WWOOFing In Devon - Our Experience
Before deciding to become WWOOF hosts we thought it would be a good idea to experience WWOOFing ourselves from a WWOOFers point of view.
For those of you that don’t know, WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms and is an organisation that teams up willing volunteers with hosts in order to learn about and practice all aspects of organic growing and farming. The host provides accommodation and meals in exchange for help with the work required on the farm.
Luckily, when I did my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), the course was run by Caroline Aitken from Patrick Whitefield Permaculture . Not only is Caroline an excellent teacher but along with her husband Doug they run a beautiful smallholding on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon.
Our WWOOFing Hosts
We were made very welcome by our hosts Doug and Cari at Tawny Oaks, where we were given a caravan which was very comfortable for the 3 of us – a log-burning stove made it really nice and toasty during the night!! The main house is situated in around 4 acres of land with woods, greenhouses, gardens, vegetable beds and a rockery.
There were other WWOOFers from France and England on site and it was great fun meeting them and spending very enjoyable evenings around the dining table chatting till the early hours.
Activities
Our activities during the week included composting, weeding, clearing the woodland, cleaning the (very large!) greenhouse and preparing mushroom logs. As well as all of this we learnt (and put into practice) the art of ‘Hugelkultur’ – a method of composting using a base of rotting wood (in this case, surplus tree trunks) to provide a warm, nutrient-rich, moisture-retaining medium for plants to grow in.
A great experience!
As well as being very enjoyable, we gained some valuable experience and insights into various aspects of permaculture and of course, being WWOOF hosts.
Want To Give WWOOFing A Try?
If you are interested in WWOOFing with us you can check out our profile at WWOOF UK or drop us a line using out contact form.
You can find more information on WWOOFing by clicking here or by checking out their website at www.wwoof.org.uk.