Wwoofing?

[Loobyloo]

Hi Folks,

Firstly a big thanks to everyone who has offered help and advice on my current situ (see here for more info! http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... =4&t=11874 )

But especially to Clara who has potentially put myself and my OH on the path of Wwoofing.

I just wanted to ask if anyone has any experiance of Wwoofing? or perhaps might be registered as a host?

Any input (or alternantive ideas) welcome!

Cheers!

[Clara]

Well, wwoofing changed my life! We headed across france and spain in an old ambulance and never came back! Now we are wwoof hosts ourselves and have been privileged to part of others life changing journeys, of course there are many others who just do it has an experience, but I believe that everyone takes away something with them.

My first piece of advice to would be wwoofers is to write a good email of introduction explaining who you are, what you have done and why you'd like to gain from wwoofing and then, this is really important to me, send it to each farm you are applying to individually, addressed directly to your hosts and include a paragraph as to why you responded to their ad specifically. You are probably smart and considerate enough to do this without thinking, but the mass email can be really irritating, it lacks a certain respect of the fact that for the most part this someone's home you are asking to be allowed into KWIM? Besides as a wwoofer, I'd be wary of anyone who accepts volunteers on the basis of "Hi my name's Joe, I'm 24, do you need a wwoofer", it means they are not interested in you aside from the "free labour". I truly see wwoof as an exchange, and it's not always experience that matters, in fact sometimes there are times when I would take no experience over a farm CV as long as your arm.

Also check out www.helpx.net, it's free to join and works along the same lines.

Cx

[JulieSherris]

Loobyloo, what work do you & your OH do?

I feel absolutely gutted tonight, even though I know we've done the right thing...

Let me explain... last year, I saw a house for sale.
I drove hubby out & we had a look around the outside - it was gorgeous!
Anyhow, I called the agent, but an offer had been put in already
So, we carried on looking & found our house - went through the mortgage rigmarole, & moved in at the end of September.

And the original house? Look here
And I have further pix as well.....

So, it's 15 mins away from Roscommon, which is a fairly large town for work although Longford, which is bigger again is a further 20 mins away - Travelling to & from work is commonplace here & the roads don't get gridlocked out this way! My hubby has a 1 hour drive to work, but he says it's worth it, especially when he gets back home again.

If you fancy trying a year or so out here, you could always stay with us while you are sorting out a house & work etc & I can help you circumnavigate the irish system for settling in. Amd I'm sure I could find you lots of things to be getting on with to keep you busy If you rent then you're not committing yourself, but beware, you could find yourself falling in love with the place!

Julie x

[Loobyloo]

Wow, what an offer, Julie, thank you so much.

I am consistently amazed by the generosity of folks on this site!

I think we have more or less decided to spend a year or so wwoofing around britain, trying to pick up skills that we have wanted to do for years but could never afford the courses.

Some time in Ireland as well would be lovely, but we want to travel a bit first. Get out of the rat race for a while, we've both always wanted to see more of the country. I've never understood why people are so keen to go traipsing round asia, or australia etc when they haven't seen even a fraction of the country they're from!

Much to love to all ishers! I have a warm fuzzy feeling inside

[Clara]

Well done, a brave decision, but one you'll never regret - so many people dream and then baulk at the scariness of doing something like this. I'm really happy for you!

Very soon our baby will arrive so we'll be quiet on the wwoofing front, but if you find yourself in need of a little autumn sun drop me a PM and we'll see if there's anything we can do about it!

[JulieSherris]

Good luck to you both Looby!

I hope all works out & if you do make it over here later on, give me a shout, ok?

I agree with you though about exploring the Uk - there's so many places to visit & so many beautiful spots - I'd like to go back to the isle of wight again - maybe next year when we've broke the back of the work here... if I can scam the daughter into house sitting for us!

Keep us posted on your progress though.

Julie x