I wake up on day three with several parts of my body aching and
as a friend puts it, body parts that I never knew existed. I am not exactly
looking forward to the day ahead of me. Dragging my languid body, I go upstairs
for a cup of coffee and then sit on the porch looking at the landscape. The
high cumulus is expected to break out into a hot day and therefore we need to start
early. Gilles calls and we head to the fields. Today we are to weed out the
small vines at the bottom of the plant so that they don’t suck all the
nutrients of the soil. This involves bending down every few feet and chopping
the growth with a sickle or uprooting it with hands. Its hard work as it
requires bending a few times every minute. Its test of thighs, knee and the back. The sun is fully up by now and doing
its job with the same vigour. We work for 5 straight hours and then break for
lunch. It’s a long walk back. Or so it seems. We sweat and swear. None of us are
interested in making a conversation. We long to reach the seductive shade of
the place we call home these days.
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| Happy, just after a day''s work |
When we are back I grab a beer. And then Jonathan, the other
wwoofer and my roomie, asks if I would like to join them for a swim at the mini
pool. The beer calms me down and the cold pool water certainly helps. The good
news is that we are done for the day – no more work. We will be heading to the
river Dordogne for some canoeing and later a barbeque dinner is planned
alongside the river. On hearing this all the morbidity is gone and the air
streams with chirpiness.
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| Gup-shup on the dinner table |
Most days on wwoofing were such as this. Starting with an
aching body and ending with a relaxed happy mood. For starters wwoofing (World-wide
opportunities on organic farms) promotes eco/organic farming and farmers around
the world are seeking volunteers who would like to help them work at their
organic farm grow veggies or fruits and/or tend to their animals and in return promote
cultural and educational experiences based on trust. There is no monetary
exchange. Volunteers, called wwoofers, stay and eat with the families for free.
The idea is to promote and build a sustainable, global community. Since I first
read about it a year ago, this item made its way on my bucket list and over the
months kept moving up somewhat like people who grab the fourth seats in a
Mumbai local and eventually end up at the window seat, the top spot! But I had
always imagined wwoofing to be largely a functional relationship between a wwoofer
and his hosts. Mine was very different.
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| Barbeque along the Dordogne |
After much deliberation and hours of research, I shortlisted
three wineries in France. Only one of them, the Vazeuxs of the La Belle brand
of wines responded (http://www.domainedelabelle.fr/new/home.php). I don’t blame
the others. After all, who wanted a 41 year old Indian? The Vazeuxs who
accepted me, had never had anyone above 35, let alone an Indian.
Of little more than a week that I stayed with this family of
four (Gilles and Delphine and their two sons eighteen and sixteen-year-old), we
barbequed twice, canoed, visited chateaus and castles, also visited a nearby
quintessential European town, picked wild cherries, rode ATVs and dirt bikes. One
evening, I also cooked an Indian meal for all of them including a couple of
their friends.
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| (L-R) Jonathan, Megan, Sergio & me |
This family treated us very well. They saw to it that we were
fed and entertained well. Because we were four of us – a first for them to have
four wwoofers together, they were also sort of having a party. I worked
alongside the other much younger wwoofers – a eighteen-year-old Megan from
Hawaii, a 22-year-old Jonathan from Atlanta and a 29-year-old Sergio from
Spain.
Unlike what we typically know of the French, this family was
not high-nosed. Very casual and easy going simple people who worked hard, ate
harder and drank hardest. We discussed cultures, cuisines, religion and
politics. Our debates ranged from benefits of meat vs organic veggies to wines
over single malts.
As I reflect back I believe that wwoofing is a fantastic way
to travel around the world and experience cultures first hand with very little
money. Food and boarding is taken care of and if you choose a winery, even the
wines are free! Yes, you work 25-30 hours a week but weekends and evenings are
free to explore around. The only money that you spend is on your travel.
Imagine wwoofing 2-3 weeks continuously in Europe, Americas or Africa for a year.
Jumping from one country to the other, from a winery in California to an olive
plantation in Israel, from a peach orchard in China to a dairy farm in New
Zealand, meeting different people, seeing the most enchanting places in the
world, sensing different cuisines and experiencing different cultures.
I am up for it. Are you?
