WWOOF= WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms. If you’ve never heard of WWOOF, it is essentially a matching program for willing agro-tourists and organic farmers/homesteaders. The farms are all over the world and the only main stipulation is that they must use organic farming techniques and provide the visiting WWOOFer education and insight into the farming principles being used. The WWOOFer is typically given housing of some kind and meals or a food stipend in exchange for an agreed upon number of working hours a day.
The concept of WWOOFing has appealed to me for a number of years, but it wasn’t until last summer that the idea really took root in my head. I was nearing the end of my time at Mirasol, an adult residential eating disorder program, and was contemplating ways that I could continue to heal my relationship with food. Up until the transformative work done at Mirasol, I had been demonizing food for over a decade.
Filed away in my brain under categories like, safe, bad, and never, I had detached myself as much as possible until by the end, my diet consisted of the same 3-5 low calorie/single ingredient food items.
To save the longer story for another post, suffice it to say that it took a significant amount of time before I was able to neutralize and ultimately enjoy food again. Mirasol did a beautiful job of incorporating local, organic produce and seasonal fruits and vegetables, in addition to introducing us to a variety of cuisines and cultures through our meals. The more I began to heal and embrace recovery, the more I was able to eventually enjoy the meals instead of dreading them.
I am so grateful for the care and love that all the chefs put into our food because I truly believe it made everything more palatable. (Which is saying a lot from a recovering anorexic).
It was after a particularly delightful Mirasol meal, toward the end of my treatment, that I was talking with a friend about WWOOFing. I had thought my time had passed for the opportunity to give it a try, but I loved daydreaming and discussing it with her. It felt like the perfect “Eat, Pray, Love” kind of recovery adventure. However, I would ultimately end up returning to my job in New York after leaving Arizona in July 2019, thus effectively dashing the WWOOFing dreams again. Or so I had thought.
Fast forward and thanks in great deal to COVID, I found myself at a weird and unexpected juncture this past spring/summer. My dream job had been put on hold indefinitely, my industry was entirely shooken up (as was the collective population) and to be honest, I was apprehensive.
Apprehensive about my career path, my living arrangements, and my immediate future, I looked inward. And when the thought of WWOOFing crossed my mind again, I decided to go for it.
I knew I wanted to be back in the Arizona desert, having found so much healing and joy there last summer. So after joining the WWOOF USA chapter, I began narrowing down my search. I wanted to find a place that included separate and private housing, had animals, and would only be hosting one WWOOFer at a time (I've had my fill of communal living for awhile, plus COVID).
So here I am. Copper Horse Vineyard between Rodeo, NM and Portal, AZ. I have pledged at least two weeks to live and work here in exchange for my own little bungalow and all meals. I am nestled at the foothills of the Chiricahua mountains with nothing around me but nature at its most rugged. And I am filled with gratitude and peace. I am giving back to nature. Thanking her for all that she provides for us, specifically food.
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