WWOOF

WWOOF - Organic Farms Experience

I believe the acronym started as Working Weekends on Organic Farms.  Growing up on a farm in the remote Orkney Islands - off the North of Scotland - my parents decided to join the WWOOF program and we soon had many "WWOOFERS" coming to stay with us.  Because it took so long for the WWOOFERS to reach us they often stayed for weeks as opposed to weekends and some for months.

WHAT IS WWOOF?

The organization must have taken note of the change in working hours and I believe it is now known as "Willing Workers on Organic Farms" (actually just visited their website and it says "Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms" so they obviously changed it yet again).  Essentially people wanting to learn more about organic farming methods stay on farms and work for room and board.  Though typically unpaid, for those that worked particularly hard, my mother sometimes gave a (very) modest stipend.

WHAT TYPES OF WORK?

Our farm consisted of a dairy herd of goats - we made our own soft and hard cheeses, yoghurt, ice cream and milk obviously.  We kept a herd of Cashmere and Angora goats for fibre, our own pigs, hens, ducks, and rare breeds of sheep.  We had large poly-tunnels and a mammoth vegetable garden.  Most of the food I ate was grown on the farm. I sometimes craved some processed goods - Orkney still doesn't have a McDonalds, Burger King or Pizza Hut.

The Wwoofers did almost every job imaginable. Some of the main tasks included gardening and tending to vegetables, mucking out the pens, building work, doing the milking, sheep and goat shearing, helping with the lambing and kidding and cooking. Hosts vary from farm to farm; visit the country specific websites listed below and browse each selection.

Many nationalities passed through the farm and the most common were Germans, Spaniards, French, Israelis, Australians, New Zealanders and of course Brits.  The majority of Wwoofers stayed whilst I was quite young - from the ages of 13 -16.  It was a great experience for my siblings and I. We invited people from all over the world into our home, it helped relieve our workload and we were got to know people from many different countries and backgrounds - an important, broadening experience for any child.

Wwoof operates in many countries - click on the link below to learn about Wwoof opportunities:

Useful links:

BY: Sam

EDITOR'S NOTE: have you been a Wwoofer? Why not write an article and let us know about it?

 

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