Discover All That Cegu Valley Farm Has To Offer Through the Words of our Farmer 

"The main purpose of this page is to prepare you as a potential visitor coming to Cegu Valley Farm. First of all, you are going to be outdoors a LOT, so pack in your bag a good set of running shoes, a hat, some sunscreen and mosquito repellent! 

WE GOT THE PERMACULTURE THANG

Cegu Valley Farm is not just any normal farm as you would usually understand the concept. You will not see a tractor, or crops all of the same type, planted in neat lines. You will see lots of trees, bushes, shrubs and a few vegetables in a rather tangled mess. There is pattern there, but it takes a practiced eye to see it. Mechanically speaking, you might see someone operating a Brushcutter (weed whacker). This is our main fossil fueled farming tool. There is lots of variety of vegetation as well as livestock. The landscape, once you get used to it looking more like a forest, is beautiful. The steep slopes of the valley are terraced and there are swales. You will see lots of tree and shrub branches lopped off and lying all over the place. If we’re good, they’ll be in neat heaps. We never burn anything…so there is lots of mulch in various degrees of decay.

WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?

Fiji has two seasons, the wet season, December to April, and the dry season, May to November. You do not want to visit Fiji in the wet season…think slushy mud between your toes and cheesy smelling bedsheets.  We don’t have a winter…you will never feel cold here, but the dry season is cooler than the humid wet season and fairly pleasant, especially at night. In the wet season, you can expect 90%+ humidity and temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. You can easily get more than 6 inches of rain in a day in the wet season. When the sun does come out of the clouds, it is merciless when combined with the humidity, and after ten minutes of outside work, the average white guy is sweating rivers. Did I mention to keep away from Fiji during the wet season? Thankfully, Cegu Valley Farm, unlike our neighbours, has a lot of trees whose shade significantly improves the outdoor environment.

CRITTERS

We don’t have many really interesting critters, however the fruit bats are pretty cool. Be prepared for mosquitoes throughout the year and their cousins the dreaded sand flies. We don’t actually get many “fly” flies though as they get eaten up by our chickens. Now toads, I hope you like toads…they are everywhere, even roaming downstairs through the house in the night. We hate them, but they are a reality you will have to deal with. You might have to duck as I have the habit of picking up random toads from my living room floor and chucking them out the nearest opening without warning. Sometimes I miss and they bounce back onto an innocent bystander! Always amusing.

We have a lot of geckos (small lizards) sticking to the walls and roof. They’re fine, they even eat some of the mosquitoes. The only thing naughty they do is drop little presents on you from above.We see the odd mongoose, but our dog Mo, is a master mongoose hunter so he keeps our poultry pretty safe from their attacks. If you happen to be working on the farm, be mindful for our red ants. You can’t miss them. They are the ones making you itch like crazy. Scrubbing with soap and a scrubbing brush normally puts it all right. If you walk through tall brush though, look out for the yellow jacket hornets…they are truly nasty. We have spiders, some quite big ones, but none of them are poisonous to humans. They look quite cool. And of course we have our bees. I’m on good terms with them, so they won’t bother you unless you are allergic in which case you maybe should consider not visiting us, or walk around everywhere you go in a bee suit. If you have any allergies or health issues at all, please let us know and also come prepared with the appropriate antidotes etc.

JOIN THE FAMILY

After all that, you’ll say “Well, I can always retire to my insect screened, air conditioned, hotel suite and sip on a Margarita”. Yes, and pigs might fly! Here we have perfected the term GLORIFIED CAMPING. We are very simple. Please don’t expect the Hilton. We’ll do our best, but we’re pretty rustic…you’ll see. You will become part of our family and be treated as any other loved member. We’ll feed you well and you’ll have a mattress (or a hammock) and clean sheets to sleep in and a mosquito net if you’re lucky! We live in a communal way, eat together, share bathroom facilities, oh have I told you about the joys of the composting toilet yet?

As a family member, you might share in volleyball, music, board games or movies and be part of the constant humour coordinated by my mischievous daughter. We don’t do a lot of things off the farm, so if you get an outing, you’re pretty lucky! I’m building a boat so fishing is soon to be available We’re all a bit eccentric. We yell to each other across the farm like crazy people. You’ll have to take us as we are. Josh is probably the most “normal” of us. We’re not super neat or tidy people. We try, but we’re a bit chaotic. Then there’s Mitchie. Mitchie, the most loveable of us all, is autistic. He does not speak, but he can be noisy and does unpredictable things. He gets focused on a certain thing; might be breaking up sticks, or flapping a plastic bag, or taking an unplanned leave of absence from the farm, and does it to the extreme.

And all of us are spiritual. We love God, we see Him everywhere and talk about Him like He’s real, coz He is. If you have different opinions, that’s fine, you’re still welcome and we won’t Bible bash you, but you will hear us saying spiritual things from time to time, and we say grace before we eat, stuff like that.

ACCOMMODATION

We are civilized enough to have electrical power, refrigeration, fans, and WiFi. We have water from our well (its clean) but our showers are taken cold. You can heat water in a pot on the outside fire if you get desperate and bucket bath. Depending on how many visitors we have at the time, you might get a room to yourself, otherwise you might be swinging in a hammock in the shed or on a mattress on the floor…be prepared.

BUT THERE IS ALSO FOOD, AND LOTS OF IT

We have a Susie. Everyone should have a Susie, but I actually do. I feel sorry for those who don’t have a Susie. She can cook great meals from nothing. No one knows how she does it, and because she wings it, she can’t always do it twice, but you will enjoy wonderful food that doesn’t yet have a name. Most of it comes off the farm and is organic. It may not be classic western food or even Fijian food, but it is yummy. And no one here EVER loses weight. I dare you to try! When I go to Australia or the States, I lose a few pounds, but a month here and it’s all back again. We’re all a little on the chubby side. Unless you have an iron will, you probably will too.

If you have special dietary needs, you should let us know before you come. We’re carnivores, but we can do vegan if we have to. We once had vegan visitors for a week, and they said the food Susie prepared was the best they had had in Fiji. We can also do gluten free if we know in advance. Please let us know if you have any food allergies.

IF THINGS GO WRONG

We are trying to improve health and safety here, but this is a farm and things can sometimes happen. We’ve never had a serious accident yet in nearly 10 years, but if need be we can get you to a hospital or a police station or to an airport in under 30 minutes.