June 21
Today we woke up late like a scene out of "Home Alone". We planned to leave for the train at 10 and we woke up at 9:45 so the pack up was frantic. We made it to the train in plenty of time, though we had to ask for help figuring out which train to take and how to buy tickets. Once on board we had a 90 minute ride. Some slept, some read. We changed trains in Linz and had an 80 minute ride. This train was very rural and made stops in the middle of nowhere. We were met at the town of Peuerbach by Betty and Lisa who live at the farm. We only had a 10 minute ride to the farm. There were several people around. We learned there is a woman with two young children also woofing here. They are from Berlin. The kids instantly started playing w the 6 year old girl Louisa. There are lots of tiny kittens, goats, horses, chickens, quail, a donkey. Renate is the owner of the farm. She is a tan, lean, strong woman with a long grey pony tail. She gave us a drink of water then showed us our room. The room is very modern and clean and had 4 mattresses on the floor and a couch. There are lots of windows and some have screens!
We wandered around looking at things and not really knowing what to do. Rebate teaches riding and some local kids were showing up so she said we should relax and after the class she would show us what to do. James and I took a nap and the kids woke us up around 5. We walked to see fences we need to repair, a hole that needs covering, and then she took us to a room where we learned to split wood.
We worked with her parents. Her dad is 90! And her mom is so strong. James and Casey used the splitter while I moved big logs towards the splitter and stacked the split wood. We did this for almost two hours. Then Renate came to say that it was time for dinner. We roasted sausages on a stick around the fire pit with salad, some rice and bread.
After dinner Renate and James drove the tractor to the field and Casey and I followed on the quad bike. She mowed and we scooped the cut grass into the tractor. The sun was setting and we were up on the hill. It was absolutely beautiful. We fed the horses and put the stuff away. Then we took a quick shower and at getting the room set for sleeping. It seems like a great farm with lots to do, really nice people and fun for us and the kids. Pretty ideal!
June 22. Didn’t have a great sleep due to lots of strange farm animals clucking, bleating and crowing all night. But all told the room was comfortable, cool and relatively bug free. I woke up at 8 and drove the quad bike out to the pasture where we cut the grass. We had half a row to finish collecting from the night before. The grass was wet so a little harder to lift. We fed the horses and then James and I went to work moving a very large stone slab to cover a big hole in the ground.
Julia joined Renata’s 9:00am riding class in the indoor ring. We had a quick breakfast of bread and jam. We cleaned up the wood room and finished splitting and stacking all the wood. We shoveled horse poop more than once and took it in a wheelbarrow to the poop pile. I weeded the potato garden which was much easier than weeding beets. We had a big lunch outside. Lunch is more like our dinner with it being a large hot meal. We are schnitzel, rice, salad, noodles and potatoes. All three girls joined renata’s 2:00 riding class through the woods. We walked along with them to help because our girls are less experienced. It was a nice walk and the kids had fun. The ride lasted about one hour.
In the evening we cut more rows of grass and loaded it in to feed the animals.
Then we helped clean the barn. We moved all sorts of stuff out of one side because they are going to build a few more horse stalls. We finally ate dinner around 8:45 pm and we were exhausted, dirty and hungry. Dinner was more like our lunch, bread, cheese, meats, hard boiled eggs and some left overs from lunch. I took a shower after and am in bed. Today was a full day of manual labor and I am tired and my feet are tired! But it was beautiful and we are happy to be here!
We wandered around looking at things and not really knowing what to do. Rebate teaches riding and some local kids were showing up so she said we should relax and after the class she would show us what to do. James and I took a nap and the kids woke us up around 5. We walked to see fences we need to repair, a hole that needs covering, and then she took us to a room where we learned to split wood.
We worked with her parents. Her dad is 90! And her mom is so strong. James and Casey used the splitter while I moved big logs towards the splitter and stacked the split wood. We did this for almost two hours. Then Renate came to say that it was time for dinner. We roasted sausages on a stick around the fire pit with salad, some rice and bread.
