#48 Back to the beginning

Heyho,

unfortunately, there is no audio version this time because I just didn't have the time alone and someone always came by, etc. Sorry for the one or two people who were listening. 😅

And I just saw that it's been three weeks since my last post. Sorry about that.

After leaving Kamloops, the thermometer continued to drop on my way to

Kelowna

This city was supposed to be my next destination. Before that, I quickly stopped in Vernon, the first city on Okanagan Lake. Because that's where the so-called Okanagan Valley begins, which is known for its many wine regions.

Upon arriving in Kelowna, the first thing I had to do was look for Wi-Fi, because I saw that my campground was simply 50 kilometers away from Kelowna. After my endless search was successful, I had to realize that this was really the nearest free campground. After I had already been annoyed a bit by the city traffic and almost run over a completely stoned woman, I quickly went to the golden seagull to grab something to eat. There I had a situation that really brightened my day. Because the young waitress had an incredibly beautiful smile and she never lost it, even though the customers I observed were really horrible. This smile really saved my day and I had to tell her. You don't give compliments often enough anyway and maybe it helped her a bit with all the stress there.

Then I went into the forest again for ages until I finally arrived at my spot. It was already late, so I didn't do anything except "record" the blog.

The next morning I decided not to do anything and just wash my clothes and clean my car a bit. This went well until it started raining at noon. The problem was that it was also simply not warm and so I spent another few hours in the now cold car. Because the temperature had dropped by almost 30 degrees between Kamloops and Kelowna. In Kamloops, I had over 30 degrees Celsius even in the evening at ten o'clock, while in Kelowna the maximum temperature was 13 degrees Celsius. You can imagine that I didn't really do anything on that day. Of course, my laundry didn't dry either. Another problem was the wind, which was almost stormy. This was especially a problem for the night, because I had stretched my tarp around my car so that I could open my windows despite the rain. However, the wind was so strong that my car was shaking the whole time and the tarp was incredibly loud, so I had to close the windows at two o'clock in the morning.

With a lack of sleep, which slightly affects my mood, I went back to Kelowna. I wanted to take a look at the city and plan my future routes there. But in this city, I simply couldn't find any free and usable Wi-Fi, and on top of that, I just didn't like Kelowna. It's too big of a city that simply combines the two extremes between "completely drug-dependent" and "I have my own boat right in front of my front door," which made this city (like all big cities here) very unattractive. This didn't improve my bad mood at all, and I didn't really know what to do in the city. I couldn't really plan further due to the lack of Wi-Fi, so in my "desperation," I just called my first farm. Actually, the farmer had "rejected" me a few weeks ago because she had enough helpers, but I still wanted to try my luck and actually, because some people left the farm over the weekend and others canceled at short notice, they had enough capacity for me.

So in Kelowna, I quickly went hiking before heading to the first farm.

Amazia Farm

On the way there, I drove the same way as almost exactly a year ago. It was pretty funny because I could still remember certain phrases from the conversation with the farmer when she picked me up from Kelowna back then. And then it was time to arrive.....

It's fascinating to see the farm after a year and how it has grown. Just as there are differences in the farm, there are also differences compared to the last group. This year, the group is much (really much!) quieter than last year. How can you tell?

1. This year there are only about half as many volunteers, but production is twice as high (did we celebrate too much last year? :D)

2. The farmer buys beer for the weekend and there is still some left on Monday. Last year, we were happy if there was enough for at least one party on the weekend. :D

3. Parties only happen once a week at most.

When I think about it, there's hardly anything to report. Since the farmer offered me to stay longer, the planned one night turned into a whole week. So I helped out here on the farm, especially in the washing station. So it meant washing, checking, drying, and packaging salad and arugula for sale.

On Monday, I was assigned to planting, so new lettuce heads (every two weeks) were planted. It's always nice to see your own work and to know what's behind it. Last year I also harvested melons, I hope the people here can do that soon too, because if not, I planted them wrong on Monday. 😂 In the afternoon, we went to the river and it was amazing. The flow of the river didn't look bad at all, but you couldn't go against it. It was an intense experience that made me realize once again not to just go into rivers like that, as you really underestimate these currents. After this experience, I was also really glad that I didn't go into the river back then in Whistler. Due to the green-turquoise color, I couldn't see anything back then and the current was much stronger. This river would probably have swept me away back then.

Tuesday was a somewhat "special" day because it was garlic harvest day. Fortunately, I was able to set up the tarp over my table so that I didn't have to work in the sun all the time, because here, like last year, it's incredibly hot. We usually start working around 6 a.m. because it gets too hot otherwise. Even in the house, it's often over 30°C - 35°C, so there are hardly any places where you can offer your body some coolness. During the garlic harvest, my group was only responsible for tying and hanging the bulbs so that they can dry for several weeks before they are divided into four groups (very good - bulbs for the next planting, good/less good - for sale, bad).

Otherwise, I was actually only in the washing station and since it was so unbelievably hot, we spent the whole day just vegetating in some shady place. You can't do much in these temperatures either, so I only went to a lake once. "Unfortunately," this was a really sacred lake for the indigenous population, so I couldn't walk along this lake, so it was a very short trip. But that was good enough because this year I really couldn't sit with the group for long

I love quietly sitting in the group sometimes and observing people and their behavior and drawing conclusions from it. This year there are a lot of extroverted people here who all want to have the upper hand when it comes to talking. This constant loud and intrusive talking was absolutely nothing for me. It's also the case that they were mainly very young people who had just finished school and then always talked as if they had been born with 40 years of life experience. Another point that I found very exhausting. As I said, I don't want to degenerate into gossip here, but it was really exhausting and I would have liked to tell them more often that they shouldn't see themselves as the center of the universe, after all, the world doesn't revolve around this person.

During the night between Wednesday and Thursday, I had another animal visitor. Currently, a deer runs across the farm from time to time. I woke up at night, it was somehow 2:32 or 3:22 a.m. (something with threes and twos 😅), and as I was turning around, I saw a head at my open window. I was apparently so tired that I just stayed super calm. For a moment, I thought it was the cat, and then I just waved my hand and said that it should go away. However, since it definitely couldn't have been the cat, I simply think that the deer stopped at my car and wanted to take a little look through my window, which woke me up. It never gets boring with the animals. 😂🦌

On Friday afternoon, it was time to go back to the washing station, wash clothes, and then enjoy something very special - silence. Almost everyone from the farm went to Oliver, so I could enjoy two hours of peace with the three others who also stayed on the farm. After the others returned, a party was thrown and then it was already Saturday.

For some reason, I got stomach pains during the day, so unfortunately, I couldn't do anything except sleep. That was a bit annoying because I would have liked to go to the lake, but I just had to sleep. I was so incredibly tired and with temperatures over 30 °C, my body was already weakened and with the stomach. So it was more of a quiet day, so I didn't go to the cinema either. On the other hand, this had the advantage that I could enjoy silence again. 😂

.....

Fortunately, I haven't published the blog yet. 😅 In the last five minutes, I chatted briefly with the farmers, and now I will actually get a paid position here this week. So I work my free hours in the morning and my paid hours in the afternoon.

Actually, I didn't want to stay here for so long since I'm on a road trip, but I've already been on the road for a month now, and this small financial boost is actually quite helpful, to be honest. So I will stay another week here, but then I will really move on, because my next big destination will probably be absolutely amazing, but you will have to be patient a little longer. :b

Sweaty greetings

Samuel 🙌