My WWOOFing Experience

WWOOF, which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is all over the world. It offers travelers the opportunity to work on a farm in exchange for room and board for a period agreed upon by the farm and the volunteer. It is also a great opportunity to learn about organic farming in different countries. The experience is unique every country, and on every farm, so my single experience at the farm in Trapiche is just that--my single experience. Many WWOOF farms in Latin America are run by ex-pats from other countries so Erin and I purposefully choose this farm in order to really get to know a Peruvian family and truly be immersed here in Peru, both in the language and in the culture.

This past Saturday was my last day at the farm. It´s hard to believe that I´m no longer there, getting up early every day to the sound of roosters crowing, walking down the dusty road to buy 2 soles of bread from the panaderia to add to our large breakfast, working outside all day, and going to sleep at 9:30pm because once it gets dark (around 6:30pm), it feels really late when you don´t have electricity! Although it´s only been a few days, my four weeks on the farm already feels like ages ago. I´ve enjoyed hot showers every day since then and there´s no longer dirt under my fingernails or new mosquito bites on my arms and legs. At the same time, on the farm, I appreciated not looking in the mirror frequently (because I was dirty no matter what and there was no reason to worry about how I looked!) and living a simpler life.

The farm that I worked on is one of two farms that Luisa and Alejandro own. It is 2 hectares (almost 5 acres) and the other farm is 4 hectares. There is also a restaurant on the smaller farm, which is open on the weekends. Limeños (people from Lima) are the main customers and they come to the restaurent to experience the ¨country experience¨(or pena campestre) by eating at a rural restaurant outside of the city. On Saturday--our last day on the farm--Erin and I finally had the opportunity to see the other farm.

In order to help this experience come alive for you, below are some pictures of the two farms. In addition to fields, a smaller vegetable garden, the restaurant, and some uncultivated land at the back of the property, the smaller farm has a variety of animals. They raise cuyes (guinea pigs), which are a popular food here in Peru. The farm also has two dogs (Chiquita and Chispita, three and sometimes four cats, many ducks including ducklings that doubled in size during my time on the farm, two peacocks, chickens, and one pig (two pigs until about two weeks ago...). When I was on the farm, they were growing beets, corn, baby corn, chard, squash, lettuce, tomatoes, and more. There are also a number of trees (such as guayaba) and herbs all over the farm.

Welcome to the farm!
The front area is where the restaurant is (just tables and chairs outside)

Erin and me, in our typical farm clothes, standing in front of the stage where musicians perform on restaurant days (behind the stage is the house)

The drink kiosco (kiosk) in blue; the shower, toilet, and urinal are the brick structure

The outdoor faucet, which provided our water for everything from washing our faces to doing laundry by hand to watering the lawn to more

Me, Alejandro, and Erin standing at the entrance to the bigger farm

Broccoli fields at the bigger farm

Rows and rows of vegetables

Lots of lettuce!

Luisa and Alejandro are part of an organization called Ecólogica Perú, which buys organic produce from Peruvian farmers and sells it in Peruvian grocery stores. There are also a few farmers´ markets in Lima that only sell organic produce. However, the supply and demand for organic food in Peru is not great but is (hopefully) growing. No other nearby farms in Trapiche are organic, and it is a lot more expensive to be organic. Luisa and Alejandro have been converting their farms to be organic for the past five years; the smaller one seems to be all organic now but the larger one still has some food that is grown by conventional methods (pesticides, etc.). Another barrier to organic farming in Peru is that there is no Peruvian company that sells organic seeds! And it is illegal to bring seeds over country borders, although it is done. Therefore, Luisa and other organic farmers are involved in cultivating and developing their own organic seeds.

On the farm, I was also struck by how little goes to waste. Any food leftovers either go to the chancho (pig) or compost. If it´s bones or other meat leftovers, they go to the dogs and cats. We didn´t use napkins or paper towels, which also cuts down on waste, and everything (from tools to dishes) is truly used until it is no longer functional. Noticing this--and seeing that it´s not too hard to live that way--has made me realize how much I waste in my own life. I often use lots of paper towels to mop up a spill instead of a rag that I can wash. Or once something is not as new as I would like, I quickly and easily buy a new version. When I return to the US, I plan to remember this and cut down on the material waste in my life.

More photos and info to follow later...I have been discovering the limits and slowness that come with only using the internet on computers at internet cafes so it takes me much longer to do anything that requires a computer and internet access! Tonight I have an overnight flight to Buenos Aires, so the second half of my trip--which feels much more like a vacation--has begun!