I am now an official WWOOFER!!!

I'm so god damn excited! Yup, it's all been confirmed now! Thanks to Claire for letting me know about WWOOFing, I'm not set off for a great new exciting venture! Big Big thank you Claire!

I've gotta few places that I'm hoping to go to also - just planning it all now! I leave on the 20th for the Beech Hill community. Yay!!

Marie-Clare xxx

 

I had some friends who lived in Beech Hill years ago. It's a really nice place. Hope it's warm and sunny when you go, coz they have a swimming pool!!!!

Thinking about it, the last time I was there they had WWOOFers building a reed bed sewage filtration system. I've just done the maths and worked out that that was about 12 years ago, and now I feel really old

 

call me stupid but... what is a WWOOFER?

 

Someone participating in Working Weekends On Organic Farms.

 

Which reminds me.... I always though the scheme was a bit of a piss-take. It has its merits for sure, and it's probably one of the best ways to get to stay in some cool places for quite cheap, but most places require you to contribute towards food and board. While this is often a fairly small fee, I still can't quite accept the principle of paying to do voluntary work for someone! I mean considering you're working your ass off for somebody for nothing (and let's not forget that the places you'll be working for are not charities necessarily), it seems a bit cheeky that they can't at least feed you!

 

It's not WWOOfing but I am doing an activity weekend at a Peace HOuse the beginning of October and they're not asking me to pay anything.

Good one Marie-Claire

Love Clairexxx

 

Too fucking right ... one born every minute

 

dude...so let me get this...uh maybe i dont...but yea u go work at this place and just get stoned off ur ass or sumthing....or maybe thats just my fantasy...

 

But there's only one you! Thank f**k

 

Or is there? I thought he left, never to post again?

 

I gotta say, I'm pretty suprised at the negative reaction some of you guys have towards this. The deal is :

"WWOOF is a world wide exchange network. Where, bed, board and practical experience are given in exchange for work. Stays of varied length are possible. WWOOF provides excellent opportunities for organic training, changing to a rural life, cultural exchange and being part of the organic movement"

It's pretty unlikely a farm is gonna higher some townie kid who has no experience working on a farm or with agriculture. Where I live, it'd be impossible for me to get any experience in this work so it's a real unique opportunity.

A lot of the farms i'll be going are sustainable, and many are herbalists and vegans.. I'm really looking forward to meeting some like-minded people on my travels and learning a thing or two along the way. Getting bed and board to me is an added bonus.

Marie-Clare xxx

 

Don't get me wrong, I think it can be a valuable thing to do. But only in the hippy community would paying to work somewhere be considered reasonable!

Beech Hill, for example, charge you £19.50 a week towards food and board. Based on the minimum wage, it would cost them at least £180/week to pay for labour. Given a saving of £180, charging you for the privilege seems a little cheeky!

Again, you have to remember that such places are not charities. Beech Hill is a community set up for the benefit of its members. You're paying someone else to allow you to help them with their chosen lifestyle choice (which, I might add, involves them living in an old manor house with substantial grounds and an outdoor swimming pool!).

 

Yeah, I agree that is a cheek. I wouldn't do voluntary work and pay for my accommodation unless it was for charity either! hehe. I wasn't born yesterday (although I sometimes wish I was! )
I understand that they're a community, the kinda community I'm interested in and that's why I wanted to work there. Unless they're going against this, as a wwoofer, I don't pay anything. It's part of the deal in membership for hosts & volunteers.

 

"We ask volunteers to pay basic food and household expenses as all other residents do; this comes to a total of £19.50 a week"

http://web.onetel.com/~beechhill/page7.html

 

Yeah I know...I've visited their website. Like I said, not sure unless they're going against wwoofing (haha, i'm STILL not bored of how silly that sounds). Everywhere else should and does give bed and board in exchange for work/learning experience. Probably wont be going there if they're expecting me to pay, but I understand it's their home.

Marie-Clare xxx

 

It's not the first place I've seen charge for board with WWOOF. Like I say, I think free labour is a good enough deal without then trying to charge you for it! That's just a rampant piss-take. "Hi. Thanks for coming here and working for free, thus saving us from having to pay someone to do all this shitty work that we don't want to do ourselves. And thanks for helping us to live relatively privileged lives in a country manor house. Oh, and by the way, that'll be £19.50 for the week". I don't think so.

 

Yeah, I can see how some people must get cheated from it.
For every good opportunity out there, there's some bastard trying to exploit it.

 

Don't let them put you off

All my experiences with vounteering have been positive

 

I'm not trying to put her off! I think she should do it. Doesn't stop it being a piss-take though

 

What you describe is yes.

But I've always had free board / food and beer whenever I go volunteering

In fact the place in Birmingham had a BBQ the weekend I was there

I kept asking if there was anything I could help with, but they were all very laid back.

Just chatted mainly, they told me a lot about the cooperative scene and gave me invaluable contacts and advice

All I did was do some vaccing after the BBQ and help make some flower boxes!

I had a great time!!

I guess it depends where you go.

The organic farms seem more regimented.