community WWOOFing

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The farm where I am ending my WWOOFing adventures has become the French equivalent of my Plainfield family.  With two parents who were former members of the commune Hilltop I have extended “family” throughout much of the Plainfield, Calais, Waterbury, East Montpelier area.  Similarly the people that I have encounter at L_ B_ L_ are kind, caring, funny, smart, witty, and most important, interesting!  Recently I learned that more people than I originally thought lived on this plot of farmland.  The two couples who I mentioned in the earlier post are the main proprietors of the farm and the current cultivators of the farmland, which they rent from the owner of the farm.  The son of the owner of the farm O_ lives with his partner in a loft connected to the old farmhouse that he grew up in as a child.  Then there is another yurt in their lawn and another caravan.  There reside two women who have a catering business with organic vegetarian food.  Everyone knows everyone and they have taken me along into their social life as well as their working farm life, which I have been greatly appreciative of and it has been a great way to use my French as well as meet many different people.  Sometimes it seems a bit odd as a WWOOFer to know exactly what your position is when you are working on a farm.  In some respects I am a volunteer worker and therefore these people are my bosses/supervisors.  In another sense they are much like a host family as they provide me with food and a place to sleep.  And in yet another sense, at this farm in particular, we have all become friends.   

This has been the WWOOFing experience that I was hoping for when I thought about spending six weeks working in Normandy.  While the idea of WWOOFing is an interesting and useful method to exchange work, culture, language, etc with many different people, the farm and the people that you encounter define the experience.  While the first two farms were interesting, the vibe was not the same and in the end, not worth my time and energy. However they each have given me a lifetime of stories as well as experiences that couldn’t have been matched anywhere else.  It is quite the experience to place oneself in an entirely different culture, language, and lifestyle, especially during your summer vacation.