Wwoof What?

So I should probably explain exactly what wwoofing is and why I’m doing it. Wwoof stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms or World Wide Organization Of Organic Farms depending on the country where the organization is hosted. New Zealand is the former. Basically, an agreement is made between a wwoofer (me) and the host. The wwoofer works on the hosts organic farm for an agreed upon amount of time each day (usually about 4 hours a day) in return for food and accommodation. In this way, the wwoofer lives, works, and eats with the host and their family for an agreed upon amount of time from a few days to  a few months. The organization is very self-governed and every wwoofing situation is different. All a wwoofer has to do is look at the booklet or search online in the wwoof database through the thousands of wwoof hosts in New Zealand. When they find one that sounds interesting, the host is contacted and if everything sounds good, the wwoofer goes to live with the host. It’s a great way to not just travel through a land but to live there and experience the culture firsthand by working with individuals and families and learning about the organic and sustainable living practices they tend to have. In case you’re picturing the sprawling monocultures that cover the American Midwest, wwoofing farms come in all shapes and types, from regular homes in cities where someone just wants help developing a garden, to orchards, animal and plant sanctuaries, eco-villages, animal farms, and even businesses like cafes and bed and breakfests if they meet the criteria and give the wwoofer a chance to learn about nature. My basic plan for New Zealand is to wwoof my way right across it, tramping (backpacking) and exploring in between.

When I graduated school in May 2010, I knew I wanted to do a lot of travelling over the next year but had a very vague idea of where to actually go. Some trips were in the works, a bike ride to Atlanta, backpacking Utah, climbing in Montana and Washington, and a cross country bike ride to the Pacific ocean, but once winter set in I didn't know what to do. 

During the first few weeks of summer, my bud Dan Thurnhoffer and I drove out west for a few weeks of hiking and exploring, picking up a German exchange student, Nora, along the way that we had met on New Year’s Eve months before. At some point, we were driving across the gorgeous desert getting to know each other and discussing our futures. It didn’t take long for Nora to suggest New Zealand when I wondered out loud about what to do during my first winter out of school. She had travelled there a few years ago and described it like a backpacker’s paradise. Just a little later after finding out a little more about me, wwoofing came up. I mentioned that I was interested in learning about how people can live sustainably and responsibly on the earth. Some kind of a farmstay seemed like a cool idea and she suggested wwoofing. I had never heard of the organization but it sounded exactly like what I wanted. It didn’t hurt that wwoofing and New Zealand go hand in hand. The country’s economy is dominated by agriculture and horticulture with thousands of farms registered as wwoof hosts. Add to that the fact that the country is about the size of Colorado with a smaller population, transportation is relatively easy, and the place is georgous and I was dead set on New Zealand.  Just a few weeks after finishing school, I felt like I might know what I wanted to do with the next year of my life.  5 months and many adventures  later, I find myself crossing the equator cheating my way to a whole other summer to travel and explore. For the way things worked out, I feel very fortunate.