Day 143: The fat lady has sung

South Africa

Márcia managing the "chipper"

We realize it was a pipe-dream for us to think that our last day on the farm would be a little easier than those that came before it. Edmund had other plans for us though and made sure we finished things with a bang. After spending the first part of the morning fighting claustrophobia while cleaning the inside of a 20,000 liter tank, we moved on to cracking and separating the shells of several hundred macadamia nuts. Then, the fun started and we headed to the river bed to clear out some thick, alien vegetation that had begun to infiltrate the area. Pier manned the chainsaw, I dragged the branches out and up a little hill, and Márcia put everything into the “chipper”. We managed to clear a good portion of the area and by the time 17:00 rolled around we had filled two truck beds full of mulch. We high-fived, and couldn’t help but feel happy and a little proud that we made it through our short, two-week farm experience. Aside from the good people we met and the good memories we made, we also have a killer farmer’s tan to take with us.

Nosso último dia aqui na fazenda estávamos planejando em descansar mais do que pegar no pessado, afinal de contas é o útlimo dia né! Mas não sabíamos que Edmund tinha outros planos para nós… Começamos o dia bem tranquilo, com Bryan entrando num tanque de vinho para lavar por dentro. Interessante e claustrofobico ao mesmo tempo, terminamos rapimente, e a próxima tarefa já estava a nos aguardar. Quebrar macadamias. Trabalhando e comendo, foi então que o chefe decidiu que o serviço estava muito fácil e nos mandou para o campo novamente. Ao lado do pequeno rio, as árvores estão tomando conta do pedaço. Então, mesmo com um aperto no coração em cortar quem tanto nos ajuda a ter um ar puro, foi nosso amigo Pierre quem ficou com a serra elétrica. Bryan pegava os galhos e ia passando para eu colocar no picotador . Num passo de mágica, tudo que estava em grandes pedaços, se formava em adubo para outras plantações. Já passava das 16h30 quando os dois carros estavam cheios e estavamos quase terminando, mas Edmund apareceu e mesmo sem querer, ficamos fazendo hora extra… último dia de trabalho, suados, fedidos, pernas e braços arranhados, bronzeados com as marcas da fazenda, mas super feliz pela experiência vivida. Nos conseguimos!!!

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3 thoughts on “Day 143: The fat lady has sung

  1. Hey, Guys, Now that you have all that farm experience, all rendered for room and board, when you get home you can refresh those new-found skills by coming over and trimming my shrubs and working my garden. I’ve even got some shade near-by for when you need to take a break.
    You know, if you don’t use those new skills, you’ll lose ’em. :-)

    1. As long as you don’t have any more buchu for us to pick… Maybe we’ll just work our way around the world as farm hands…

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