WWOOF
History and momentum

When I first dreamed up WWOOF, back in 1971, I hadn't the remotest notion it would one day become a thriving, worldwide network with members from so many countries crisscrossing the globe! But WWOOF answers the needs of so many people it had to happen; contact with nature is the psychological equivalent of vitamin C. I feel that WWOOF chose me as its channel - a London secretary with no rural friends or family but pining for the countryside as I watched the autumn leaves blowing along the pavement.

WWOOF originally stood for Working Weekends On Organic Farms, and that's how it started. I had learned about the organic philosophy while helping on 'Resurgence' magazine, and it seemed to me that organic farms would be much more likely to use willing but unskilled townie labourers. A friend suggested that Michael Allaby, editor of the Soil Association journal, might know of a suitable farm, and he put me in touch with Emerson College in deepest leafy Sussex, the training college for the application of Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophical philosophy - including bio-dynamic agriculture on their 200 acre farm. Helpful vice-principal John Davy 'persuaded' his sceptical farm managers to give us a trial weekend, and I hastily put an ad. in London's 'Time Out' magazine - which produced the first 15 enquiries.

On a Friday evening three of us took the train down from London with our work clothes and sleeping bags and spent a blissful weekend in wonderful countryside, working hard at clearing brambles and unblocking ditches, listening to birds, watching the sunset, and chatting with the students at meal times! The high point was a fabulous strawberries-and-cream tea in the barn with pigeons cooing aloft. Magic!

The farmers were pleased with our efforts and said Yes, you can come again if you like. Michael Allaby wrote an article entitled 'Coppard's Land Army', and this brought both would-be WWOOFers and invitations from hosts to help on their land. It also led to a request for an interview with Portobello based 'SEED' magazine run by Ken Sams (father of Craig Sams who is currently Chairman of the Soil Association). 'SEED' was a delightfully quirky and informative 'alternative' magazine. Not only did I end up writing the WWOOF article myself (subtitled 'Rent-a-Serf'), I became its secretary for the next year and acquired more organic education and farm contacts.

So WWOOF was a success: I was getting into the countryside regularly, and more and more people were enjoying their WWOOF experiences and learning organic skills. As with organic folk everywhere, they turned out to be really interesting, lovely and fun people. A year and a half later, however, my leisurely Sunday mornings reading the newspaper had vanished. Unable to see how the work load could be shared, both desk and I were groaning under the weight of all that admin! It so happened that I had read of the Japan Kibbutz Association and decided this would be the way to see something of the Far East, a long standing ambition. So we all assembled to consider how WWOOF might continue. Four members agreed to take over the various tasks - and I went off on my travels (the second best thing I did for WWOOF!)

The take-over went remarkably smoothly and WWOOF continued to grow. The big surprise for me, arriving at Dick Roberts' farm in New Zealand a year later, was meeting three WWOOFers from England who had followed up Dick's invitation in WWOOF News and beaten me to it! Two of them were Rob and Sue Lea, who went on to form New Zealand WWOOF, the world's second WWOOF. From then on, individuals from other countries who had enjoyed WWOOFing in the UK would take the idea back home and, with a little help from UK Main Office, set up a national WWOOF, each quite distinct from its brethren as all are autonomous and invidually tailored to suit local needs.

WWOOF had expanded considerably by the time I returned to England and joined the team of organisers - a page long list by this time. So many excellent people contributed their efforts and inspiration, and interesting articles and glowing reports of WWOOF visits filled the pages of the newsletter. Growth was organic: whenever a job became too much for one organiser the work was divided into two and someone suitable would turn up offering to help. Most organisers were unpaid but eventually increasing workloads led to payment for the heavier jobs, Newsletter Editor and Main Office among them. Two stalwarts who ran Main Office for many years were Don and Maureen Pynches, eventually succeeded by their neighbour/assistant the Herculean Fran Whittle, who held the fort until recently. The 'government' of UK WWOOF has evolved yet further since those early days in order to cope with the increased complexity - improvement and flexibility being the watchwords.

The number of WWOOF Hosts had also increased, varying from farms, smallholdings and nurseries to commmuness and fruitful kitchen gardens, some of them overseas. One of the Hosts was the unforgettable Lawrence Hills, founder of HDRA (the UK organic gardening/horticultural research centre), who used to recommend WWOOF as the ideal starting point to all those members of the public who wrote in asking how to become organic farmers and growers. The 'Fix-It-Yourself' booklet for direct contact and longer stays with Hosts was brought out, and eventually replaced Scheduled Weekends.

'Grass Roots' feedback, suggestions and offers of help were encouraged and considered at our annual meetings, and bright thinking from members led to a variety of projects and solutions to problems. Not all were successful but it was dynamic and exciting. One scheme which promised much but sadly failed due to publishing logistics was a well thought out, informal organic training scheme. (Nowadays, I guess computer home publishing would have taken care of all that.) A success was the WWOOF 'Directory of Organisations & Training in the UK Organic Movement' , published in the mid-1980's, which included details of every single organisation we could track down (whether or not they paid a donation!) There was nothing similar at the time, and it sold widely for just ?1. Libraries, universities and even government departments purchased it, as did individuals, and it actually made WWOOF a profit.

WWOOF works brilliantly on many levels and benefits both individuals and the environment. Hosts find the help invaluable and enjoy meeting a variety of visitors. To Helper members it offers physical exercise in beautiful countryside - or even a change in their way of life; education in organic farming and growing - and much else 'alternative'; and not least, wonderful company. (WWOOFing has even on occasions led to romance and marriage.) There is also the opportunity to share in other people's lives - a change of picture frame so to speak, learn about different communities, and experience the world (relatively) inexpensively and far more meaningfully. Many friendships have sprung up between WWOOFers from very different cultures: working together is somehow a much more relaxed way of meeting. And helping run such a forward looking organisation can also be very satisfying - heady, even! My own cherished experiences have included many creative meetings with fellow organisers - along with learning how to make bread, swimming in a woodland pool, haymaking (just like a Constable painting!), stacking straw bales on a cart so they wouldn't wobble over (I learnt this at Emerson and even passed the technique on to a seasoned farm manager and his son!), being shown how to clean tools after use, rhapsodising over glow worms and fire flies, holding sleepy, warm, plump hens while they had a wing clipped, sipping homemade wine round a roaring log fire, walking through the forest by moonlight. Not to mention a wealth of gardening and growing experience.

WWOOFers and Hosts help one another in other ways as well. One kind couple took an unemployed lad under their wing, taught him to work hard and encouraged him to study until he managed to find and hold down a job. A young woman who had always wanted to lead the religious life used to WWOOF at a convent, where she eventually became a nun. The same convent also took in an extremely depressed young WWOOFer and cared for her until she was restored to an even keel. Two American lasses WWOOFing in the Cameroon were able to design a website for their host's project SYFA ('Save Your Future' Association) and help him apply via the internet for grants to further his organic work.

On a more philosophical note, WWOOF is an extremely practical and inspiring way of getting involved in the Organic Movement, which is so vital to the health of the planet. I believe this is the reason why so many people around the world work so devotedly for WWOOF, and we owe them all a big debt of gratitude. WWOOF isn't perfect: disagreements and the occasional 'rogue' WWOOFer or Host who hasn't understood the WWOOF ethos will always prove a challenge which needs solving imaginatively - as will changing circumstances. However, as long as input from the 'shop floor' - ordinary Helpers and Hosts - is fed into the system, I believe we will continue in the right direction. A recent and exciting development is the International WWOOF Association website, brilliantly put together by New Zealand WWOOF - surely the longest gestation ever given that the initiative for IWA began in the year 2000 when representatives of the different WWOOFs first got together! No doubt other developments will follow as and when needed.

To summarize, I believe WWOOF will continue to prosper - to be 'looked after' - if we continue to do our best to care for the environment and its peoples. So I'll end with a short, all-purpose Green prayer:

Great Spirit of Life, who has given us such a beautiful world,
Fill our hearts with love for our fellow beings throughout the planet
And help us to serve the wellbeing of all.

May the Light always shine through WWOOF.


Sue Coppard: June 2006