I love WWOOFing!

I love WWOOFing! I am a WWOOFer! You might wonder what is that?

What is WWOOF? Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It is a worldwide movement with organic farmers who promote a cultural and educational exchange and build a global community conscious of ecological farming and sustainability practices.

WWOOF started 50 years ago and has grown from a small group in the 1970s to a worldwide community of hundreds of thousands of people today.

As a WWOOFer, you will participate in the daily life of your host, help on the farm, learn about sustainability, experience a new culture, meet new people, and receive free room and board during your stay.

WWOOFers spend their days living with the host family and learning about agro-ecological and sustainable farming methods through first-hand experience, with no money exchanged between hosts and WWOOFers.

As a member of WWOOF UK, you will be able to contact host farms in the UK and arrange WWOOF stays anywhere from a day, a weekend to a year if you like. Membership is valid for one year from the day you join. You can find more info here: https://wwoof.net/

So, now you have an idea what WWOOFing means, don’t you? 🙂

I travelled to the farm called Berrington Hall near Shrewsbury with my son Lucas and our bunny Louige this past Easter holiday and stayed two weeks. Although the journey was about 5 hours long and with some delays, combination of bus/train/underground – we managed it well!

This was our third WWOOFing experience. We went with the intention of learning gardening and foraging skills, spending time outside and also taking a break from the online world.

There was a variety of jobs to do depending on our skills and what we enjoyed doing. We did some seed planting, weeding, watering plants, preparing compost, digging, harvesting, cooking, washing dishes and even willow coppicing.  Usually, two people got together and cooked dinner on a wood-burning stove.

Everything from the beautiful setting, the house members, and their pantry was great! I have never seen a pantry like that before! It was like a health food shop. I loved it! 😊

The tasks set were not overwhelming, and we had time to exe

rcise every morning and go for walks in the abundant gardens. Also, we took a bus trip to a nearby town of Shrewsbury and borrowed bikes to cycle in the countryside.

Spending a day, a week or more on a farm will change the way you see food. Food becomes a reward, not just something that comes from a supermarket. You can see here how daily care for plants is essential for producing a quality, healthy and delicious product. You might more likely waste less and eat a greater variety of foods.

WWOOFing is a great opportunity for yourself, your partner or your children to have an adventurous and free holiday where you make great memories. We certainly did and already have booked another adventure at the end of this month.

I can highly recommend it to you too! If you want to get a digital detox, meet like-minded people and gain knowledge of organic gardening then why not try WWOOFing as your next holiday! 😊