Business Time

Melting away in the cherry orchards. That's what we're doing these days. I step out nude of the caravan at 5.30 a.m. and barely feel the fresh morning chill as I pee on my favourite tree. 30 degree heat hits at about 10 a.m. and the temperature has nowhere to go but up! I spend the day meandering through the cherry orchard helping pickers sort through their pickings and making stovetop coffees on a gas burner for our Italian workers [the pictured one is Russian and demands no coffee]. JM and I then sort through the days fruit and get it all pretty and packaged to send off to the expeditors. The cherries are juicy and delicious and I try to eat as many aesthetically unappealing ones as I'm obliged to throw away.

Unfortunately, the french fruit market is suffering enormously, partly because of poor quality harvests earlier in the season. Many cherries were damaged after sleeping through a long winter and then confusedly waking in hot climates only to find they were being assaulted by rain, invaded by cold and attacked by hail. Producers then sent their lame, limping cherries to dealers- who then stored them in fridges, mixed them and sent them off to fussy supermarkets who were not pleased to find rotten red weather worn cherry veterans sitting on their shelves. Four weeks down the track and Supermarkets are simply not buying cherries so dealers are just storing them in big fridges and producers are getting nothing for their efforts.

We started picking two Sundays ago as Jean Michel's cherries come later than the rest because of the altitude they grow at (this is his niche in the market). The cherries are lovely, but they aren't really selling so we are mainly doing half days of picking at the moment (6 a.m.-1 p.m.)- about 600kgs worth of fruit. I got a bit of a fright on the first day when we started at 7 a.m. and worked until 11 p.m. sorting through the days plunder- trying to get the bad ones out and putting them in size categories. Thankfully, this system was just a try-out and we managed to get home by 930 p.m. the following evening and then 8 p.m. the day after that.

JM still has to go back up the hill in the evening to water the trees so he usually gets home about two hours later. With the demand at an all time low, the rhythm is actually quite nice this week- but it's always depressing to think that after all the organising, picking, sorting, driving, and packaging the cherries go and rot in some poor expeditors fridge! Might as well do the full day's work and then throw it all into an incinerator! Pity also that the average french person won't experience the nice juicy taste of cherries freshly plucked from the tree. Anyway- not to worry- JM will be one of the few left on the market next week and supermarkets will catch up with the fact that cherries are generally now in good nick.

• I've been milking two goats- Tiki and Tahi- for the last month and a bit. I handle their teats quite well now and get the most out of them. Katy makes nice cheese from the approx. 4 litres they kindly put out.
• Hannah has been having French conversations with a tutor up the road and I love reading the essays she writes for homework.
• It's hot these days. If I'm home in the evenings I usually dream up going for a run and end up having a cigar and reading a book under the big tree by the stream. Going through the book of Judges which is refreshingly action packed. I especially enjoyed this account last weekend:

Ehud

'Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it. At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king."

The king said, "Quiet!" And all his attendants left him.

Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said, "I have a message from God for you." As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, "He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house." They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

"Follow me," he ordered, "for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands." So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years’

Great attention to detail in this account. I also love that the next two lines are.

‘After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel’.

Good for Shamgar to get a mention, I thought. Good one. I also came across the Hebrew name ‘Keenaz’ in there somewhere and I thought that would be a great name to give a kid. Totally ligit, dude- it's like- in the Torah. Like that couple who wanted to call their boy ‘4REAL’ (as written). On the subject of names- I've enjoyed seeing Xav&B, Katy&JM, and Lou&Tim's naming of their boys. Names are fascinating and its exciting to be confronted with a name that causes you to meditate on its meaning. Xav made this brilliant picture of the three nephews. Just great.

Left to right: Finlaeic Te Kawaingatoa o te Mana Atua , Thomas Manatoa, Te Kōpū-a-rangi Turanga Reuben Vance

Looking forward to seeing how these fellas turn out!

PS- Pictures from tonight- Manatoa's first barbeque!