WWOOF UK NEWS worldwide opportunities on organic farms issue 244

inside: keep the date—our AGM keynote speaker—Simon Fairlie on the plot with Mr Fluttergrub WWOOFing meets scouting local WWOOFing: a good thing? VEG: Visit Edible Gardens

autumn 2014

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editorial welcome to the autumn 2014 edition of WWOOF UK News Where has the summer gone? We hope it has been a productive and enjoyable time for you in your WWOOFing ventures and that you have acquired happy memories, new friends and skills. This autumn issue of WWOOF UK News looks forward and back and reflects a little of the diversity of the WWOOFing world. The AGM and Members’ weekend is almost upon us but there’s still time to book a place if you’re quick, see page 4. We are very pleased to have Simon Fairlie as our keynote speaker. We welcome a new director to our Council, see page 8, report on a host gathering in the South West, page 11, and look forward to another, page 8. If you’re a host in the Midlands there’s an interesting day in store! Mr Fluttergrub’s column has been well received and this time he tackles the dreaded potato blight, page 4, while our IT contractor has been out and about in Cumbria encouraging new growers to get growing, page 9. Amanda Pearson, Volunteer Liaison, has contributed pieces about local WWOOFing, page 10 and the new FoWO logo on page 11. Thanks Amanda for all your help with these and arranging other articles. This issue also sees a new and exciting departure for us. From now on we will be sending e-newsletters to all our members instead of simply emailing a pdf of each issue of WWOOF UK News. We will also be providing an email update in between the quarterly newsletters. It means we can keep in closer touch with you and also have more opportunities to include your news and feedback. We hope you enjoy this new venture and look forward to hearing from you about it. The deadlines for material to be included in the next four updates are: 13th October 2014 12th January 2014 13th April 2015 13th July 2015 As ever please send material to [email protected] cover photo: the hay was made while the sun shone

stay in touch Please send contributions to [email protected] or by post to our office by the following dates:

31st October for Winter 2014 issue 31st January for Spring 2015 issue 30th April for Summer 2015 issue 31st July for Autumn 2015 issue We particularly welcome your photographs and letters as well as your WWOOFing tales Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/wwoofuk and on Twitter: @wwoofuk And don’t forget you can always post adverts, question and comments on the forum at www.lowimpact.org

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WWOOF UK holds a list of organic farms, gardens and smallholding, all offering food and accommodation in exchange for practical help on their land. These hosts range from a low-impact woodland settlement to a 600 hectare mixed holding with onsite farm shop, café and education centre. WWOOF hosts should follow the IFOAM organic principles but need not be registered with a certificating organisation. Hosts do not expect WWOOFers to know a lot about farming and growing when they arrive, but they do expect them to be willing to learn and able to fit in with their lifestyle. The list of hosts is available, either online or as a book, by joining WWOOF UK for a membership fee. Once you have the list you can contact hosts directly to arrange your stay. Your host will explain what kind of work you will be expected to do, what accommodation is on offer and will discuss the length of your stay. WWOOFers do not pay to stay with hosts and hosts do not pay WWOOFers for their help. WWOOF UK is a charity; Charity number 1126220. WWOOF UK is administered by LILI (Low-impact Living Initiative), www.lowimpact.org

The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent those held by WWOOF UK or LILI

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news from the office The summer has proved as busy for the WWOOF UK team as any other season and we’ve been endeavouring to respond to your feedback and requests for help. It’s been really encouraging over the last year to see how much both WWOOFers and hosts have welcomed, and come to rely on, the WWOOFer profiles we made available to WWOOFers with online membership. When we originally introduced profiles it was with the assumption that WWOOFers who had opted to have a book membership probably wouldn’t want to use the website so wouldn’t need a profile, but, as our hosts have got used to seeing WWOOFer details on their profiles, we’ve had some enquiries from hosts about why they can’t find book member details. So, we have worked out a way for book mem-

bers to have a profile and for hosts to leave feedback about them. This was made available in early August and we hope it will be helpful. And just to remind you – joint membership is a single, reduce-priced membership for two people who want to WWOOF at the same place at the same time. That means there’s just one profile for those memberships but it is possible for photos and details of both people to be included Every year there seems to be one or two issues that trouble hosts and WWOOFers. This year a good number of hosts have contacted us about WWOOFers who haven’t turned up. We mentioned this in the last newsletter. Mike Hammer, who looks after member relations for us, has started to keep records of those WWOOFers who don’t arrive that

we hear about so that we can monitor the situation. Please get in touch to let us know if you are let down without notice by a WWOOFer using [email protected]. The difficulty WWOOFers are reporting to us most this year is of hosts not replying to their initial enquiries. There may be all sorts of reasons why hosts don’t reply but we would like to remind you that we ask that every contact from WWOOFers should be acknowledged within two weeks. Perhaps now is a good time to draw everyone’s attention to the ethos and mission page on our website (www.wwoof.org.uk/content/wwoof -uks-ethos-and-mission). This is quite a new page that tries to manage both hosts and WWOOFers’ expectations of each other. Hope it helps.

a WWOOOF UK wedding In early July, on the first anniversary of their first meeting, WWOOF UK’s co-ordinator, Scarlett Penn married Philip Stapley in what must

have been one of the WWOOFiest, lowest-impact, completely sustainable and enjoyable celebrations of a union in history!

The whole WWOOF UK team was invited, and attended, along with some of our directors – not to mention family, friends, some fabulous musicians and a couple of friendly and vocal dogs. It was a delight and privilege to be a part of such a heartfelt and generous occasion and their commitment not only to each other but to the ideals that are at the very heart of WWOOF shone through the day. Scarlett and Phil grew much of the food we were served, they helped to cut the hay from the field their wedding was held in and Phil even went so far as to build some compost toilets for our ‘convenience’. Thank you both from all of us for sharing your day, and WWOOF UK wishes you the greatest happiness, always.

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on the plot with Mr Fluttergrub Potato Blight – in praise of the Sarpo varieties As I write in late May we’re just enduring the month’s third bout of heavy rain. The potatoes are all now through and looking very perky in the moist conditions. Inevitably though, constant rain evokes fear of another monsoon summer and the inevitable consequence, the dreaded potato blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans). Over the years I’ve found there are distinct differences in the late blight resistance of potatoes. Some otherwise excellent varieties, like the almost slug immune Kestrel, are blight martyrs while others, for example the nearly as slug resistant but late cropping Pentland Dell, are less susceptible. In recent years I’ve taken to growing the relatively new Sarpo types for at least a quarter of the crop.

the red-skinned Mira and Axona. Both have shown superb resistance to blight on the foliage (where blight spots appear on the leaves but doesn’t progress) and although some tubers are infected on lifting or rot in store the percentage loss is very small. These Sarpo varieties ‘bulk up’ relatively late and the foliage doesn’t die back naturally so it’s usually necessary to cut them down in September to set the tuber skins. Some people are ‘sniffy’ about the flavour of these varieties, but both seem very acceptable to me baked or roasted (perhaps not quite as good steamed or boiled). Sarpo potatoes were developed in Hungary from the late 1950s. Further work on breeding additional types to Mira and Axona is now being undertaken by the Sávári Trust at Bangor in North Wales. A number of other varieties have been developed including the apparently very promising Sarpo Shona which I haven’t yet been able to obtain. Two varieties from the Trust I have tried are Kilfi and Blue Danube. Despite their Sávári origins neither of these showed any particular blight resistance in the wet summer of 2012, nor were they especially tasty (although Blue Danube has attractive blue skins) so I don’t plan to try these two again.

Marketed as blight resistant, the two most widely available types are

Potato blight is a potent and everevolving disease so there is no guarantee that Sarpo Mira and Axona

Host Hilary Jones wrote in response to Mr F’s last column (this is just part of her reply): I enjoyed Mr Fluttergrub's column; and will continue to do so for a long time since he's made me feel so enthusiastic about a bit of plotting. We tried winter radishes last year. The organic seeds

were from Franchi Sementi which we get in Canterbury Wholefoods, and they germinated like anything. However we didn't harvest many of the white, tennis-ball-sized radishes because the winter was so wet and beastly. The radishes all bolted vigorously as soon as the days length-

will maintain their resistance longer term. It may well be that in a few years these varieties become susceptible, just like others that in the past were hailed as blight resistant. However, if you have blight problems this year and haven’t tried growing Mira and/or Axona give them a go next year – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. You could also support the work of the Sávári Trust which has recently launched a crowd funding appeal. A good website for basic potato blight information is: http://www.allotment-garden.org/ vegetable/potato-blight.php The Sávári Trust website is at http:// www.sarvari-trust.org/ More information on blight resistance in other potatoes, and potato variety characteristics in general is available from The British Potato Variety Database found here: http://www.varieties.potato.org.uk/ menu.php Mr Fluttergrub is the pen name of someone who is close to the heart of WWOOF UK. Based in the north of England he’s a very experienced grower and has agreed to write a regular column for us. We would be interested to know if his suggestions work for you or if you have other ideas for your region, please get in touch: [email protected]. ened; and for a couple of months we have been picking the green flower heads which look like sprouting broccoli but are exceptionally tender and juicy. If we harvest a big lot of seeds, I thought we can sprout them as a winter salad and probably plant a few outside again.

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save the date: our AGM There’s still time to book to attend our AGM; if you are quick there should be space for you to join us for the event which this year will be hosted by Monkton Wyld Court at Charmouth in Dorset. The date: 20th-21st September.

Online booking is available via our website, www.wwoof.org.uk, or you can send your details and payment through the post to the office the

address is: PO Box 2154, Winslow, Bucks MK18 3WS. If you have any queries about the AGM please use us [email protected] to contact us. We are busy confirming details of the timetable and entertainment and are very pleased to be able to bring the AGM closer to our many southern and West Country hosts and WWOOFers. The WWOOF UK team is looking forward to meeting many of you, although the event is, of course, open to all our members.

for the natural environment, and strive to live sustainably. Income is generated through a varied programme of educational courses, family activity holidays, other events, bed and breakfast and hostel accommodation. The Court is a Victorian rectory with workshops and working farm buildings. The grounds include terraced lawns, woods, pasture, a stream and a Victorian walled garden.

Monkton Wyld Court is an educational charity and WWOOF host run by a resident community with the help of short- and medium-term volunteers. They work to develop and promote a lifestyle based on mutual respect for each other and

keynote speaker: Simon Fairlie We are very fortunate to have Simon Fairlie as our keynote speaker at this year’s AGM and are looking forward very much to his contribution. He worked for 20 years as an agricultural labourer, vine-worker, shepherd, fisherman, builder and stonemason before being ensnared by the computer in 1990. Simon was a co-editor of The Ecologist magazine for four years, before joining a community farm in 1994 where he managed the cows, pigs and a working horse for ten years.

He now runs Chapter 7 (http:// tlio.org.uk/chapter7/), an organisation that provides planning advice to smallholders and other low income people in the countryside and cam-

paigns for ‘access to land for all households … through environmentally sound planning’. He is also editor of The Land magazine, and earns a living by selling scythes. He keeps Jersey cows and pigs and makes cheese and yoghurt at Monkton Wyld. He is the author of Low Impact Development: Planning and People in a Sustainable Countryside and Meat: a Benign Extravagance. The Land magazine is beautifully produced in black and white with striking illustrations. You’ll find details and some featured articles on their website: www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/

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WWOOFing meets scouting Slovenian scout leader Ziva Pecavar approached the WWOOF UK team earlier this year to find out whether his troop could visit one of our hosts. Although it’s a departure from the WWOOFing norm, Amanda Pearson, our volunteer liaison person, put a call out to hosts to which Debbie and Mark from Sunnyside Farm in Devon responded, and the rest, as they say, is history… The warmth woke me. The sky seems cloudless; it looks like another gorgeous day. Everything at the farm is quiet. Unless you listen carefully – then you might hear the chickens’ twitter or gentle wind in the trees. But the animals are resting contentedly and most people still asleep, my Scouts taking advantage of the fact that I didn’t, as I did the day before, forget about the time difference and wake them an hour early. I get out of the camper and find that one of my Scouts has already started a fire. We don’t need it – we have an electric stove in the caravan, but there’s nothing as pleasant as a fire crackling softly. We're a Scouting troop from Slovenia. Most Scouts are fourteen years old and we have been together since they were seven. We will only stay together one more year – then the scouts will go to the next level which in Slovenia means they will become respon-

sible for their own programmes and

will also become cub leaders. After all the things we’ve been through together, after everything I’ve taught them and they’ve taught me, we decided it was time to do something bigger – to go on a trip. Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovakia... we dared not consider England, since it’s too expensive. Until we found a way. At the beginning, WWOOFing was a way to make a trip to UK affordable. The kids (I still call them that, even though they’re fourteen and on average half a head taller than me) knew that we’d be expected to put a lot of effort into farm work and seemed enthusiastic enough about that. Parents excitedly started naming all the chores that their kids could do at home to prepare. My experience with arranging the WWOOFing part of the trip couldn’t have been better. Amanda from the office was more than helpful. The first contact from the farm was just as great – their first email was full of excitement. For the scouts the main part of the trip was London – all the places they’ve learnt about at school; London Eye, The Tower Bridge, double deckers. I feared that after our day and a half in London their enthusiasm would be gone. But that was before we came to the farm.

Debbie and Mark were both very nice and the drive to the farm went by fast. Par-

racombe is an idyllic village set on hills. Old houses, narrow twisting lanes, an elegant old church on top of a hill, a small pub, a telephone box half hidden in the bushes. On

the farm road we all gasped in awe of the peaceful pastures on the slopes. ‘Look, cows.’ ‘And there are sheep. Look at the black one!' ‘What’s that? Llamas?’ ‘No, they’re alpacas.’ The first friends we made were Sam and Mitch, the dogs. They hardly left our side for the duration of our stay. Sam loved to play catch and there was no lack of people willing to throw that old bucket lid for her. We walked around the farm with Debbie to meet the animals. There are plenty of them at the farm. The pigs were our first long stop – we just couldn’t leave those cute 10-day-old piglets. I made a mental note to check the kids’ bags on the last day to make sure we wouldn’t have any piglets sticking their snouts out of someone’s bag at the airport. Throughout our stay we helped with water – it had been so dry that the water supply was very low. The horses’ creek dried out, so we helped put an old bathtub into their pasture and filled it with water every morning. We filled pigs’ wal-

page 7 lows with water and sometimes poured water over them as well to cool them off. They sure got more washing than we did – we decided to do our part for the water situation by not wasting time – I mean water – showering. We had a different task every day. Debbie and Mark must have put a lot of thought into setting our tasks – they were achievable, still took some effort and we could see the results and feel proud. Besides, we had fun. We cleared two pastures of thistles – digging, cutting, driving them to a pile with wheelbarrows, making sure the horses didn’t run out while we were opening and closing the gate. One day we set up a chicken coop. The parts were waiting on a trailer – base, four sides and the roof. We set out enthusiastically, but the task proved harder than we thought – one brick (for a foundation) is too high, so we dug deeper. But then we

dug too deep. So should we dig under the other one now or lift the first one a bit higher? We need to make it completely level, there’s half an inch of open air under a corner of this one. And maybe we should put that half an inch to the left. The emotions were starting to run high, some words less calm than they should were said. Then Mark came to see how we were doing. He threw a couple of shingles under a brick to

wwoof uk news issue 244 make it approximately level with the other and said: ‘Close enough. This is no rocket science – it’s just a chicken coop.’ After some giggles and feeling a bit ridiculous about our scientific approach we were finally on our way and soon the chicken coop was standing, as a proof that we can accomplish anything, although sometimes we need someone to show us that life doesn’t need to be too complicated. The Hardings were incredibly accommodating in all aspects of our stay – the scouts had a great time sightseeing the village from horseback with Debbie and her daughter Claire leading the horses. We said that we’d like to try some typical British food and Debbie got all the ingredients ready and brought out a cookbook. We loved those Cornish pasties. Our tea party was fun as well. When I first communicated with Debbie over email, she told me that her neighbour was a cub leader and they’d love to organise something for us. Debbie and Mark drove us to a beach one night (and we sure enjoyed riding in that 1949 Citroen!). We were all screaming with enthusiasm at the sight of the beach – it was one of the nicest places any of us have ever seen. The picnic with the Scouts from Devon was great – plenty of good food, breathtaking location, outlines of Wales somewhere over the sea. The next evening we went together to a climbing

wall. We needed to show them how strong Slovenians are and started by

tearing off a board, but after that things went smoothly. Another troop was having a campfire nearby and we finished the day with another dose of marshmallows, s’mores and campfire twist. I originally thought that staying at the farm would be kind of a filler for my scouts; boy, was I wrong. Not one said they wished we had more time in London; we were all speechless with remorse when Debbie and Mark drove from the train station. ‘It’s not fair that we have to leave.’ ‘We just got used to our tasks.’ ‘The dogs will miss us.’ ‘I wonder if I could persuade my parents to go WWOOFing. But I’m not sure if they’d like to work on their holidays.’ These were our parting thoughts. One boy wrote: ‘I thought it was very interesting how the farmers put their heart into everything they do and are proud of it.' An hour later, as the train was approaching Exeter, a storm started. Our coach was full of shouts and whoops: ‘Debbie will be really happy!’ ‘Hurrah, now Clarence (the biggest pig) won’t be so hot!’ We became a part of the farm and the farm will be a part of us for a long time!

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June Council meeting The June Council meeting was held at Redfield in Buckinghamshire and made use of their newly refurbished stable-block centre. It was attended by the full Council, two prospective directors and two members of the WWOOF UK administrative team.

There was once again a very full agenda reflecting the numerous, very exciting initiatives and developments being pursued this year. The Sunday morning session was devoted to strategic planning.

During the meeting one prospective director became a full director and we are delighted to welcome Nim Kibbler to the Council. As you’ll see below Nim has kindly introduced herself and shared her aspirations for her work as a director.

our new director: Nim Kibbler It was my pleasure at this year’s June council meeting to have been accepted in principle to be a director of WWOOF UK. I value WWOOF UK’s work immensely and hope through my work as a director I will be able to continue all the unique work that WWOOF fosters and creates. I grew up in rural Yorkshire surrounded by large-scale agriculture and industry but I’ve spent my entire adult life in Edinburgh, where I have predominantly worked for community food and farming projects and charities. This has meant being a jack-of-all-trades from farmer to running a pet shop, from youth worker to supporting people with dementia. I’ve been lucky in that my work has allowed me to travel and see other parts of the country and world. I’ve been to North America, Romania

and across Scotland learning about how people produce food and share it, meeting a range of farmers and growers. Just as with many WWOOFers and hosts whose comments I hear and read, WWOOFing has changed my life also through providing a handson and financiallyviable learning opportunity.

prove useful in maintaining WWOOF UK on its current path of being organic (both in terms of growing and feel). Whilst also being a professional organisation that that cares for its members. After all, it the members that make WWOOF UK happen.

I hope through this new role I will be able to bring fresh ideas to a wellloved charity that has strong ethics and committed members. I hope my background in charities and community work will

midlands host gathering Midlands Regional Host Contact David Beaton invites his hosts: Thanks to a generous offer by Adam Cade we have arranged a fascinating Sunday afternoon for Midlands hosts at his Brewery House near Stamford on 12th October.

Not only will you be able to meet and chat to other WWOOOF hosts, but you can also take part in an apple pressing workshop. Adam, who is a member of Stamford Community Orchard Group will have several presses available for you to try your hand at making apple juice – bring your own bottles.

If you have apples you would like identified bring them along and press them if you wish. We are sure this will be an entertaining and interesting afternoon and are looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible. If you wish to attend please let David know using: [email protected]

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VEG: Visit Edible Gardens WWOOF UK’s IT support contractor, Chris Cant, as well as practising technological magic at a high level and being the editor’s digital hero, is a committed volunteer and grower. This year, on his home turf of the Eden Valley in Cumbria, he has been closely involved with a new initiative intended to introduce novice growers to more experienced folk by VEG-ing out. Where VEG stands for Visit Edible Gardens! We asked him to tell us more … I worked in association with a local environmental group, Penrith Action for Community Transition, and we carried out some research that showed people felt they lacked the skills and knowledge to start growing, so this summer we launched VEG – a free programme of events to help them learn from other growers. We recruited talented growers willing to open their veg patches up to the public for a day, so that novices could come along and pick up knowledge and tips.

growing season in Cumbria can be a month behind the rest of the country and varies considerably according to your height above sea level. Raised beds can fit in the smallest spaces in town. Some crops work anywhere, like asparagus kale, one of my favourites, and tatties growing in strong plastic bags. In polytunnels we've seen sweetcorn growing and competition parsnips in drain pipes!

another programme next year as well as a one day growing course in

September this year. We’ve had some funding to support this project and the support of local organisations. As well as the VEG programme we also looked at some of the things that hold people back from trying to grow fruit and veg, and we felt that if we could make it as easy and cheap as possible for people to get the things they need to get started, it might make a difference. So we created a new gardening sub-group on our local Freegle (the online reuse group) last year.

The VEG events let people see what it’s possible to grow in our Cumbrian climate – even in small spaces. We’ve had six events so far with more planned, from a new veg patch in a small town garden to high -altitude growing on the fellside. The The feedback we had from attendees was very good and they certainly appeared to take inspiration from the events. We feel really encouraged by the response and are planning to run

Nearly 400 people have used the new gardening category for exchanging tools, seeds, plants, pots and other items to help them grow more – there have even been greenhouses changing hands. Others have been handing on surplus produce such as rhubarb and apples. There’s a short film about VEG at www.penrithact.org.uk/veg. If anyone would like to try running a similar VEG programme, Chris would be happy to pass on what he’s learnt. Just contact us using [email protected] and we’ll put you in touch.

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local WWOOFing: a good thing? A recent e-mail to WWOOF UK’s administration team prompted some of us to sit up and pay attention – Rebecca Hazell (no relation to our Director – Richard H) wrote in to ask whether there were any hosts looking for help who were local to her. As some of you may recall we ran a feature last year about local WWOOFing and hoped, in these straitened times, with travel costs becoming more prohibitive and climate change an accepted reality by the (vast) majority that it might be an idea whose time had come – or should that be returned to? And yet we are aware that in our recent survey only about ten per cent of hosts were really interested in taking local WWOOFers. Why was that? Are British WWOOFers not as reliable as foreign ones – or maybe just not such exotic house guests? We thought we'd find out more about Rebecca and see if we could make something happen for her...

Currently residing in Oxford and working in a tutorial college teaching English, Rebecca's passion is sustainability. She completed an MSc in the subject a few years ago and has gradually been putting the theory into practice in her everyday life. Keen to live off-grid, and work her own land etc. she signed up with WWOOF earlier this year saying ‘it just seemed to be the way to go.... a good way to start to really get serious about how to do things’. Rebecca first WWOOFed a few months ago at Little Mill Farm near Monmouth (and would like to take this opportunity to thank her host again!) and has clearly got the WWOOFing bug – saying that the experience really stayed with her and she has found it difficult to get back into city life since – preferring the hustle and bustle that nature creates to the one of us humans... When asked more specifically why she wanted to find a local WWOOF – Rebecca replied saying: ‘Local WWOOFing just makes complete

sense to me. For me, sustainability is all about localisation, so if I can do some regular WWOOFing on my doorstep, as well as longer stays a little further afield, so much the better. I gave up my car many years ago, and stopped flying a while back too, so travel by bicycle. I always love exploring by bike/on foot/by public transport, so it's a bit of an adventure to go off to a farm somewhere new (even if close by). Of course, as I prefer to cycle if I can, I need to find local WWOOFing opportunities if I'm to do it for just a weekend. But there are many other reasons for it too: make new local friends, maybe build relationships with local farms, learn the skills needed to work the land over the changing seasons, etc.’ Hosts within a short cycle/bus/train ride of Oxford are invited to get in touch using [email protected] who will put you in touch with Rebecca, as indeed are any nearby WWOOFers so long as you all promise to let us know what happens next...

Sue Coppard: leading lady Founder of WWOOF, Sue Coppard, is one of 100 British women chosen by American photographer Nancy Honey to feature in her forthcoming book 100 Leading Ladies. Ms Honey has spent over two years photographing and interviewing the people she considers to be amongst Britain’s most influential women, all aged over 50, from all walks of life. She considers the book to be a living history exploring in depth the personal and private issues surrounding

women's success in the workplace and says one of her main aims for it is to give younger generations the opportunity to have access to advice and wisdom about the issues that will affect their careers such as gender equality, childcare and work/life balance. There will be an exhibition at Somerset House in London and a launch on 1st October, which Sue Coppard will attend. We are very glad that Sue’s pioneering work is being recognised in this way, congratulations Sue!

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Devon host gathering RHC for Devon, Rosie Wibberley, hosted a regional host gathering at her home, Middle Ruckham Farm, in May this year. Host Michael Heard of Cheristow Lavender attended and sent this feedback. We had a lovely day looking around your farm, and it was really nice to talk to the other WWOOF hosts and share experiences at the informal eats afterwards. I would definitely

recommend other WWOOF hosts to attend the next meeting... but leave your car at the top of the drive if Rosie hosts it again! What it made me think about was how different we are all as hosts and what we have to offer WWOOFers varies tremendously, from basic accommodation and an off-grid experience in the middle of a field to grand houses with all ensuite facilities and fancy gardens. It must be a daunting task for WWOOFers to choose a host that meets their expectations and needs, just as it is hard for us to try and get the right WWOOFers for what we would like.

I am very pleased to say that ninetynine per cent of our experiences have been very positive and rewarding. We have learnt a lot from our WWOOFers, and hopefully they have gained a few weeks of doing something different to their normal lifestyle. We certainly have kept in touch with several of them and some have become close friends.

WWOOF UK is the real thing! The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the addition of a new logo to the WWOOF UK website. It indicates that WWOOF UK is a member of the Federation of WWOOF Organisations (FoWO) – which was launched in May 2013 – and, as such, is an officially recognised WWOOF group subscribing to the general ethics and code of WWOOF.

There were more than 250 entries of a very high quality from all over the world, with the winning design being produced by David Ritare from Sweden. And here it is...

their website so that WWOOFers and hosts alike know they are subscribing to a bone fide WWOOF organisation. So if you plan to travel abroad – check to see whether the group you contact is a member of

All members of the Federation of WWOOF Organisations are now being encouraged to carry this logo on

the Federation – and carrying this ‘quality’ mark.

The logo was the winning entry in a competition run by the Federation to produce… ‘an iconic design which represents the co-operative global community of WWOOF and celebrates the newly formed Federation of WWOOF Organisations.’

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classifieds Classifieds ads are free up to 50 words at the editor’s discretion. WWOOF UK accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of advertisements and does not endorse the products and services offered. You are advised to check before availing yourself of what is offered. [email protected]. uk Smallholding in mid Wales for sale. Two miles from our farm; our original holding is for sale. 5 bed 16th century farmhouse plus 5 acres. We would love to find people who want to be near other hosts, or to be part of a small community or to form their own cooperative. £235,000. WWOOF hosts for 20 yrs, we have many exciting land-based projects happening. Tel Fran 01686 412744 or email [email protected]

We're looking to buy a smallholding or land with (or likely to get) planning permission in Wales. We've been WWOOFers and communal hosts and are now looking to settle on our own patch, so we’d especially welcome land that’s been cared for. Location and size flexible. email [email protected]

Emerson College has developed a new training with a focus on developing and deepening sustainable agricultural practice. The urgency of a responsible relationship to the land requires a response that encompasses environmental, social and practical aspects. email: [email protected] tel: 01342 822238 http://emerson.org.uk/biodynamics -course

Herbalist wanted – help in gardens, processing and planning, with a view to you taking on this small enterprise as your own, as a farm partnership. We need herbal extracts, wool dyeing and teaching. There is also the opportunity to set up your own practice. Contact: [email protected] Host Chris Southall of EcoDiy wrote: ‘Here is a picture of our WWOOFers Anouk, Damien and baby Anae. As you can see children are no obstacle to WWOOFing! Our experience of small families WWOOFing is very positive. ‘

While elsewhere these seasoned volunteers made short work of harvesting the Arran Pilot first earlies.

next copy deadline: 31st October for Winter issue, send to [email protected] WWOOF UK, P.O. Box 2154, Winslow, Bucks MK18 3WS