It is a Tuesday night in the middle of winter here in Aotearoa. I am tucked up in our big comfy bed at our big comfy farm with my big comfy Damon and my not-so-big and often comfy but utterly disinterested in anyone but himself cat.

I made fresh wholewheat buns and extra gooey-sticky cinnamon buns and my beloved former chef and total snack of a husband foraged for leafy greens and fresh herbs in the garden. He proceeded to cook up an omelet using farm fresh eggs from our pampered pet chickens.

Heavenly. Just everything about the vibe, calm, and total comfort of a night like tonight is just fucking perfect. I actually wish I could bottle it and sell it. 

This feeling; the smells and sounds of a home and hearth filled with safety and Love and manaakitanga. 

If I could share this magic, I suspect nobody would bother being greedy or committing any crime ever. War and famine would cease to exist because we’d all have full hearts and bellies and be dripping with gratitude and basking in the awe that comes when we can hear birdsong, rustling leaves and a babbling brook that winds her way by our snuggly Scandinavian style house. My cat is still a total asshole, but even he gets smoochie when we are up here.

Sharing this feeling has become something of an obsession. 

This place has been the epicenter of the healing journeys for Damon and myself, and our small but fiercely loyal team have found safety and joy here as well. It’s a huge honour to be able to share this magic with friends and strangers from around the globe with our two eco-tourism offerings.

Just five or six years ago, not a force on earth or across the heavens above could have convinced me that this feeling could or would ever be possible. Life and Love were transactional and steeped in trauma responses. 

Back then, there was only just enough bandwidth to survive. Today, and every day, even the shitty ones, I thrive.

This blissed out and totally self-determining existence has lifted me to a level of energy, focus and optimism that guides me to want to lift anyone and everyone to the solid ground I currently stand on. Pretty certain that I used to be kind and generous because I was desperate for people to like me. Today, I give less than no fucks when people don’t like me. I might even like it.

Scratch that.

I actually fucking LOVE it when people I can’t or don’t respect do not like me. Means I am on the right track. But even those cockwombles would be welcome with open arms if they really truly wanted to be close to nature and connect with the best parts of themselves here at the farm or through any of the work/outreach/community we are intending to nourish.

A long time ago, Damon and I were doing strategy work for our brand new baby business. We had to identify goals, risks, values, vision… you all know how it goes. During all that brain-storming, bluesky-ing, and sparkling embryonic we came up with a few seriously fucking solid points.

1. Have fun, fail fast, feel joy, try new and cool shit often and with childlike wonder and abandon
2. Biodiversity and respect for nature are integral to everything we do
3. We want to act as and create a place that is an energetic lightening rod for hope, innovation, diversity and joy
4. Profit, while inarguably important to be self-sustaining will NEVER be our primary driver
5. Delight people 

There were more little sparks of genius and joy we wrote down but those are some from the top of my head and the fifth point is probably my favourite, and the reason for this blog.

We literally bop around the planet just having fun and delighting people. We leave fantastic reviews at hotels and restaurants, and gently suggest changes or improvements in private feedback for hosts and business owners who are clearly making an effort. We also lay some serious smack down if we stumble across a truly awful experience. This is rare.

The reason this blog is getting written is although we aim to delight as we bounce around being chipper and cheerful and encouraging, sometimes we just fuck shit up. An example of this happened while we were running errands in Newmarket before coming up to the farm.

As many of you know, we have a moody Tesla Model X named LOLGAS. She’s been at the forefront of the rEVolution, but has been mostly retired as a work horse on the farm and ferrying kids. Something is almost ALWAYS broken on her. Her current quirk is flinging the passenger side door open violently with extreme force – less than ideal! 

This flinging resulted in a noticeable dent being planted on a car parked next to us at the 277 carpark. We left a note explaining the situation and our phone number on the windscreen of the car we dinged and then we rang Tesla to check in for a fix as this current bug is a genuine hazard and needs to be fixed. 

Later that evening we got a call from a stranger. A lovely human named Peter called us about the ding. Turned out it was his daughter’s car, they had no intention of seeking compensation, but wanted to call to say that the fact we had left a note really touched them and that they hugely appreciated that. Damon and him then ended up having a wonderful chat about karma and gratitude and everyone left the moment feeling a bit more hopeful about the human cause and trajectory. 

Delightful. And we were delighted to be delighted by the stranger who made the effort to phone us and tell us he was delighted that we are on this journey of delighting others.

This story could have ended very differently. The fact it was so delightful made me want to share the whole story, including the warm glow of calm and comfort that I felt as I wrote this.

Have a delightful day.

Thanks for reading.