Living the farm life in New Zealand, via Zoom

In March, after more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Living in a constant state of anxiety, sheltering from a danger that one can't even see, desperate to kill the boredom, people were in pursuit of new experiences to brighten their new bleak routine. Luckily for them, Airbnb which took over the world with its short-term homestay service is now providing online experiences to transport people into worlds unknown from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Austeja Treinyte writes about one such experience that invites people to visit a Corriedale sheep farm in New Zealand.

2020/05/26

It’s now almost two months since the UK went under lockdown. I can’t believe it’s been so long as if we skipped April whatsoever. Every day seems the same, but now every sound, smell and flavor comes with more excitement and thought. Like many, I’m desperately bored, so I start noticing every new little plant in my garden, I recognise different bird songs. I don’t need to set my alarm these days, so my body naturally wakes up with the rising sun and feels tired once it sets.

This new routine appears to be a lot more similar to that of farm life, away from civilization, rather than the city rush I was used to. ‘We are always social distancing’ says Angie Hossack, who lives on a small Corriedale sheep farm in New Zealand. As a hobby and a side hustle, Angie hosts an online experience called 'Meet the Woolly Sheep on My Farm' on airbnb.com, providing people all around the world with a hint of what’s it like living on a farm.

Corriedale sheep farm online experience, Airbnb.co.uk

Angie hosts the hour-long experience on Zoom; everything you need is to choose a date and a time suitable for you and pay £10. The only appropriate time I can join the experience is 11 pm, it’s still morning in New Zealand. After I finish my purchase, an email comes to my inbox: Angie thanking me for booking the experience and I get a link to join the Zoom meeting.

It’s moments before the experience through a remote farm somewhere far in New Zealand is scheduled to begin, I click on the link and expect to see marvelous views of nature uncovered on my computer screen. Not yet. As per usual, we’re having technical problems – Angie takes time to start the video meeting and we’re a couple of minutes late to meet her sheep and experience the farm life.

Eventually, the video meeting loads, and I’m in. The first thing I see is an adorable white sheep and a blond woman waving at me, or to at least two other people in the online meeting. Who is this woman? I've learned her name is Angie, but I don’t know her. Why does it feel so weird and intimate talking to strangers on a video call with my family pictures hanging on a wall behind me and other personal items making their way into my camera background? I feel more exposed knowing Angie is in a way at my home, even though she is thousands of miles away.

Photograph: Angie Hossack, Airbnb.co.uk

Three more people show up and Angie decides to start the experience. It's just a few of us today but this virtual tour can include up to 100 guests per hour. She introduces herself and asks us to tell where we’re from and why we’re interested in sheep. Ciara and Paul volunteer to go first, they say they’re from Tennessee and are generally interested in farm animals, next is Kate Nelson and her son, who love all creatures. Angie calls my name and I reply saying, I’m in the UK, it’s my first online experience and meeting wolly sheep caught my interest – I don’t want Angie to know that I’m just desperately bored. There are also two other women from New York and two young girls from California. Angie says I’m the first person joining the experience from the UK, but she had an interview earlier today with journalists from here. I'm told that Angie's virtual tour is most popular among customers from the United States and Japan.

This whole time the white sheep next to Angie is trying to sniff her armpits. By everyone’s smiles, I can tell we’re all mostly occupied with watching Coco, that’s the name of the sheep. Angie cuddles Coco, while talking us through the plan for today’s experience. First, she’s taking us for a walk around her family’s ten-acre farm, which is located in Rotorua, a town set on its namesake lake on New Zealand’s North Island. Now, I can see endless meadows full of trees and flowers, surrounded by rolling green hills in the distance. It’s still morning on Angie’s farm, and I can hear birds singing. I don’t feel exposed anymore; I’m just taking a walk with a friend to meet some sheep and lambs.

Angie now takes us to where her sheep are resting and feeds them generously, she explains that we’re seeing Merino and Corriedale breed sheep. These are primarily used for wool production, but Angie’s family kills 4 sheep a year for meat. She says it’s not their favourite thing to do. We are also told, this sheep breeds from 1 to 5 babies, Coco is now pregnant and is soon to give birth. We are also shown other grey and chocolate colour fur sheep before moving on to see the rest of the animals on the farm.

Angie’s husband is a third-generation sheep breeder, she learned to take care of sheep from his family, but she also enjoys growing chickens, horses, and goats on their farm. We are introduced to two of their horses, a 23-year-old racehorse and a 19-year-old pony. However, everyone seems most excited to see Angie trying to catch a chicken for us to show.

I notice Kate’s son is out of the camera view now, and the girls from California are chatting between themselves. Angie notices that too, so she takes a ‘name these fiber animals’ board and says we’re up for a quiz. We need to name the animals on the board and guess which wool belongs to them. Children get livelier trying to guess the animals, and I’m the only one to correctly answer which wool belongs to a goat. Everyone’s full of excitement again and ready for whatever Angie is going to show us next.

She now takes us to a porch next to her house where she demonstrates to us the process of producing the wool ready to sell. Angie has some ready alpaca and lama fibers that she brushes, blends, and cards into large batts of fiber before processing by spinning them into wool on her spinning wheel. Angie says she only learned spinning a few years ago, but watching her, it seems effortless.

It’s now only a couple minutes before our time is over, so Angie asks if there’s anything we want to ask. I am interested to know how long Angie has been doing these live experiences. She says it’s her first week, a couple of zoom meetings almost every day. However, before the Coronavirus outbreak, she used to do similar experiences live, having people come over to her farm and staying there for a few days. One such online session can earn Angie about $400 (£206), more than what she earned in her previous job as a reading recovery teacher.

While traveling is still on hold, such online experiences provide an opportunity for businesses like Hossack's to make up for losses experienced from decreased agrotourism. Despite the additional stress and pressure from the pandemic and response, farmers in New Zealand seem to have a unique kind of resilience to make it work. They find that the pandemic experience has brought positives, such as opportunities for new markets and a growing appreciation from the community. One research shows close to three-fifths (63%) of New Zealanders have a positive view of sheep and beef farming. This is a significant increase of 9% compared to just eight months ago.

For customers like me, bored and desperate for overseas adventures, Angie's virtual experience is a great way to travel without getting up from my sofa. Although it might seem like another episode of Black Mirror at first. Nevertheless, such a virtual tour of a farm lively with adorable sheep and lamb might help tackle the loneliness and mental health problems people experience in response to prolonged isolation. Research shows that experiencing nature can reduce stress levels, and help people feel less overwhelmed and more in control.

Angie thanks us for spending time with her on her farm in New Zealand and we all burst out our polite gratitude in unison, which creates a bit of chaos. Angie quickly asks us to leave a review on airbnb.com about our experience before waving goodbye. I press the button on my computer to leave the online meeting and realise I was still in my living room with my family pictures behind me and all my personal items still laying around. For a moment I really felt like I was walking around Angie’s farm in late autumn New Zealand, breathing the air of remote meadows.

Photograph: Angie Hossack, Airbnb.co.uk

Photograph: Angie Hossack, Airbnb.co.uk