We met Morton a month ago when we came to Toau. We really enjoyed meeting him and his wife Chinalta (who has since returned to the US where she lives). We wanted to find a calm and peaceful anchorage to celebrate Chinese New Year with our family and so we came back to Toau. He was happy to see us too and we celebrated Chinese New Year together over delicious dinners.

Grant spent time with Morton on the farm and found out that the delay of the supply ship to Fakarava had caused major havoc on his animals' well being. He almost ran out of animal feed and so had no choice but to feed the animals coconuts and other foods. Collecting coconut is a super labor intensive task which left him little time to tend the animals.

The Horsfield family rallied to help. On Chinese New Year's Day, after dressing up for breakfast and receiving red packets, we all changed to our work outfit for some farm work. Morton showed us what needed to be done. The girls cleaned the tank and fed the baby turtles with fish. They also collected eggs from the chickens. Grant, Apple, Morton and I walked around his land looking for coconuts on the ground that might be suitable for the animals to eat. It was hard work as it was hot and sunny and there was no breeze. There were thousands of fallen coconuts on the ground, many of which were dried up and not edible. We had to pick them up, shake them and put them in a pile for Grant or Morton to hack them open. Grant had the misfortune of hacking a few very rotten ones full of maggots and was sprayed by very vile and stinky fluid. Learnt a ton about coconuts and how they disseminate and thrive in the most austere environment. Now I understand why coconut trees are pretty much the only plants that grow in the Tuamotus. We also helped feed the pigs and goats.

In the afternoon Morton took us to the open sea side of the atoll to pick maoa (sea snails). The tide was quite high and the waves were big. The maoa were washed onto the reef by the waves and they could be found on the exposed rocks. A bit scary with the huge waves and we were knocked over a few times. Arabella and Alex with sharp eyes found dozens of mana. In the end we came back with a hundred maoa! Morton came over and taught us how to cook them. We boiled the maoa for 5 minutes and removed the flesh from the shells. Then we cooked them with garlic, onion, white wine and olive oil, and added them to pasta. It was just like spaghetti alle vongole (clams)! Delicious!!!!

We continued to go to the farm everyday to help. In fact we looked after Morton's farm by ourselves for a day and a half. Morton had to go to Fakarava as the supply ship finally arrived with his much needed animal feeds. The girls were in charge of the turtles and chicken. Grant and I fed the pigs, chickens and goats with coconuts, cooked lentils and rice, and stale baguettes. The animals were definitely hungry and not happy.