First WWOOF Experience

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After a few days in Glasgow, we boarded a train to the port town of Oban on the west coast and took a ferry to the Isle of Mull where we began our first WWOOFing experience. WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) is a worldwide organization placing volunteers on organic farms of all varieties. This farm was located on the far west end of Mull, an hours bus ride from the ferry. Mull is beautiful and feels quite remote, especially compared to where we've been. Most of it is farm land (sheep, cattle, and veg, as they say) spread among green, rolling hills and a few larger mountains.

The farm we were on is a vegetable farm on a small croft of land about 100 yards from the rocky shore - a gorgeous setting. They have a 1/2 acre garden with a huge variety of veg and several sheep and chickens. The work we did was pretty basic - hedge trimming, potato picking, weeding, compost heap building, and tilling - but it was rewarding and great fun to be outside getting our hands dirty in such an idyllic spot. It was also interesting seeing and learning about that side of our "food chain." There were several "green" features at the farm which were fun to see including a wind turbine and solar panels for power, a solar hot water heater, and a small scale sewage treatment system using native reeds to treat waste. We worked about 20 hours over the course of the week which afforded lots of time for side trips including hikes along the coast, a windy "walk" up Ben More, the highest peak on the island, and a day trip to the neighbouring Isle of Iona, a very quiet, sacred place where there is a 1,500 year old Abbey and a Christian community which has existed on the island for the last 70 years.

Certainly one of the best parts of the stay was the time spent hanging out and talking with Rosie, the farm owner/operator, and her family, and Ariane, the other WWOOFer from Switzerland, whom we fast befriended. We ate astonishing amounts of incredible home-cooked food, talked for hours about everything from politics to religion to lots of Q&A (maybe too much) about organic farming and renewable energy, and included everyone in some great jam sessions and sing-alongs. The welcome Rosie gave really made us feel like part of the family, and I quickly realized this is a fantastic way to travel and experience local people and places.

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Photos

The Barn
Ben and I slept in the loft

Happy People
Rosie, Me, Ariane, Ben, and Nigel

The Cloister
Churchy word for a Churchy place

The Quiet Corner
Inside the Abbey

Summit in the Clouds
Me, Ben, Ariane, and Kevin, Rosie's neighbor from Santa Cruz, CA

Comments

[Amanda]

WOW!!
Jeremy, I am so consistently amazed by you. Your strength and courage to spread your wings is an inspiration. Thank you so much for sending me these blogs. They have been little bright lights in what seems like a pretty dim existence. Much love to you and to your brother! Amanda

[Katharine]

Hi Jeremy! I didn't know you were doing this! It sounds and looks so amazing. How long will y'all be traveling/working? I can't wait to hear about the next stop!! Have fun and safe travels. Peace, Katharine

[Claire Randall]

WOW! it sounds like you guys are having an awesome time! Everything looks so neat! I wish I could be there with yall! We miss you back home and I'm sad that you won't be here for Thanksgiving but hopefullly i'll get to talk to you both. Glad you're having a good time! Love you cousins! ~Claire