Sunday, May 9, 2010

WWOOFing at Vallanes

Week #3, which included an introduction to organic farming, new people, and vegetarian meals, is coming to a close much sooner than I was expecting (though, I can´t say that I´m sad about the vegetarian meals part.....I like my meat).

We have spent the past week WWOOFing on a farm near Egilsstaðir. For anyone who doesn´t know, WWOOF is an organization where you work worldwide on organic farms. So basically there are farms all over the world that you can travel to, and in exchange for room and board you do a bit of work........probably one of the hippiest things I will ever do, but it was extremely interesting, and just one week was not quite enough time.

I suppose that I will probably go into a bit too more detail about the farm than I would like for one post, so I will be breaking it down into parts. (Mostly because it´s kind of a nice day, and I´d rather go outside, plus, no one reads long blog posts anyway).

PART ONE: the farm.

The first farm we chose is mainly a barley farm, however, Eymunder (the farmer) also produces a lot of other products like massage oils, beet chutney, some sort of organic crackers, and a few other things (so basically he doesn´t grow just barley). We didn´t choose it for any specific reason other than he was the first one to respond to any of our emails.

It´s a nice looking farm, quite large in fact (by large, I mean a LOT of different fields) and it even has it´s own ''forest'' which Eymundur planted himself (it´s puny, the trees are. but it is rude to snicker at the trees). To the East are beautiful, snow-covered mountains, and to the west there is a giant lake about a 15-20 minute walk from here (where, apparently, a like monster resides), On the property is a little white church with a red roof (I think I read some where the at one time farmers owned their own chuch......but I´ll read up on it later and explain).

We live in what is called ''The Monster House.'' It is the equivilant of two trailer homes put together (perpendicularly <----new word?) and the outside is graffiti-painted (well, I guess maybe more mural-like). It can house up to about 14 people, I think, and currently we have about 10 or 11 right now. It´s very peaceful here, but unless you hitchhike into town there isn´t a whole lot to do in your free time....other than go to the lake or the forest. The weather has been beautiful (sunny), but in the early afternoon the wind picks up and it´s much nicer to sit and read on the sofa and just look outside than actually BE outside.

1 comment:

  1. Hello, I'm Martin of Argentina, I am looking for information about this farm since 2017 will travel with wwoof to volunteering with my wife and children. I wonder how far the city is and if there are means of transport can easily approach and our intention is to seek work in Egisstaldir during our free time. Thank you

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