Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Kiwi Experience



I was sitting behind the pottery booth at Clifftop Stringband Festival this August, dozing in the sun between jam sessions. There is a jam tent behind the pottery shop, as Janice and I (mostly Janice) are captives to the booth. People bring the jam to me, use the tent as a way station up and down the hill. This young lady with a fiddle case and somewhat of accent asked if she could sit and wait for some friends. No problem.

Turns out she's from New Zealand on a lark to the US of A. She also knows and a friend of a friend of ours. She said she needed a bit of a sit down, as the late nights and constant motion were wearing on her at the moment.

We talked about my garlic, and remarked she worked on a farm in Canada before coming to the US and would love to visit Georgia and plant some garlic. They had just harvested 15,000 or so in Canada.

 I played with  her in a jam a couple times. She kept saying she was serious about coming to Georgia, and would be glad to do some farm work. I gave her a card, and told her to come on, never expecting that to happen. Someone wanting to plant garlic, for room and board?

A couple weeks ago, we got an email from her, asking if I needed help, that she and her buddy were headed South. My answer was bring it on.

Flora and Rose, friends since childhood, showed up with one backpack between 'em, and a fiddle. They had hitched from Knoxville in less time than it takes to drive it. The last ride brought them right to the door.

They were are delightful. If every twenty something were as together as these two Kiwi's, the world would be a different place. They planted some 25,000 garlic in about 3 days, and hardly broke a sweat. Both were good help in the kitchen. Both were excellent musicians, and Rosa was overjoyed in finding we had a bass fiddle.

They  have played in touring old time bands in Australia and New Zealand. How they came to American Old Time music is another story. They have learned well.. We had lots of tunes for the past 10 days.

Today, Janice and I took them to their friend's place in North Carolina. They go on to Nashville and then to Lafayette, La for a "feestival".

These two young people were a joy to host. I'm naming
this year's garlic crop "Flora Rose".  They sho' knows there way around a garlic farm, a log splitter and a pottery shop. I had the prettiest, most efficient, farm workers in Madison County, maybe the whole State of Georgia, seeing there ain't that many garlic farms around.

Safe travels, Flora and Rosa, wherever you are, and ya'll come back, heah. Ya'll are from the South Island, ya know. Don't make Janice and I will have to come to New Zealand looking for you. We miss ya'll already.

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