Better Work Stories - Wwoofing

 One day I headed toward Ranui Action Project as they had free advice for job hunters on Tuesdays 10-12. I remember being desperate and going there with my CV hoping, there might be something around. The lady there, Rosemary I remember her name was, took one look at me and said 'You know what you should do? Wwoofing'

I looked at her blankly. I had no idea what wwoofing was. Was she calling me a dog? 

No she explained that Wwoofers are people who Willingly Work On Organic Farms. She also told me they work for free food and board, so they don't get paid, but the food is delicious. And it's nice to stay on a farm. I had to sign up on the website, they might give me a book, that lists all the organic farms, and arrange my own stay there. I would work around 4 hours a day helping out wherever. And it was organic! I wouldn't be killed by Roundup spray or anything. 

Wow I said, I had never stayed on a farm before. Could be something. And I liked working outside. So I signed up and away I went. But I did my research first. I borrowed a book from the library called 'Wild Yonder' or something like that about someone who had done it. It sounded like fun and she wrote at the end she learned things about herself. Like she was a lesbian. ?! er..

I thought she would learn things about plants and animals fall in love with them but ok. I then wondered what kind of strange people I would meet on the way. Well they were not all lesbians. Most of the farms were run by married couples that needed extra help and couldn't afford to pay anybody. Or Christian homeschoolers. Or empty nesters, who's children had run away because they wanted the city life. Yes there were some hippies but actually most hippies had become well off and turned corporate, when they found out they could make money from the farm. 

I worked on various farms, one was a kiwifruit orchard in Katikati, another was a Japanese/kiwi couple in Bethells where they were installing composting toilets and I had a cabin to myself. Another was a stock farm in Taranaki where they had 11 children - 10 daughters and one son. They were strict fundamentalist Christians and forbade me any mention of speaking in tongues. There was also a book printing museum in Feilding that had a food forest with giant feijoas. That one wasn't a farm, and it was in town but it was organic so it made it in the book. They were retired teachers/principals and I felt incredibly unintelligent next to them. Because everything was new and I had to learn things I'd never done before like light a fire. In Auckland we never even had a fireplace.

One couple up near Wellsford were English expats and the husband had a temper when things weren't going well. Several wwoofers stayed at the same time, when I was there I worked with a girl from New Caledonia who was Mexican and spoke Spanish. Wwoofing was also used as a cheap travel option for backpackers. We were kicked off the farm early because he said he didn't need us anymore. The place was overrun with chickens. One time we offered to tidy up the house as it looked like they never did any housework either. The wife worked in the prisons, and the husband was left on the farm to cope with everything. He wasn't coping. We weren't allowed to touch their stuff even though the dust was an inch thick. 

I put this all down to experience. My favourite was the Katikati kiwifruit couple that also had a large family they homeschooled. I liked it so much I went to stay there twice. On my return they'd ripped out all the kiwifruit thanks to the PSA virus and had planted avocados instead. I tidied up their library for them (basically just rearranged their cookbooks).  Their son married a Swedish wwoofer and I was surprised as last time he'd asked me to hide some marijuana in the attic where I was sleeping. The local church they'd attended also went bankrupt when the pastor turned it into a cafe so they were now holding worship meetings at home. I liked going in their cherry picker spraying vermicast and riding the tractor. They also had a mixmaster 2000 that you could program to make meals for you. I helped cook and could make whatever I wanted.  I never got to do that at home.