Most of our readers will not have known about wwoofing before reading about our adventures. In fact, we, ourselves, had very little understanding and relied heavily on the Wwoof New Zealand website for our information. We were quite enthralled by the number and variety of places that offered wwoofing. Paul was the detective and often quietly (while pretending to work) went down the wwoof “rabbit hole” on October and November evenings.
We really loved being wwoofers and even changed our plans to add one more stop. Having now spent 26 days working for and with others while immersing ourselves in their lives, it’s time to tell you about those experiences.
We anticipated that our wwoof work would involve mostly garden and/or farm work. We had no idea how much we be able to do and learn.
We weeded a lot. You may have seen some “before and after pictures” that show big changes. It’s been a super rainy summer and everyone has noted to us that their gardens have “just gotten away from them”. Honestly though, weeding often felt like an agressive 3-hour yoga work out - and our butts and thighs reminded us of that each day. Gayle particularly loved using a hand hoe called a Nawashi - it’s an expensive tool, but wow!
Other things we did included building - sometimes without proper tools (eg, a broken tape measure) that forced us to be creative and innovative (ask Paul sometime how to use a hose as a level!). We got to take care of animals and do the regular feeding chores. Everyone had chickens - some escape artists had us bewildered - after “fixing” the fence three times and they still got out. One chicken insisted on roosting on whatever eggs were laid - she was not happy when we “invited” her to move and Gayle has a scar to prove it. We also now have a proven recipe for compost!
You may recall from a previous blog that 2 of our initial non-negotiable criteria for a wwoof included self-contained accommodation and no dogs. We just figured this would give us a bit more downtime, and although we are pretty great, too much Gayle and Paul can just be too much! In the end, our digs varied just as much as our hosts. We went from living in a less than clean house with other wwoofas, elderly dogs and cats and the host, to living on our own in a bachelor apartment next to the Cafe. During our stay at The Food Farm, we slept in "the bach", a single room with a full bathroom and kitchen facilities that was attached to the work shed. For our final wwoof we had our own immaculate bedroom in the house with 5 well behaved, friendly, and smart dogs. We may have scored two out of four on criteria, but more importantly learned that openness and flexibility can lead to some truly great experiences.
The Food
This was probably the biggest surprise about wwoofing. Our “research” showed that there are many different ways that hosts provide meals. Everything from “we’ll cook, you just eat” to “we’ll give you food, you take care of the rest” were in play. When we tell you that the food was absolutely amazing, we are not joking. Debbie, our first host made creative and delicious meals on a shoe-string. (Paul’s stomach did not agree much with the onion soup, but that gory story can wait.) At Phillippa’s we ate in the cafe! This was a foodie paradise that attracted travellers for lunch from far away. Our first lunch was a steak sandwich with blue cheese and fries. All of our meals were equally as good. While staying at The Food Farm, we experienced Nick’s cuisine. Nick runs a winery in the day time, then comes home to make gourmet meals for everyone. The wood-fired pizza was one of our favourites. Terrie and Alan’s “home cooking” was just was the doctor ordered at the end of our cold and rainy days working in the muddy garden. It wasn’t just the food though, it was the company and we will miss our time eating with our host families.
The People
Imagine, for a moment, opening your house to a couple of strangers with backpacks who have just travelled a long way to work for you in exchange for food and a bed… Putting it into perspective - there has be something a little “different” about the two travellers and some might say that anyone who let those two crazies in, must be a little nutty too! And, it’s not like that AT ALL.
The Food Farm has been taking wwoofers for 17 years. Their children have all grown up with wwoofers coming in and out of their lives and everyone has benefitted. Ruby, the eldest, is even travelling soon to meet up with a former wwoofer. Being part of dinner at the Food Farm not only meant that we’d enjoy Nick’s amazing cooking, but that we’d get to listen to teens Flynn and Matilda bickering about random drama. As educators, we were both reminded of the importance of our interactions with kids, when at dinner one night, Matilda fought back tears when describing her day at school.
Our hosts also included Terrie and Alan, grand parents whose “lifestyle block” (aka hobby farm) is their life. Staying with them was like visiting our favourite aunty and uncle. We learned about how they immigrated from England when Terrie was 19, just married, pregnant and they had $300 in their pockets! This courageous duo has gone on to have a wonderful life that included Alan being a member of New Zealand’s shooting team!
The common characteristic across all of our hosts is simply that they are unbelievably hard working people. Phillippa, who is nearly 65 years old, owns and runs a busy cafe while her husband manages an active dairy and beef cattle operation. Angela, works full time as an advocate for healthy food in New Zealand, and met with the Minister of Agriculture to advise them about food insecurity while we were there. It’s truly been inspirational to have met such interesting, dedicated and creative people. We learned so much from all of our hosts!