and for Stewart to take his nap. Like every home or hostel we had seen in Australia there was no central heat so Stew loaded up the wood stove. Finally something I felt I could discuss with a certain knowledge. I made the mistake of calling it a wood stove. Like a 2 story house there is no such thing as a wood stove, Stewart has a "wood burner" and he has his own way of starting it, a process he referred to as "one of my many inventions" one that like his others would make life much easier for people if only they would follow his advice.

It was up to Stewart to make supper for all of us before his nap he pulled out a loaf of bread and a can of spaghetti. It hardly seemed the type of meal to serve at an organic farm but if we got through it quickly Stewart would be napping all that much sooner.

Our highlight of the day was walking out the door and heading to town - it's been in a number of movies and is actually a really nice little outpost on the flat plains just at the foothills of the Flinders Ranges - more on the town, Stewart and our farming to continue later.