Advertisement
Published: February 6th 2006
After placing several calls, the first place to take me on as a farmhand was an estate 30 k's out of Timaru. Despite covering an expanse of over 2000 hectares (~5000 acres), there was remarkably little farming to be done. In fact, after one morning of gardening peonies, I was put to work alongside my German colleague in crime to paint for 3 and half consecutive days. Yes, there were tea breaks and meals, but I was generally made to feel like a displaced Mexican painter.
To give you a run-down on the WWOOFing gig....
When you are planning to visit a country, visit www.wwoof.org
When you find your destination of choice, go through the online registration process, pay up your 30 euros, 40 dollars, or 50 guineas and your guide to being a voluntary farm hand will arrive in the mail shortly. The book has a listing of every organic farm in the nation that is willing to take you on as a willing worker on their farm. Each comes with a brief description of the land, the people, their interests, and quirky bits about their animals, faiths, and fervors. The tricky part is choosing really, as so many
of them sound absolutely fascinating!
For example, this week I had to choose between staying in an
adobe passive solar house or
village organic co-operative . Most people are interested in sharing their lifestyles, thoughts, and conversation more than anything, and expect about 4 hours of work a day in exchange for room and board.
The Craigmore estate was quite a bit more demanding, cooping us up painting on 3 glorious days for 6 hours plus. We were only too happy to get out of there on Monday, but I ended up getting a late start on the road; I was held captive until I had cleaned the kitchen and car belonging to the paint estate executor...
My faith in humanity and the farmhand network was quickly restored, however; a farmer outside of Oamaru agreed to have me stay at his place as I travelled south on my way through. With open arms, Stuart and Rose welcomed me to a bed in their home, a relaxing soak in the spa, and a hand fixing up my bike handlebars. They even rescued me from the road in their pickup truck when the sun was setting and I
was still 10 kilometres short of their homestead! Refusing to take even an hour of work, I was only too happy to leave my UNO deck behind with their teenager for some friendly competition with WWOOFers of the future.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.137s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0696s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Beaver 69
non-member comment
Great stuff!
Sofia, a quick note to say "Hi", keep blogging... I love your writting style and the blow by blow. Your packaged arrived today. I love it. THANKS! Be safe!!! Love, Kerry.