Adventures in WWOOFing

While we were planning this grand adventure, we knew that one of the activities that we wanted to experience must include a visit to a working farm.  One of the types of real estate we are looking for in South America is an agricultural plantation or ranch.  It made sense then to try our hand on a working farm.  Mike and I were both anxious to get our hands dirty…literally!  We found an organization called the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms and as we read about it, we quickly decided this was a perfect fit!  The WWOOFer organization is set up so that in return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation, and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles.  WWOOF organizations link people who want to volunteer on organic farms or smallholdings with people who are looking for volunteer help.  You sign up, per country, for a flat fee, or a couple (family) fee ($55 for Chile).  Then, you receive your list and begin the process of picking which host family you would like to stay and work with.  In exchange for a free place to stay, you are required to spend a certain amount of time per day (for us it was 6 hours) working on the farm doing a previously-agreed upon task.  There are about half that will accept children and from there, we just emailed the hosts to see which one was a good fit for us.  We found Fernando and Paula Gomez and their two-acre orchard with animals, bees, and gardens was a good match.  They also have two little boys, Vladimir, 4, and Hans, 2, so our boys were thrilled!  They work in Santiago during the week and since their cabin on the farm is rather small, we worked it out that we would meet them on Sunday evening and work until the following weekend, where they would meet us again, review our work, and say our goodbyes.  This arrangement worked out just beautifully…Mike could work with the boys helping all morning and during the kids’ nap in the afternoon, we could finish up.  I helped out during Gabe’s mid-morning nap and as a family, we completed everything the Gomezes had for us!  We cleaned the poultry coops, cleared a small garden, extended a fence, and transplanted garlic seedlings.  We also took care of their two horses, chickens, ducks, and cats.  Besides a free place to stay in exchange for our work, we also could harvest anything edible that could find and use it in our cooking!  We found fresh acetaleg (a green similar to Swiss chard), cantaloupes, tomatoes, and topinambur, a root that when boiled, tastes exactly like sweet artichoke hearts!  The Gomezes had a huge roasted sheep’s leg when we got there and a side of beef in the freezer.  There was a bakery for fresh bread, ready at 8am every morning, and a local cheese factory down the street!  We didn’t have access to a car but Mike rode the bike every morning for fresh goodies for breakfast.  There was even local beer from a brewery about an hour away!  The cabin had electricity, fresh (and very pure!) water from their windmill powered well, and a wood burning stove to keep us warm on the cold nights.  In the mornings, the sun rose over the mountains and the porch was perfect for a cup of hot coffee and watching the morning glories open.  The afternoons were sunny and warm and perfect for the boys to jump on the trampoline, play in the sandbox, or ride the horses.  The evenings were ideal for our farm-fresh dinners and reading children’s books in Spanish.  Without internet or TV, the nights after the boys went to sleep were perfect for talking about future travels and dreaming up our next big adventure.  Experiences like this make us start hatching ideas for a self-sufficient existence wherever we end up settling down.  It’s a much needed breath of fresh air to be able to let the boys roam free, play in the dirt, and use their imaginations to play without the temptation of an ipad or a movie.  It was amazing to harvest roots, produce, fruit, and eggs in the afternoon and then prepare it for dinner.  This farm reminded us a lot of East Texas and we can’t wait to get back and put down roots…literally!  We have plans for building an energy efficient home and trying to be as self-reliant (through gardens, orchards, and livestock) as possible!  We had an absolutely incredible week and yesterday, we went back to Santiago for the night and took an 8 hour bus over the gorgeous Andean mountains to Mendoza, Argentina, today!  We can’t wait to explore this lovely city and its beautiful surrounding countryside. 

riding horses!

pumpkins!

chickens 

the boys were in heaven.

part of our work was cleaning the coop

Chinese ducks!

feeding the chickens daily

the cabin

the boys loaded up the broken squash pieces and carted them to the coop

wild amaranth, the same color as my shirt

a little boy and his dirt

my handsome husband

lamb sandwich with local, stewed tomatoes and topinambur root!

how I started most days...a cup of coffee and dulce de leche!

fresh plums and little boys in the sandbox

fresh greens were growing everywhere!

harvesting topinambur root for dinner!

leftover leg of sheep, fresh greens, topinambur root, rice with amaranth seeds, and fresh salsa!

gorgeous sunsets every night

...and beautiful sunrises!

that day's lunch: fresh bread from the bakery down the road, fresh cheese from the cheese factory!, tiny cantaloupes, and green tomatoes, ready to be fried

bone broth

trampoline!

Mike clearing the garden

salvaging all this lovely produce from the cleared garden

wild amaranth

wishing he could get in on the action

blanched tomatoes, ready for more salsa

onions, celery, squash, white carrots, and greens for that night's dinner

the topinambur plant

finished clearing!

the Physalis fruit, related to the tomato, good for digestion!

fried "green" tomatoes!

fried amaranth!

post-nap porch talks

the boys collected all these flowers that day

this big boy turned 9 months old!  and started crawling finally!

roast beef with tomatoes, fresh greens, and more topinambur roots

the Gomez's neat pool...they have plants surrounding the water to purify and cleanse the pool naturally!

after clearing the land, Mike hand-tilled it

beef ragout with greens and fresh salad from the many gardens

local beer from the Kross Brewery!

I love that these boys eat their salads.

salad and cantaloupe lunch

beautiful morning on the porch

fresh pears and homemade dulce de leche

laying the irrigation system

and finally, transplanting the garlic!

off to the cheese factory!

...to go with this beautiful fresh bread.

play doh with Vladimir and Hans

the wonderful Gomez family!

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