3rd Anniversary Blog!

Well, I can't quite believe it, but here I am at the end of my third year of WWOOFing, and about to start my fourth. It was a different sort of year in some ways as I decided to take things a little more 'easily', in that I decided not to move on from host to host every two weeks, but to revisit places that I had particularly enjoyed and stay for longer.

So, May 2012 saw me in mid-Wales near a small, unspoilt town called Llanidloes, a little way north of Rhayader and a little way south of Welshpool. My hosts there have an almost continuous rotation of WWOOFers from around the world so it makes for an interesting multi-cultural experience, plus they have many and varied jobs to do so that boredom or repetitiveness are never an issue. Whilst there I met (mainly young) people from France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Canada, South Africa and Taiwan. Many of them had never worked on a farm before and the girl from Taiwan had never set foot outside of Taiwan before and had never flown in an aeroplane. She arrived at Heathrow, found her way to mid-Wales on a series of trains, stayed for two weeks, repeated the train journeys in reverse and flew home! The air ticket had cost her over £1000 and I don't really know what she gained from the experience, as she went around for the entire two weeks with either a look of shock, horror, incredulity or bewilderment on her face! But what an amazing thing to do, I felt that she was incredibly brave.

I also learned some new crafts whilst I was there, taking part in a weaving and natural dyeing course, and also making a wooden spoon and turning a birch wood bowl on a pole lathe in the woods. I also completed my first peg loom rug and have now started another, using fleeces that I have been given by some of my hosts and, recently I have bought a folding spinning wheel so that I can practice my spinning wherever I happen to be. These are all things that I never expected to have the chance to do and its amazing how satisfying it is.

I stayed at Llanidloes for three months with a short break when I returned to home territory and did a paid farm-sit at Dundry. It was whilst I was there that I had my long hair cut really short to raise money for CLIC Sargent – in the end I raised nearly £800, so thank you to everyone who donated. I still have short hair as it is actually much easier to look after when I'm travelling and working, but I have sorely missed the extra 'shoulder blanket', that was my hair, during this winter!

I did four paid farm-sits last year, usually for a maximum of two weeks, and it is all useful extra income, but it has its downside, too. For one thing, it has rather dictated where in the country I can be before and after the sit, as I didn't want to be driving from one end of the country to the other and back again, and also it is very lonely. If I'm lucky I have the company of a personable dog or dogs with whom I can have a conversation (albeit a bit one-sided) but sometimes there are no pets, just farm animals, so I have long and meaningful conversations with chickens!

Chickens can actually be quite good companions, especially if you are gardening and they are allowed to free-range. I went to stay next to the Oxfordshire Canal north of Banbury for three weeks and the two chickens, Cromarty and Flame, spent all day gobbling up any worms or grubs that I dug up, and Cromarty also caught and ate a mouse! Luckily, I spotted the rather lovely toad before she did and was able to put him in the relative safety of the compost heap.

Staying next to a canal was great for me, especially as it was right next to a lock at the top of a flight of five, so I got to see lots of boats and people going through, even though it was towards the end of the 'season', being in mid- to late-September. I also got talking to some guys on a coal barge that is run by a charity and am toying with the idea of signing up to help crew the barge and its 'butty' (an un-powered, towed barge) at some point in the future – it will be a bit like WWOOFing, but on water! I still can't get enough of canals and the narrow boats – they just fascinate me, and following on from this stay I went a couple of miles away for another two weeks and was able to attend the Banbury Canal Day, and then, whilst at Stroud in March, I spent part of a day off exploring Saul Junction which is on the junction of the Sharpness Canal and the Stroudwater Canal and must have been a very busy place at one time.

After one last farm-sit in November and a two week stay with my 'aunt' in Cwmbran to help her get her garden tidy, I returned to Mum's in Cheltenham for the winter months. I had intended to start my travels again at the end of January but Mum had a nasty fall whilst on a cruise and managed to break four or five ribs and damage her back, so I stayed until she was well enough to cope and started again in mid-March. As you know, the prolonged lay-off did nothing for my fitness levels and I really struggled for the two weeks that I spent at Stroud, even going so far as to wonder whether I should stop all together. However, that is a rather scary thought, too – what on earth would I do if I stopped? Where would I live? And how would I be able to maintain all my new friendships if I was tied to one place?

I felt better after a three week stay at one of my favourite places, near Launceston in Cornwall – I think the large number of therapeutic bonfires helped! I still did not feel back to full fitness, but I may just have to accept that that is the way it is and trying to keep up with eighteen-year olds is just a bit silly. Hopefully, loads of experience and problem-solving are the key assets that I can offer to my future hosts and being able to flip a sheep onto its back or carry bales of hay long distances can be left to the youngsters, although I'm still prepared to give it a go!

I've decided to carry on for now, as I still enjoy the lifestyle, if not the accompanying aches and pains! This coming year sees much the same pattern emerging as last; familiar places and faces interspersed with a few farm sits for people I already know. I keep thinking I should really try the east of the country, but I'm booked up until mid-September already and those winds in East Anglia are probably going to be pretty chilly in October and November.......perhaps next year!