Wwoofing around the world

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.

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.

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.

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. 

(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?