I'm deleting the tiktok app. I've never seen such brain rot in my life. Isn't this a volunteer program?

Hi, a bit about me I am a young male in the united states looking to become more self sustainable. I am just learning about WWOOF and I'm interested in learning more about taking the first step to gain hands on experience with agriculture and raising/caring for animals. I was a laborer for a contractor who took me under his wing and we traveled and worked together and became familiar with how to live the diy way.

I'm leaning more and more into bushwhack lifestyle now after realizing only I can take care of myself. I'm living in the city now, and this life isn't for me. I've always been interested in homesteading but I only know what I can read right now as opposed to hands on experience.

I think I may be late in the season but any opportunities for beginners would greatly be appreciated.

Happy doing farming, digital media, marketing, photo/video help or childcare/helping around the house! Open to anything really

Dear WWOOF Redditors, I recently learned that to volunteer in wonderful NZ, you need a work visa even tho you don’t earn money or anything.

Does anyone have experience with this? I am 33, too old for working holiday visa.

I am in this fortunate / unfortunate situation where I have 2 months (at least) off work. I’m a freelancer and there’s no work, so it’s a forced time off where I won’t earn money. I figured I might as well spend my time off in the best way I can imagine. So why not volunteer and live in another country for a while?

I also looked into house sitting but I didn’t find out if that also needs a work visa.. but worst case that could at least give me shelter. Two months of paying my rent AND paying food and shelter with no income is a bit rough. :-)

Please any advice would be appreciated!

Edit: sorry! I just want to pop on to say I found something called a supplementary seasonal employment work visa …. Could this be it? It says it’s for people who have a visitor visa and already stay in NZ and they will then apply for this visa to do horticultural or viticultural work?

(Apologies if this question seem obvious to you, but English isn’t my first language so I do get confused).

I’m about to go wwoofing and June and I was wondering about safety and want to plan for (God forbid) worse case scenarios. (I’m an 18f). Is it reasonable to give your parents’ phone numbers to the hosts? What are your safety tips?

I’m looking to WWOOF in Australia in a couple months and was aiming to be in the Queensland region near the beach and/or Gold Coast. Any recommendations for hosts or farms around there?

I (20F) am looking to spend a few weeks near Innsbruck Austria to WWOOF as well as have access to the beautiful mountains around for trail running. It seems that WWOOF Austria doesn’t really have a history of experience reviews, which makes finding a farm a bit more difficult. Has anyone been on one of the farms in this area?

Or… if not, does anyone have a recommendation of somewhere/a specific farm in Europe that they WWOOFed and we’re situated very close to mountains with lots of trails to run/hike on? Thanks!

Id really like to woof this summer, but I’m underage, and my parents don’t want to woof. They’d let me go by myself, though. I heard that a few places like Germany, Italy and Portugal allowed minors with permission, but I don’t know how to do this because I’m still not allowed to make an account at the woof site, So, can I woof as a minor and if so how? Thanks!

Basically the title. I am looking to WWOOF for a few weeks this summer so I reached out to multiple just incase some didn’t respond. Should I let them know that I am considering other options or will this make them less likely to allow me to stay with them?

This may be a silly question. But I am currently wanting to WWOOF in Ireland for a month or more. I have friends in England, though. And I’m wondering if it’s doable to take some time off from WWOOFING and book a flight to England for a weekend or so to visit them.

Is this just something I’d have to discuss with the host? Or is it simply not allowed at all?

Answers and tips appreciated, thank you :)

Hello team,

I am a minor from Portugal, I am looking for WWOOF hosts that accepts someone under 18, I know that the countries listed above, do accept minors. However I can only choose 4 farms, if they reject me, then I can´t be a WWOOfer this year. Due to this, I must choose wisely.

Does anyone who has been in Italy, Germany or Portugal as a WWOOFer knows a host that accepts 17 year olds?

Btw do you guys think I have a good chance of being a WWOOFer under these conditions?

Thanks in advance

Hi! I'm going to have the opportunity to take a month off work for the month of May, and I'm hoping to spend most of that time on a farm in Central America. Looking for recommendations based on the things I'm looking for, which are the following:

• In Central America
• Willing to accept English speaking WWOOFers (my Spanish isn't good enough for regular conversation, but I'm currently learning)
• In a warm climate ideally near a Beach / swimmable lake is fine too
• Barn Animals: I am really craving some barn animal nurturing experience. Taking care of horses, cows, goats, any large mammal honestly.

I'm in my early twenties, F, and active, not too worried about performing strenuous labour for hours a day if needed. If you have any recommendations I'd greatly appreciate it, thank you in advance for sharing!!!

I would like to travel either Germany or Italy hopefully I want it to be this summer in agoust or the end of july.

When should I start looking for hosts?

thank you in advance

​

I’m WWOOFing in Japan right now and just finished at a farm with three other wwoofers which was great. I’ve arrived at my next hosts place today and it’s not at all like I was expecting. After a five hour trip to get here he immediately takes me to a room and asked me to put some new blinds up. And it also turns out he’s mostly blind and his wife has Alzheimer’s. It’s just me here for the next two weeks. It feels less like I’m going to be working on a farm and more like I’m going to be a carer. For dinner he pulls up a recipe for microwaved cabbage. I’m like nahhh so I cook an actual meal and him and his wife love it. I’m not sure whether to stay or not because the town is really nice. What would you do?

Hi! I'm looking for help. Years ago I did WWOOFing around europe and met some incredible people. I'm trying to catch up with some of the friends I made during this time in Spain, however, I've lost the phone number of someone who was really important to me and it was the only way I had to contact them.

I'd like to access the reviews of the farm we stayed in to see if I can find their full name (I never knew their last name), and maybe from that find some social media profile I could reach out to. I do not currently have a membership since I haven't traveled in years, so if anyone has one and five minutes to spare, it would really mean a lot! Please message me if you can, thank you!

I’m heavily considered doing some WWOOF work for a gap year after I graduate high school this year. I’m just wondering how y’all think colleges would perceive this. Do you think they wouldn’t understand it or that it would boost my application or that they wouldn’t care? I genuinely do not know.

I received an email from WWOOF (included below) saying that the placements may not be legal under the new National Minimum Wage Legislation. What are the changes that have made this happen? I am currently volunteering somewhere (not WWOOF related), but should I be worried that this is not legal? Or is it about WWOOF as a placement organisation, the 'middle man' if you would?

Email:

"Dear WWOOFer

It has recently come to WWOOF UK’s attention that an amendment to UK National Minimum Wage legislation is likely to impact on WWOOFing. Following receipt of legal advice our interpretation of the situation is that hosts who accept WWOOFers may be considered to have broken the law. We have therefore had to advise them to consider whether, in the short term, they should continue to host WWOOFers. 

The result of this is that for a number of months there may be fewer WWOOFing opportunities. To help minimise this we have temporarily paused the recruitment of new WWOOFers. To be clear, you will continue to be able to make visit requests as some hosts may not be affected by the changes and others may choose to continue to host as normal.

We appreciate this will be disappointing news. Ultimately it is a host's own personal decision whether to continue to host WWOOFers. This may mean some hosts decide to cancel booked visits. However, you will still be able to visit if a host decides they are willing.  

We believe that it is right and necessary that we let you know about this situation. At this point we can give you no further advice. However we continue to believe that the Government does not want to block the WWOOFing movement within the UK. The changes were designed to protect au pairs and domestic workers from exploitation. However, the fact remains that WWOOF seems to have inadvertently been caught up in the same net. 

We will be doing everything we possibly can, as quickly as we can, to ensure WWOOFing can be viewed as a legal activity. This might take the form of further legal advice / or lobbying and advocacy. Either will take time, especially lobbying and advocacy. 

As soon as we are able, we intend to hold online meetings to air any questions. At this point we will also be inviting any WWOOFers with ideas and expertise to step forward to help ensure we can exempt WWOOF UK from the amended National Minimum Wage legislation.

We appreciate what a truly unexpected and undesirable situation this is, and we promise we'll be back in touch with you just as soon as we have any further news or information.

With best wishes,

The WWOOF UK Team"

Hey folks,

We are two couples doing work&travel in USA and we are considering trying work away in Mexico and then any of the countries/isles in Caribbean Sea. We are from Europe, so this is a whole new world for us! Perhaps anyone would have recommendations on ANY of the countries in the vicinity? For now we are just considering and researching what would work best, so just looking for opinions, guidance and shared advice :).

Besides Mexico (or specific regions in Mexico), which of the countries you think are the most active in work away and are more or less safe?

Cheers!

Hey dear wwoofers!

I will start out by saying I WWOOFed in Ireland for a few months like 14 years ago, it was an amazing experience for me.

So… life circumstances has changed for me and I feel my heart is calling for adventure.

I am now 33 years old, and I went to NZ last year for vacation. Ever since, I’ve been yearning to go back. Honestly, I’ve pondered for the last few weeks on a way in into NZ for me. Unfortunately my profession is not highly sought for, as I’m an audio engineer (graduated as a live sound engineer but worked in studio post production ever since). So it seems like a dead end. I’m too old for working holiday, sadly,

I was thinking that maybe a few months of WWOOFing could be the way for me. I don’t need vacation per se, and the work I did in Ireland I very much enjoyed. I like having a purpose.

It will hurt a little economically since I just got an apartment and I don’t know my chances of renting it out for a few months (fully furnished).

So, since I’m pretty much already in NZ in my mind and heart, could anyone be helpful with their experience? I did take a look at the map, and it’s honestly an overwhelming amount of hosts (that’s good, more chances of finding one or more places to stay).

How have you gone about staying at one or more places? What if I stayed one month in north island and another in South Island?

Any experience or advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

Why is there no system in place to help other Wwoofers know ahead of time if a host is fair? Maybe we can start saying “Picnic table” if you were on your own for meals and “kitchen table” if you and your host shared meals. 🐾 if you had to scrounge for your own food like a stray dog. 👩‍🌾 a farmer with a carrot if you were able to eat “well” off the land. 👩‍🍳 maybe a chef emoji if your host cooked with you and included you in 3 meals a day like wwoof requires. This way it’s not super obvious when we review a host but we also get the point across so other wwoofers know what to expect.

Let’s help each other out.

I'm planning to go WWOOFing in Germany soon, I have an EU passport, and am planning to stay for a while if it goes well, and afterwards find work/accommodation in Germany. Do I need to get the anmeldung when I'm WWOOFing or is this something I only need to worry about afterwards?

Hi! So I’ll be WWOOFing at two different farms during a backpacking trip to Europe this summer, and trying to figure out what shoes are best. I do have muck boots from prior farming experiences, but figured those might be a bit too bulky for this trip. Additionally, I won’t be at any farms with animals, so I’ll be doing more gardening. Does anyone have recommendations?

But most important! I want to tell my hosts I don’t want to do any animal labor or use heavy machines. Is that possible? I’m a certified organic farmer, so I know I bring some good experience to the table. Just don’t want to deal with animals or dangerous activities.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance 🤍

Any opportunities in Texas? When I retire I want to do some farming and ranching and would like to WWOOF for someone who isn’t too far from me. Also looking for book recommendations on farming and ranching in Texas climate where I’m based. I want to grow some fruits and vegetables and also raise some cows, chickens, and horses. I might keep goats around for the free lawn mowing service they provide. Not looking to farm or ranch for profit, just to provide for myself and maybe some to sell at a local farmers market. I’d love to learn about doing all this and gain experience. Thanks!

I’ve been dreaming about Wwoofing full-time for 6 years. Silly as it may seem, it’s truly my dream and goal for this portion of my life. I have all these limitations set up in my head but I know I could have made it happen by now (especially at least a trip or 2). I’m planning on starting small soon, something local.

But for the ultimate goal of full time or maybe part time, I’d love to read any guidance or encouragement you all have to get rid of some of my perceived blockages.

• How do you all afford to do it? This is the big one for me. Some questions I think about a lot are how much money I should save, how to save it, if working remote while Wwoofing is a thing, if any of you are also students, etc.

• In between destinations, where do you go? Is it common for people to hop from place to place without having to fly back home every time? I see this being difficult especially depending on length of the stay and whether I am volunteering domestically or internationally.

• Where do you store all your things? Or did you sell everything you own? I rent and would have to end my lease to Wwoof because of finances.

• Is bringing pets a thing? I have a cat and could leave her with a friend or family but that would be really hard.

• A lot of my concerns are mental because it’s such an extreme lifestyle change meaning it’s new territory. So I’m not sure where to start and have a million questions but this is what I want and I’m willing to make sacrifices. Just want to be smart about it and prepare as best as I can.

Help pleaseee 🥲

How big of an issue is racism on farms? Rural areas tend to have less exposure to people from different parts of the world.

Asking because I’m currently staying at a farm where the host makes many racist comments daily (among other hateful comments, but racist is the most common). They are very open about how they discriminate against who they host/don’t host. Even more shockingly, this host has been on the site for 10+ years. Was everyone just okay with this? Some people stay longer (according to this host), which is beyond me why they would.

The host even named nationalities that they’d ideally like to host, but it sounded more like hitler naming his favorite countries.

Is there a chance that a host is not removed and the wwoofer could face retaliation? What exactly is the investigation that wwoof does before removing hosts? Perhaps that is why racism is not always reported (besides general complacency)?

I'm an American who has obtained a working holiday visa for Ireland (allowing me to work for pay for up to 12 months) BUT after doing my research and understanding the severe housing crisis in Ireland, I started looking into other options. WWOOF is attractive to me because I am interested in gardening and sustainable farming practices. I'd assume with the Working holiday visa it wouldn't be a problem to volunteer for longer (6 months or so) than with a tourist visa. Does anyone have experience WWOOFing in Ireland? Did you have a good experience with your hosts?