Wwoof

[TomT]

OK,

How many here have done WWOOF'ing (http://www.wwoof.org/) ? Where and what were your experiences like ?

TomT

[KenElwood]

Hey tomt,

How many here have done WWOOF'ing (http://www.wwoof.org/) ? Where and what were your experiences like ?,
Back in 2005 I signed up for and received a Wwoofers Permit (http://www.wwoofjapan.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=31&lang=en), but never had a chance to visit any farms.

ken

[Hotte]

OK,

How many here have done WWOOF'ing (http://www.wwoof.org/) ? Where and what were your experiences like ?

TomT

there is a hostel with fishing and rice farming just down the road from me where regular foreigners and japanese staying and working in exchange for meals and a bed, most of them are fairly happy and enjoying there time beeing in the countryside, as we are on a island i guess u couldnt ask for more traditional living and farming allthough the foreigners are very happy when they come over to us and get some meat on the bbq as they complain about eating three times a day fish and rice, work is kind of spread all over the day indepence how guest are coming,
i can only say when i talk to the woofers none of them have complaint about any host, only the different work schedules and expactancy, also if you have been in labour work before and use to earn money with that, many would say back home i would earn a lot more than just rice,fish and a bed for this .... so i guess its ok when you young

on another note i did a lot of woofing some long time ago when u use to buy a booklet with all the farms in it and made arrangements from there which i thought; it was a pretty good time, i learnd a lot about culture and different ways things are done across the globe. I think its worth a go even just for a few days

Hotte

[well_bicyclically]

considering that Japan Agriculture is the supplier of all supplies, and the buyer of all yields... and those supplies also include agro-chemicals... I doubt a WWOOFer would be of much use in Japan... other than to wipe of the pesticide residue and put ORGANIC stickers on the produce...

[TomT]

Hey tomt,
,
Back in 2005 I signed up for and received a Wwoofers Permit (http://www.wwoofjapan.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=31&lang=en), but never had a chance to visit any farms.

ken

Ken,

I also signed up around 06 maybe but never went. There are a few hosts up this way.


Hotte, Thanks for sharing.



considering that Japan Agriculture is the supplier of all supplies, and the buyer of all yields... and those supplies also include agro-chemicals... I doubt a WWOOFer would be of much use in Japan... other than to wipe of the pesticide residue and put ORGANIC stickers on the produce...

well_bicyclically, I think you are right, hence this statement made by most hosts "We have an organic attitude of sorts, but we do not go out of our way to be organic or alternative, rather, we do what suits us at the time"


TomT

[shikantaza]

After having lurked the Countryside Living thread for a couple of years (still am, by the way …), I signed up for a WWOOF-er Permit and went here for almost three months (from June 21 to September 14; upcoming Tuesday). I went to three places in total: Azumino, Nagano; Nakatsugawa, Gifu and Ayabe, Kyoto.

It was a lot of fun and a lot of work (mostly weeding, since that's what you do in summer apparently). Lots of great experiences earned, I highly recommend it to anyone that's interested in living in the Japanese inaka, like I was (am).

Now the next step for me is to figure out how to get back here on a real visa and get things going for real. Currently spending my last week in Tokyo as a hikikomori wanting to get back to the countryside where I belong. But my tourist visa tells me not to, so I'll be heading back to the land of Swedes again way too soon …

[Yukkuri Kame]

Welcome to posting, Shikantaza!

Curious, how did you like Azumino? My wife knows some people up there and keeps trying to get me to go.

Would love to hear more about each of the places you were.

[shikantaza]

Thank you for the welcome, Yukkuri Kame!

Azumino was a great place. Beautiful view of the Japan Alps, kind people everywhere and lots of fun. I can really recommend going there. I stayed there for a month, mostly "thinning out superfluous fruit" (dictionary definition of "tekka") and mowing down weeds and yomogi in the orchards and potato/tomato fields. They had some weeding going in the tambo as well. The place was huge; despite spending like 80% of the working time in the apple orchards, I still got to do lots of other things. They grew unimaginable amounts of different kinds of vegetables and legumes, but then again they earned their money from it so I guess it comes natural. We worked six hours a day and got one day off a week, but they also took us with them on all sorts of activities in the area, so I felt it was a really fair deal.
The host's blog: http://tsuiteruogurayama.blog81.fc2.com/

The second place (Gifu) was very different. It was pretty remote, in a small village called Kashimo. First of all the hosts weren't farmers, they just lived a "farmer-like" lifestyle. The family lived in a 150 year-old house, they had a natural farming tambo and vegetable/herb garden in the back yard. Pretty much everything about their lifestyle had a little alternative/eco-twist to it. For example: Their car ran exclusively on used tempura oil which they filtered themselves, they had a mini pig and chickens that ate all their nama-gomi, etc. Living and working with them was really interesting, and the food was absolutely amazing. Almost completely vegetarian, healthy meals. Unforgettable!
Blog: http://maasan.blog19.fc2.com/

The third place in northern Ayabe, Kyoto, was also very nice. In the middle of nowhere, about an hour's drive from the nearest city. As it was a former "genkai shuuraku", the youngest person around before the host moved there was 74, it seems. Since then several younger couples have settled there, doing some farming and enjoying the ambience of the wilderness. Hot days, lots of hard work, but still very rewarding.

I could go on for ages about what I've been doing this summer, but then again I could use some sleep as well, so I guess this has to do for now …

[dataGecko]

Azumino was a great place....

Great posts shikantaza, and welcome to the thread. Good to read about your WWOOFing experience! Thanks for sharing. Hope you get the chance to come back!

[karamatsu]

shikantaza

Thanks for the info.

You've posted the same link twice though. The first one is correct for the farm in Nagano in "Azumino". I actually hate that name since its the old name for a much wider area and thus is kind of confusing. The town now callled "Azumino" is mostly a place that used to be called "Hotaka" . Its just north of Matsumoto.

There's a lodge and cafe in Hotaka called Shalom Hutte who do all kinds of eco things and events. David Holgrem visited there on his documented trip to Japan.

Some of these farms will take volunteers who aren't wwoofers if you don't want to pay the wwoof subs.

[shikantaza]

karamatsu,

Oops, sorry about that. Now it should be right.

Ah, yes, I actually went with the host and some WWOOF-ers to Shalom Hutte in Hotaka for a pizza baking event. It's a beautiful place. And coincidentally, the host in Gifu also worked there as a chef before, it seems.

[paradoxbox]

i wwoofed in aomori for 3 months ish in 2008.

while it wasn't a bad experience the host i was with had some serious problems following the wwoof guidelines as to how much work is supposed to be done. he had a mix of wwoofers and a mix of regular hired japanese staff. when i started there were around 8 wwoofers there. 3 months later i was the only one left, a large number of the japanese staff had quit, and i left in a hurry after getting sick of the excessive work. talk about a battle zone.

i recommend wwoof to anyone who wants to get out and see japan. it's not all about farm work, there are many kinds of different hosts available, some have nothing to do with farms. just be careful that you're not being used as free labor / indentured labor etc.. there are some hosts who will take advantage of you and will think nothing of it.

if you've got enough cash to bail out of a wwoof place if it goes sour, i think that's the best option. if your wwoof host turns out to be bad, move on to the next one with your cash. you don't want to get stuck there the whole time.

[Yukkuri Kame]

My wife knows the owner of Shalom Hutte from before he started the place. If I have my stories right, he was a host on a remote mountain cabin for backpackers. His guests keep saying he should open his own place, and eventually he made it happen.