WWOOF UK host Beth Currie recently contacted us to tell us how local WWOOFing has been an important part of her life as a host and of benefit to her and other, non-local, WWOOFers.
Cookes West Wood Farm (aka Abundant Earth) has been a WWOOF host for ten years. We have also had many local WWOOFERS and volunteers who have been invaluable to our project. Apart from the great things that can be achieved on our project with lots of help, there can be a great dynamic between our residential WWOOFers and our day visitors.
Day visitors bring knowledge of local interest; places to visit, local projects and campaigns, how to get to places and a whole wealth of other useful info! Sometimes there is an offer of a meal or a bath a party or a trip! Day visitors can also become the stable backbone of our project when residential WWOOFers are more transient.
Our residential WWOOFers can offer interesting tales of their travels and perspectives of other countries as well as new or different techniques to approach a task.
Our day visitors come from many different backgrounds and come for many different reasons. Working with the land can be very therapeutic as can working with a team of good folk all supporting each other. Some visitors come for a change from office work, some are in between jobs and are feeling their way with what to do next. Some of our day visitors come here to do ‘time exchange’ if they are unable to pay for our permaculture courses.
All in all good relationships are created all round with many benefits. Local WWOOFing suits our project well and I would highly recommend it to other hosts!
