One of our stops was in Cambridge, NZ, a small town on the North Island. Cambridge is famous for breeding horses, but we stopped there because it is close to Hobbiton. We stayed at a B&B called Earthstead. The Earthstead's claim to fame is they hosted Ian McKellen when he was in town filming the Shire scenes for The Hobbit. If this place was good enough for Gandalf, it was good enough for us.
As we were driving to Cambridge, we were kind of bummed that we didn't get to do a farm stay on our trip. Jack looked into staying on a farm, but given we were going to NZ during the busiest travel time of year there, everything he looked at was booked. Claire Adele was really hoping to get a selfie with a sheep. Oh well. My friend Carla had stayed at a place that where a baby lamb had been born. Her sons fed the baby farm animal with a bottle. Is there anything cuter than a lamb? No.
Imagine our surprise when we got to Earthstead and our host asked if our kids would mind helping him milk the cows. I don't think our City Mice have ever touched a cow. Ridden public transportation? Check. Run to the coffee shop/grocery store around the corner on their own? Check. been to opening night productions at the theater? Check. Milk a cow? Nope. I was really exited we were getting a mini-farm stay. The owner described himself as a hobby farmer versus a real one. The families down the road had hundreds of cows. He had about ten: three dairy, the rest for the freezer.
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| Paris and Harriet, if I recall correctly. |
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| Kids following the farmer. Yes, the sky is that blue. |
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| Alistair shows Clair Adele how to milk a cow. The Boy watches. He wanted to shower after touching a cow. |
We were offered a fresh glass of milk right after it came out of the cow. That was probably the first and last time this will ever happen to me. The city rat in me prefers skim milk (not whole) served at approximately 37 degrees F. Straight out of the cow was something else. First, it was warm. Second, it was super rich. Third, it tasted like whatever the cow had for breakfast that morning, which was grass. I felt so out of touch with the earth, like I was few steps shy of becoming one of those people on the starship Axiom in the movie Wall-E who eat and drink only processed food. I know I am not that bad. I shop at the Farmer's Market and eat unsweetened yogurt, but I still felt like a philistine to the art of living close to the earth. Milk this fresh? I'll mark this one off as a new experience.
Our host makes cheese out of the milk, and gave us a large plate of it on the first day with some homemade bread along with with some homemade marmalade and homemade butter.
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| Me drinking milk straight out of a cow. You can tell I am excited, right? Would be be rude not to drink all of it? I tried, but couldn't. |
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| They had pigs, too. These are headed for the freezer. |
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| Cob Cottage was built by the owner using and method from back in the day in England where they mix hay into the walls. |
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