Robert Roman

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A new girl arrived at the farm 2 days ago, and after a bit of conversation we realized that she had been reading my blog. In fact, my blog had set her sister (who, strangely, lives 10 minutes from my hometown) at ease about the fact that she was coming to farm in Costa Rica. This conversation reminded me about one of my concerns when I was planning my trip: the owner. For all I knew, he could have been a psycho, a pervert, or a WWOOF slave-driver. As in most cases, the worries were unfounded. Robert Roman is a great man, and the following is what I have gathered from a month living at his farm.

Robert Roman was born around 1950 in the St. Louis, Missouri area. During childhood, his only exposure to organic farming was a quaint little garden that his dad kept in their backyard. Robert used to watch his dad unwind after work and on weekends tending to the small garden.

Robert attended college at Michigan State, where he began as a chemistry major. He decided that he would rather spend his life surrounded by people than by test tubes, so he switched his major and received his degree in psychology. He may have been president of a fraternity.

After college, Robert joined the Peace Corps. He taught math in the Caribbean and began growing fruit in his small yard.

Upon returning to the United States, Robert was not sure what to do. He rented a house and property outside of Columbia, MO, and renovated a small orchard that used to exist there. He began growing other things and learning how to pickle food. Robert knew very little about gardening at this time; he just read a lot of books and learned as he went.

He began working as a food coordinator for Columbia Community Grocery, and learned alot about organic food as he answered clients' questions.

Robert was in his mid-20s at this point, and was in the middle of the spiritual curiosity that many of us face at this age. Robert met a man from Colorado who introduced him to biodynamic agriculture, which is basically a sort of spiritual organic farming. Robert was sold on the idea, but there was only one biodynamic farm in the U.S., and it was in upstate NY.

Robert packed his belongings into his car and showed up unannounced at this farm on Thanksgiving day asking for an apprenticeship. Fate was on his side, for a Dutch man had recently left to start a bakery in Europe. Robert took this man's place and made butter and yogurt and learned about farming until April.

In April, Robert left this farm in New York to apprentice himself under the best biodynamic instructor in the world, who lived in England.

After England, Robert returned to the States and began a dairy and fruit farm. It was quite prosperous. This continued for a number of years.

Somewhere along the line Robert divorced and moved to Florida. He managed an organic store in the Tampa Bay region for awhile. One year he received an opportunity to travel to a coffee farm in Nicaragua on behalf of the store. He loved Nicaragua, and was told that he would enjoy Costa Rica even more. When he returned from Nicaragua, the temperature in Tampa Bay dropped below freezing. Robert' banana trees froze, and he decided to leave. He visited Costa Rica frequently for a year, then moved here. Robert frequently says that if his banana trees ever freeze down here, we'll all have much bigger things to worry about.

Robert has lived in Costa Rica for 10 years. WWOOFers have been coming to his farm for 3 years, and he reckons that he has housed close to 300 volunteers. He doesn't sell the produce and does not make money off of the farm. He just his property as an opportunity to enjoy his favorite hobby, organic gardening, while ensuring clean food. He sees WWOOFing as an amazing way to educate people about organic gardening. WWOOFing would have been his dream when he was younger, and he loves being in a position to help fulfill similar young people's curiosities and desires.

A number of volunteers recently decided to leave the farm a month early to travel up through Central America and Mexico to get back to California. Instead of reacting to the news with irritation, Robert simply laughed and said that maybe he needs to start inviting volunteers who don't enjoy life quite so much.

Much of the environment here relies on trust. Currently, Robert is visiting his kids in St. Louis. The other volunteers and I are alone on the farm working on a project in his house. The trust that exists on this farm is refreshing.

And that's my rough Robert summary. It's short and crappy, but will hopefully help any prospective volunteers.

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