LLOOF Conference in Bologna, Italy

Oct 12, 2015

Nim Kibbler is one of WWOOF UK’s volunteer directors. During September she attended the LLOOF conference in Bologna and sent us this report. 

Since September 2014 a couple of us from WWOOF UK have been working on a project called LLOOF, namely myself and our fundraiser-cum-coordinator for this project, Adam Cade. 

Living and Learning on Organic Farms (LLOOF for short – we love an acronym!) is an online and interactive guide which, it’s hoped, will be an extension to the hands-on learning that WWOOFers always get. The project is funded by the European Union, which seeks to improve adult education across the EU community, and we’ve been using the funding to work with nine other WWOOF national organisations*. 

Adam introduces the first year's workWhen you work from your dining room table and only meet with your colleagues online then it’s easy to forget that we’re dealing with practical, tangible and real-world things – namely learning about farming. So when I found myself on a farm near Bologna, Northern Italy, it placed my mind straight back in to the ‘bread and butter’ of the project. 

Conference host Ezster explains her roleEzster is one of our colleagues from WWOOF Italy and she kindly offered to host the meeting and our introductory conference on her farm. Meeting in the warm sunshine, surrounded by the parched mountains and with kittens mooching about your feet it’s easy to forget that we were there to work! 

This is the second of three meetings where we actually get to discuss things face to face. The first was in Turkey, October 2014, where we were able to all meet each other, learn how to work together and devise our hopes/aims for the project. We went away from Turkey to work on certain areas that helped us access the needs of our learners, the best ways to help them learn and what type of online tool will be best able to do this. This work is quite abstract in nature but we divided it up between us all and matched those with the best skills to each area.

it was such a beautiful venue

It was such a relief to meet in Italy once again, to see the progress that we’d made and iron out a few creases created through working remotely from each other. We were able to invite delegates and members from other WWOOF national organisations and the Italian community to see where we had reached and to ask for their help in preparing it for release to others. This preparation is particularly important as we’ll be asking others to help build this online learning guide through submitting videos. But there’ll be more on this to come. 

there were distractions...Looking ahead to year two, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Finally, it is starting to become something tangible as there’s now a workable website; this is great for those of use who are practically-minded like me. We’ll be officially launching the site in Ireland in May 2016, so keep an eye out for information about the event. 

Italy is such a generous place to have a meeting about food production, consumption and land use. The Italians I met there had a love of knowing their food personally, knowing where it came from and what processes were used in its creation. It takes you to the core of what we hope to do with creating the LLOOF project; most WWOOFers want to learn how to be a sustainable consumer and a lucky/hardworking few will go on to be sustainable producers. WWOOF has always been about connecting people with their food and the land needed to produce it; in this modern age we also have to make extra online bits to meet the needs of a knowledge-thirsty audience. 

...but we all managed to stay focused

*Our partners are Spain, Turkey, Serbia, Norway, Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy. 

WWOOF UK needs YOU! We’re recruiting Trustees

WWOOF UK needs YOU! We’re recruiting Trustees

Would you like to join an existing group of five dedicated individuals who are committed to overseeing the direction of WWOOF UK? Do you want to help more people experience first-hand the meaningful connection to self, land and others that immersion in a low impact...

25% off WWOOF UK membership until 2nd April

25% off WWOOF UK membership until 2nd April

Use discount code DAFFODILS when you sign up before the 2nd April for a 25% discount on any WWOOF UK membership. Don't be an April fool and miss out on this great discount! We have lots of hosts eagerly awaiting new enthusiastic WWOOFers for the season, and plenty of...

Follow up ‘Rat Control’ responses

Follow up ‘Rat Control’ responses

Thank you all for such a great array of responses to the #PennToPaper Rat Control article in the last newsletter. If you didn’t get around to reading it or want to refresh your memory, then here’s the link. Read on to explore the answers you all contributed, and don't...

Lesley Gorski a WWOOFing legacy

Lesley Gorski a WWOOFing legacy

Last year, we received the sombre news that long-standing WWOOFer Lesley Gorski had passed away. We were very saddened to hear this news as Lesley was well known by WWOOF staff, and had been one of the last remaining old-school members still using the...

Member feature – Kristin, volunteer

Member feature – Kristin, volunteer

"WWOOFing is the experience of a lifetime. If you are currently WWOOFing, keep doing it! If you are considering WWOOFing, don’t hesitate! Do it!" Our member community is full of so many unique individuals, united by a shared devotion to sustainable growing and living....