Summer 2009

wwoof uk news
worldwide opportunities on organic farms
issue 223 summer 2009
‘WWOOF is an astonishing key
to unique experiences’
The Guardian
inside:
soil & soul
organic news
wwoofing tales
www.wwoof.org.uk
wwoof uk news: issue 223
editorial
page 2
Welcome to the summer issue of the WWOOF UK
members’ newsletter, especially to all new hosts and
WWOOFers who have joined recently.
WWOOF is one of the UK’s most established practical
organic organisations and your participation in it is making
a real and lasting difference to the future of organic farming
in the UK.
WWOOF gives you new skills and experiences, and for
hosts it provides valuable help with everyday farming or
special projects.It really is community supported agriculture
on a country-wide scale, reconnecting consumers and
producers and helping to create co-producers; a new
generation of people from all walks of life that care where
food comes from and want to help in its production.
Welcome to the family!
write to us!
what is wwoof uk?
We’re looking for interesting host features, WWOOFing
stories, your letters, international news, Transition
Initiatives news from food and farming groups, seasonal WWOOF UK holds a list of organic farms, gardens and
stories – recipes, customs, food storage, book reviews and smallholdings, all offering food and accommodation in
exchange for practical help on their land.These hosts range
classified ads!
from a low impact woodland settlement to a 600 hectare
Please send contributions to [email protected] or mixed holding with on-site farm shop, cafe and education
by post to the office, by the following dates:
centre. Hosts do not expect you to know a lot about
farming when you arrive, but they do expect you to be
willing to learn and able to fit in with their lifestyle.
31st July for Autumn 09 issue
31st Oct for Winter 09 issue
31st Jan for Spring 10 issue
30th April for Summer 10 issue
The list of hosts is available by joining WWOOF UK for a
membership fee. Once you have the list you can contact
hosts directly to arrange your stay. Your host will explain
what kind of work you will be expected to do, what
accommodation is on offer and will discuss the length of
Please note the new classified advert payment rates - see your stay.
page 11 for more details.
WWOOF is a charity; WWOOFers do not pay to stay
Don’t forget you can always post adverts, questions and with hosts and hosts do not pay WWOOFers for their
comments on the forum at www.lowimpact.org
help. Charity number: 1126220
getting stuck in!
Easter weekend saw a group from the
WWOOF team converge on Abbey
Home Farm in Gloucestershire for a
weekend of social WWOOFing.
We slept in yurts, cooked over an
open fire, nattered until we fell asleep,
and planted a lot of onions!
Thanks to all who looked after us
during our stay; we're hoping that the
onion field will now be awash with
green shoots, waving in the breeze!
wwoof uk news: issue 223
page 3
your letters
Dear Editor,
Dear Editor,
Anne Brown's letter in the last WWOOF UK news may
paint one side of the story and undoubtedly there will
be WWOOF hosts who have not replied to emails from
would be WWOOFers, however this is by no means a one
way street! I *ALWAYS* reply to email enquiries from
prospective WWOOFers, usually the same day, but many
of them use the scatter gun approach of emailing several
hosts in one go and then never bother to respond to my
reply. So if you want to encourage better manners all
round it does not take long to say, for example, thanks for
your reply but I have decided to go to somewhere else, or
whatever. I do occasionally get such a response but it is
very much in the minority.
I hoped you might be able to help me with regards to a
BBC2 series I am working on called ‘What To Eat Now’.
Essentially ‘What To Eat Now’ is a seasonal food series
that aims to showcase the best British produce and give
people an idea of where and when to get the most out
of seasonally available food stuffs. In each programme our
chef, Valentine Warner, hits the road to meet the most
passionate and interesting people to get a real sense
of what the food stuffs are all about and to try and get
some insider tips on how best to use them. We try and
find people with a point of interest too, whether they
are growing something unique, unusual or exciting. They
might be using very traditional techniques or exploring
something innovative, or they might just be unconditionally
dedicated to their fruit, veg or meat. We are sure there
must be some individuals who are, or have been, inspired
or involved in WWOOF who might fit this brief. I can be
contacted directly at [email protected]
Last year a classic example of bad manners and breach of
trust and agreement was a chap who contacted me very
early in the year saying he and his girlfriend plus a friend and
his girlfriend wanted to WWOOF with us in the summer.
We agreed dates for the WWOOFing (July for help with
hay making) back in February. Further correspondence
took place as he had apparently fallen out with the friend
but we were assured that the two of them would work
as hard as the four of them would have done. A few days
before the agreed start date he pulled out saying they
had found somewhere nice! I gather they had not had
an entirely happy experience elsewhere but this episode
illustrates some of the difficulties experienced as a host.
We had turned several other volunteers away on the basis
of this booking. I have to say that I wondered about the
integrity of the 'nice' host, though perhaps they were not
aware of the deceit being practiced under their nose.
Fraser Mullen
Dear Editor,
It is time to stop making problems pouring waste oil into
landfill and down the drain. This waste problem could
be recycled, turning it into a resource. Waste oil can
be filtered and used directly as a fuel without the need
for extra energy in processing. Please sign our petition
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/waste-vegetable-oilrecycling.html
On a more positive note we had quite a few WWOOF
volunteers last year and early this year, all of whom enjoyed
themselves and made positive remarks in the visitors book
also. So keep up the good work.
This is achievable, some councils have already started
schemes. Let’s get it done nationally. It’s already been
added to the Portsmouth Climate strategy and we are in
talks with Portsmouth City Council and Southern Water
at the moment.
George Browning, Feldon Forest Farm
Chris Kennett
Obituary - Dick Roberts
stripling fruit'n'nut trees cowering inside protective oil
drums, to a lush, productive oasis.We WWOOFers helped
primarily with tree watering and in the veg garden. When
I arrived in 1973 I found three UK WWOOFers (the only
kind then in existence) already there: Patrick; and Rob and
Dick, an English biological/geographical photographer Sue Lea, who in 1974 went on to found NZ WWOOF and ecological visionary, lived in New Zealand. He wrote the world's second WWOOF organisation.
inviting WWOOFers to come and help on his land in 1972,
not long after WWOOF was formed, and was our first Dick inspired and taught many people with his forwardlooking, organic ideas, and contributed greatly to the
overseas WWOOF Host.
Green Movement. He will be much missed.
Over the years he was visited by many WWOOFers and
his land transformed from sheep-grazed hillsides with Sue Coppard
WWOOF members who spent time helping on Dick
Roberts' fruit and sheep farm in Todd's Valley, Nelson, New
Zealand, will be sad to learn that on 23rd March, after a
short period of ill health, Dick passed peacefully away.
wwoof uk news: issue 223
host news
page 4
Riverford Farm’s organic heroes John and
Guy Watson celebrate our fungal friends and
berate the push for cheap meat
Mycorrhizal Symbiosis is an underappreciated
resource with great potential for growers. Why?
Because mycorrhizal fungal threads are increasingly
being revealed as the normal nutrient absorbing
organs of the vast majority of plant species.
The type of mycorrhiza on which most farm crops
depend grow into the roots of the crop and then far
out into the interstices of the soil. Being far smaller
and more extensive than root hairs they increase
the plant’s ability to absorb nutrients particularly
phosphorous (P) but also Nitrogen (N) and many
micronutrients. In return the mycorrhizal fungi
obtain Carbon (C) from the photosynthetic activity
of the plant. Other benefits to the plant include
increased disease and drought resistance and
improved crumb structure in the soil. So what can
we do to encourage the potential of these wonderful
helpers? Obviously avoid damaging them.
Photo: Riverford Farm
to continue feeding the plant at lower moisture
levels in the soil, to promote crumb structure and
to have some disease resistance benefits. In part
this is accounted for by their ability to extend up to
25cm beyond root hairs and because of their small
size to enter otherwise unavailable soil interstices.
These attributes are of particular interest in view of
predicted Peak Phosphate and the drop in mineral
content of vegetables and fruit over the past fifty
Listed as damaging factors in decreasing order; crop years.
rotation, tillage, fungicide application and application
of fertilisers. Rotation is presumably important Read more at about Peak Phosphate at
because the fungi depend on a host. Absence of such http://tinyurl.com/cnz3cr and more about
occurs in a bare fallow or a brassica crop which do micorrhizal symbiosis at http://tinyurl.com/
not appear to be colonised.
c2ndtg
Avoiding fungicides and fertilisers present no
problems to organic growers but tillage? On a
garden scale this can be achieved with mulching
and no dig methods. Conventional farmers have
an advantage in the availability of low till methods
aided by glyphosate as necessary.
50% of Dutch farmers now carry MRSA and are
liable to be denied access to hospital as a result. The
push for cheap meat, whatever the cost, has created
pig and poultry factory farms that are inherently
unhealthy and require the routine and excessive use
of antibiotics to stave off disease. This is not just a
question of animal welfare; the resulting antibiotic
Why do organic farmers stick to ploughing and resistance now threatens the single most important
forced tilths with those so effective power harrows advance in medical science.
when they usually sense it is wrong? First weed
control and then overcoming compaction which in Antibiotics are still used as growth promoters in
my opinion once it has occurred takes a lot more the USA. Tetracycline and penicillin were banned as
than a forced tilth to correct.
growth promoters in Europe in the 1970s, yet the
last 30 years still saw a 1500% rise in tetracycline use
My reasoning leads towards either a very shallow and a 600% rise in penicillin use as they continued
tilth of an inch or two with sub soiling if necessary to be routinely included (albeit with a vet’s
to offset compaction or slot seeding into a semi prescription) on a massive scale in pig and poultry
permanent dense prostrate white clover sward. rations. Regulation is not working and the continued
Both these measures would allow of the fairly rapid irresponsible use of antibiotics has led to widespread
infection of the newly sown crop with mycorrhizal antibiotic resistance in bacteria; experts agree that
mycelia from the existing web. This should occur at resistance amongst salmonella and campylobacter is
the rate of about 2cm a week. Other measures that primarily the result of antibiotic use in agriculture.
suggest themselves as beneficial include intercropping,
particularly with non-brassica crops in brassicas and Until now one of the few effective antibiotics in the
catch cropping and avoidance of fallows to maintain treatment of MRSA has been the tetracycline group
continuity of mycorrhizal populations.
which is also widely included in animal rations.
Mycorrhiza have particular ability to extract and
transfer the plant phosphate and many micronutrients
(continued on back page)
wwoof uk news: issue 223
organic news
Fast life, intensive
production methods
and
excessive
legislation are the
main reasons that we
are losing so many of
our traditional foods and drinks.With their demise we also
lose centuries of expert knowledge and cultural traditions.
We lose choice, flavour and the varied landscape and
wildlife associated with traditional farming. In short we
lose biodiversity.
page 5
Bee Heading
When quizzed on FarmingToday about the newly announced
£10m for research into the decline of honey bees and other
pollinating insects, environment secretary Hilary Benn said
bees big problems were diseases, bad weather and loss of
habitat. “We haven’t seen any evidence that [pesticides]
have an adverse impact on bees” he insisted. There is in
fact already enough evidence of harm to bees for some
pesticides to have been banned in several European
countries, including France, Italy and Germany. Presumably,
Benn is not up to date with the latest development in
Those artisan producers who opt to swim against the tide the US, where the Environmental Protection Agency and
of Fast Life need our help in explaining to the public why the California Department of Pesticide Registration (DPR)
their products are special and, usually, have cost more to have begun re-evaluating hundreds of pesticide products
make than mass-produced counterparts.
after receiving an “adverse effects disclosure” about the
neonicotinoids pesticide imidacloprid from Bayer itself.
The Ark of Taste was created by Slow Food’s Foundation of
Biodiversity to catalogue these foods, which are at risk of Source: Private Eye
disappearing completely. Through the research of experts
all over the world over 700 products in 50 countries Local food matters.
have so far been catalogued. More than 300 of them have
received additional support through our Presidia projects. It connects people to the land. It
creates opportunities for farmers
The British have been described as gastronomic magpies, to provide food directly to their
owing to our eagerness to embrace other food cultures. It customers and helps communities to
is often easier to find food from half way across the world build skills, trading systems, networks
than that produced on our doorstep and we have lost and resilience. Local food can also
our sense of the link between our food and the land (and have many benefits for the local economy, community
people) that produce it. However a growing awareness of regeneration, health and the environment.
the environmental implications of this has led to a renewed
interest in our own food culture, and a fascinating journey The Plunkett Foundation is leading a group of organisations,
of discovery awaits us as we re-learn to connect with the who are using their expertise and specialist knowledge
soil.
to offer advice and practical assistance to a range of
enterprises. Together, we are developing and promoting
Nominate your artisan foods by contacting Slow sustainable ways to reconnect land and people through
Food UK Ark of Taste Commission Chair: Suzanne food.
Wynn - [email protected] - 01761 463964.
http://slowfoodark.com/Cms/Page/ark-of-taste
There will be many opportunities to get involved over the
five years of the programme.You might simply want to buy
News
from
local food from your nearest outlet, or you might want
the Real Bread
to start a food co-op, community shop or CSA project.
Campaign:
Perhaps you already run a community enterprise and want
specialist advice or training on finance, local food marketing
or how to contact your local producers. Perhaps you’re
This month, we're
launching a new feature on the site called Bread Heroes a farmer who wants to find new, direct outlets for your
to celebrate those splendid people and organisations who produce. Many such opportunities are available and we have
are championing Real Bread. Our inaugural Bread Hero several newsletters run by the partner organisations, to
is Gail's bakery in London. To read our interview with keep you up to date with the latest news and information,
Emma King, General Manager of GAIL's visit http://www. whatever your area of interest.
sustainweb.org/realbread/bread_heroes/
So if you want to make local food work, visit
Ed – There must be some WWOOF hosts out there who www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk or email info@
are Bread Heroes – get in touch with the campaign if you makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk or call 01993 814 385.
haven’t already!
The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily
represent those held by WWOOF or LILI
wwoof uk news: issue 223
soil and soul
A couple years ago Emma Goodwin left London to
WWOOF around Europe with small children in tow. She
is now back in the UK teaching crafts and exploring
biodynamics. She joined the WWOOF council six
months ago.
WWOOF UK promotes organic agriculture. Biodynamic
agriculture is without doubt organic and is often touted as
‘more than’ organic, yet many folk associate it with mumbo
jumbo, hocus pocus and old wives tales.
page 6
the cows call to their calves as the dairy is being hosed
down. All are welcome here to walk around, see the farm,
and the farm shop bursting with good stuff including raw
unpasturised milk.
A biodynamic holding aims to operate as a self contained
organism, growing feeds for livestock, providing compost
as a fertiliser for the land and ideally importing nothing.
They are always mixed holdings, as one facet of the farm
will facilitate the next in the cycle of life. Cows are an
important factor in providing nutrients to feed into the
system and keep the soil healthy. A micro-organism rich
preparation is sprayed over the land, which is what I had
seen the farmer stirring with a broom back at Hoathly
Hill.
Biodynamics has evolved since the 1920’s when Austrian
philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner began to share
his insights and views on the world around him. He was
approached by a group of concerned farmers and asked
to speak about a different approach to agriculture, beyond
Composting is an essential component in any healthy
industrialisation, which was then beginning to take hold.
smallholding. Biodynamics uses the magical healing
I recently moved to a community in West Sussex qualities of Nettle, Camomile, Yarrow, Dandelion, Valerian
established in the early 1970’s and based on Steiner’s ideas and Oak bark to enhance the composting process by
for a healthy social life. Hoathly Hill comprises twenty six adding specially prepared quantities of these plants to the
dwellings, a communal barn and hall, a Steiner kindergarten, compost heap. They are known as ‘preparations’ and are
and a smallholding run on biodynamic principles. At first, added much like commercial compost accelerators. We
I did wonder at their agricultural methods as I watched are rediscovering the highly nutritious culinary qualities of
the farmer stirring a barrel of brown liquid with a broom nettles, which are being served up in gastronomic hotspots
suspended from the eaves. He stirred vigorously in one around the capital thanks to Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall
direction until a vortex appeared like a mini whirlpool, amongst others, extolling its virtues. Monty Don and Bob
then, for maximum oxygenation, broke the beautiful Flowerdew both recommend a plant feed made of rotted
vertical walls of water into a noisy bubbling chaos, before nettle tea.
restoring the order by stirring vigorously in the opposite
direction. This continued for one hour. This can be a Biodynamic agriculture works with the moon's influence
time for the farmer to meditate and contemplate his on plant life and growth. It also takes into account other
planetary movements in the same way as astrology. When
stewardship of the land.
you consider how the moon pulls the oceans to and
Seeing is believing, they say. First hand experience fro and that many plants are 90% water, there is basis
certainly gave me more than attempting to extract an for 'scientific' qualification, although anyone practicing
overview from reading Steiner’s books. I now understand biodynamics will tell you, it is more about acknowledging
the phrase ‘lost in translation’. It seems to me his work the life forces in the plants, land and livestock and treating
‘speaks’ to German speakers, and perhaps some English them accordingly. It is about keen observation and careful,
folk have been put off by the translations; as have I. A trip considerate action.
to the local biodynamic farm soon relieves the confusion.
It looks great. Almost idyllic; the ducks and chickens free In our language we hear of the harvest moon, waxing
range all over the yard and into the piglet’s barn. The boar moon, waning moon, why did we ever refer to these
is snoring in a deep straw bed. Milking time is over and phases? We forget how much they once influenced our
Cows at Plaw Hatch Farm
wwoof uk news: issue 223
page 7
lives. The phases of the moon are an
all encompassing part of our aboriginal
heritage, we can rediscover the skills to
observe and use them to our advantage,
working with natural cycles instead of
our often misguided will.
MariaThun is an authority in biodynamic
agriculture and publishes a yearly
calendar suggesting good days for
sowing, planting, hoeing and harvesting.
Countless trials have been done and
the yearly results published. They
continue to test and try and discover
more about best practice when
gardening. When reading around the
subject one finds astrological charts
and references to leaf days, fruit days,
root days and flower days, with plants
being categorised into which parts we
wish to optimise and eat. In Maria
Thun’s experience, the effects of the
planets, zodiac constellations and other
factors in the realm beyond the earth’s
atmosphere are extremely important
for gardeners and farmers.
So what is biodynamics? A system
of growing and farming based on
the principles of Rudolf Steiner’s
thinking, whom some may have heard
of in relation to the ‘Steiner Schools’,
also known as ‘Waldorf education’.
Biodynamic agriculture takes a
holistic approach and allows for the
unquantifiable in the life and soul of the land, plants and
animals, and man’s place in it’s husbandry. Biodynamic
agriculture respects the sensitive stewardship necessary
to maintain a healthy balance in our overused and abused
soil.
Cheese maturing at Plaw Hatch Farm
I love the biodynamic movement because it acknowledges
the Soul in the soil and I’ve always been a Soul head. I love
my local biodynamic farm because my children are allowed
to milk the cows and taste the milk without them banging
on about health and safety.
Why WWOOF?
 reconnect to the soil, get your hands dirty and get grounded
 re-skill and help revitalise ancient knowledge
 gain first hand experience of organic and biodynamic farming,
growing and animal husbandry
 find inspiration in like minded people
 rediscover the relationships between local food production,
social community and spirit
 taste totally fresh produce
 acquire a wealth of experience for a relatively small financial outlay
 walk the talk - try it out for yourself
wwoof uk news: issue 223
page 8
wwoof agm & autumn gathering
3-4 October 2009 –
Old Hall, East Bergholt, Suffolk
Each year WWOOF has a weekend when we come together to celebrate the past year, renew old friendships
and have fun together. This is it!
We are very pleased to be at Old Hall Community again. Old Hall are long standing members and we held our AGM
there about 20 years ago. The weekend will feature: lots of WWOOFing, music, dancing and fun, a bring-it-and-swap-it
or sell it shop, the ‘Main Office’ staff and some formal and informal meetings
For many people involved in WWOOF, this is the best weekend of the year as it is a chance to find out how WWOOF
works, to share the joys and aches of different WWOOF farms, to meet the organisers and to have a say in the future
values and direction of WWOOF.
Accommodation is in various shared rooms or camping. Please bring your own sheets. Duvets and pillows provided.
All meals will be provided from Saturday lunch to Sunday lunch – some help will be needed with table moving and in
food preparation and washing up. The charges are £30 per adult and £20 per child (up to 16 years) for shared rooms
and £20 per adult and £15 per child for camping. Reduced rates are available on request.
Numbers are strictly limited to 50 people, so book early please!
Old Hall is in the village of East Bergholt, in ‘Constable Country’. All directions will be provided with confirmation of
your booking, or look at www.oldhall.org.uk Please let Richard know on 07904 548042 if you need a lift. Nearest
station is Manningtree, buses from Manningtree, Ipswich and Colchester stations stop outside Old Hall on Saturdays
on request.
Please send your booking form to
Richard Hazell, our Meetings Organiser
by post, email or fax. Please do not
contact Old Hall or the Main Office
directly.
Please come and share your enthusiasm
for WWOOF and its values and help
us to take forward your vision of the
organic mindset!
Send by post to: Richard Hazell, c/o
Wiltshire Law Centre, Temple House,
115-118 Commercial Road, Swindon,
SN1 5PL, or email to richard.hazell@
wwoof.org.uk or fax to 01793 432193.
3-4 October 2009 – Old Hall, East Bergholt, Suffolk
Names (and ages of children):
Address:
Home Tel:
Email:
ACCOMMODATION
adults@£30 each and
adults@£20 each and
Shared room
Camping
SIGNED:
children@£20 each
children@£15 each
DATE:
wwoof uk news: issue 223
page 9
wwoofing tales
Claire Doyle WWOOFed her way from Alpujarra to a 'in partnership' and
place at Emerson College and tells us her amazing that 'it could be an
inheritance' to help.
story of how it all happened.
It was here also that
My road to Emerson and beyond had romantic beginnings I fell in love with a
in the Alpujarra - a long-time bohemian enclave - in the donkey called Romeo,
creature
foothills of the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain. On a another
garden on the outskirts of the scruffy little town of Orgiva, whose purpose in
my WWOOF host had invited the local goatherd to bring life was to eat grass
his flock of goats to eat the grass. The goatherd had been for it's owners and,
voted the most handsome man in Orgiva and I waited with on occasion, to drive
us WWOOFers on
anticipation ... Don Juan, I wondered?
the back of it's cart
In the late afternoon sun, an old peasant boy with the skin to the local Lidl.
Plant observation forms part of
of a well-tanned wallet descended with a haggle-toothed
the course, combining artistic and
smile and his beautiful, russet coloured, goat shaped I would like to say scientific skills in order to get to
mayhem. My WWOOF host practised permaculture that such methods a holistic understanding of plant
principles and resisted the purchase of a lawn mower. We are the mainstay at
growth and development.
watched the goats tear their way through the overgrowth. Emerson but, sadly,
they are not. Tractors, welding, cattle, pigs and chickens
He had found the ideal solution, free of charge.
are the order of the day as they represent the farming
Most of my WWOOF experiences were taken in Andalucia industry in the UK. Fortunately, the brutal industrial world
and southern Portugal on a winter-time escape from the is partnered with a degree of otherworldliness here more
UK. I would like to say that it was because I had always suitable to the romantic at heart in the form of animal and
wanted to be a farmer but nothing could have been further plant phenomenology, painting, eurythmy and, yes, nature
from the truth. In fact, I was desperate for a way to leave spirits or elemental beings (come out, wherever you are!)
a London life behind permanently and, through a 'chance'
meeting with a permaculture gardener whilst on holiday, WWOOF originally stood for Working Weekends on
I gave up my 'wait' problem and sallied forth in a fit of Organic Farms and began in England in 1971 at Emerson's
Tablehurst Farm which was then a part of the college. A
quixotic madness.
successful weekend of volunteering by four Londoners led
I worked on the olive harvest on a remote, previously to the creation of a worldwide organisation that has now
abandoned peasant farm, high on an Alpujarra mountain over 6,000 hosts in 88 countries.
in December. The olives here were removed traditionally
and laboriously by striking them with long sticks and Back to my trip and I found myself on an abandoned
clambering up the trees. It was here that I enjoyed the Portuguese farm in the northern Algarve near the Atlantic
comforts of the best located compost toilet ever. Perched Ocean. Two Portuguese college-educated farmers were
high over a valley on an abandoned olive terrace, this loo working to reclaim the sand - sorry, soil - and I helped
had no doors and I only had the overhead hang gliders and plant a mixed fruit orchard using compost and sheep
wool to revivify the earth. On another stay, a Canadian
birds of prey to disturb.
gardener gave me an intense one-day compost building
In January, I stayed at an eco village-in-the-making in Portugal workshop where I collected fresh manure and straw from
where I learnt taipa building (a type of rammed earth) a neighbouring horse field. After six months studying
and where a tarot reader told me I would leave London biodynamics at Emerson, now I know that we needed
some compost preps!
My winter excursion was mostly over when I received
the distressing news of illness in the family and I made
my way back to Scotland. My mother handed me my
grandmother's wedding ring: she said, 'I'd like you to have
it.' In the following fairly miserable months, I knew that the
next time I left London, it would be for good.
In the first year of the training,
students go on a week-long farm tour.
Here they visit Gun Mill in Gloucestershire.
I discovered Emerson College and the biodynamics course
by accident on a group email from a WWOOF host. I made
an idle enquiry - there were places left! I knew this was
my opportunity and, in a matter of weeks, I left London
permanently and gave up my flat. As the tarot reader had
predicted all those months ago, I joined the college 'in
partnership' with the help from 'an inheritance,' and with
the ring of an Irish farmer's wife.
wwoof uk news: issue 223
page 10
summer’s seasonal delights
The Gooseberry Season has Arrived!
The humble and much underrated gooseberry has been
bred to perfection by British gardeners. It is a ‘cottagers’
plant that has been sown by seed and cross-fertilised by
generations to produce bigger and better varieties.Widely
grown in gardens and the market gardens around London
since the 1700s, it was used when green to make a sauce
for fish (it is a perfect accompaniment for oily food such
as mackerel), pork, duck or goose, and when unripe, for
tarts. They were cooked in pies, eaten raw and used for
making sparkling wine equal to the Champagne of the day.
In 1697 John Worlidge remarked that they had the closet
resemblance to grapes of any English fruit.
The Kea plum grows in rambling orchards on the Fal
estuary in Cornwall and even on the beach, unaffected by
the salt-laden sou’westerlies. It is a jamming plum, too tart
to eat fresh, and, with a glut every third year, it typically
satisfied only local consumption. However, during the
past few years a number of Cornish producers and cider
makers have been diversifying into commercial Kea jam,
ice-cream and wine production.
The first and second weeks of August are the time to
be along the river Dart in Devon, where the Dittisham
Ploughman or Small Red still grows in the sheltered valleys.
At one time this juicy, rich plum was sold in Dartmouth
and Torquay for flavouring ice-cream. Most of the orchards
have been ousted by houses, but enough trees grow in local
gardens to supply Bramley and Gage, which makes fruit
liqueurs. The fresh plums are sold in Dittisham post office
in season. Another, much rarer, Devon plum is the Landkey
Yellow, a sweet variety from north Devon, which is being
propagated by suckers and planted in local community
orchards and mazzard greens to save it from extinction.
In the 1750s, the weavers of Lancashire founded the
Gooseberry Clubs and Shows whose sole aim was to
produce the heaviest berry, and their popularity soon
spread to Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire
and Nottinghamshire. Over 2,500 different varieties were
raised during this time, many of the most successful were
introduced at the shows, such as Mr Hartshorn’s rub red
Lancashire Lad in 1824, Crompton’s large yellow Careless The Aylesbury Prune is associated with the upper
and Greenhaulgh’s large oval yellow-green Leveller in 1851, Greensand at the foot of the Chilterns between Weston
and they are still available from nurseries today.
Turville in Buckinghamshire andTotternhoe in Bedfordshire.
In Worcestershire the Pershore Yellow Egg was found in
Commercial production was boosted by the abolition Tiddesley Wood in 1827 by George Crooke, who saw its
of sugar tax in 1874. Along with strawberries and plums, potential and brought it into cultivation. What remains
gooseberries were grown extensively for jam and as a pectin of the Worcestershire plum industry can be seen on the
in jam making and the confectionary trade.The production Vale of Evesham Blossom Route and Cycle trail devised by
of artificial pectin and the reduction in the consumption Wychavon district council around Pershore and Evesham.
of jam has resulted in a decline in commercial gooseberry The plum blossom comes out first in March, followed by
pear in April, then apple. On Pershore Plum Day, every
growing, but most gardens still have their bushes.
August bank holiday since 1996, many varieties are for sale,
All but one of the seven remaining Gooseberry Shows including the Pershore Yellow Egg, Pershore Purple and
now take place in Cheshire at the end of July and beginning Pershore Emblem, introduced by a local grower in 2000,
of August. One show survives at Egton Bridge, North as well as chutneys, wines and juices.
Yorkshire, in early August.
The most honeyed and succulent flavours are found in the
Things are looking up for the gooseberry once more. green and yellow gages, which originally came to us from
R.V Roger of Pickering, a nursery in North Yorkshire Armenia via Greece and Italy in the 1680s.The Cambridge
specialising in fruit, has 64 varieties of gooseberries in its Gage was grown by smallholders in Cambridgeshire and
is now cultivated by Wilkin and Sons of Tiptree, Essex for
catalogue. www.rvroger.co.uk, 01751 472226
delicious greengage jam.
The Pleasure of Plums
The plum family has its wild relations in the hedgerows
The season for English plums starts in July, with the Early – bullaces, sloes and damsons. The small, round bullace is
Laxton and Rivers’s Early Prolific, and finishes with the common in East Anglia and Herefordshire, the damson in
Shropshire and Kent. The cherry-plum frequents Oxford
September gages.
and Cambridge, and in Herefordshire it is known as
The Blaisdon Red is a plum grown within a five-mile radius ‘melly-bellies’ – Francesca Greenoak thought this might
of Blaisdon in west Gloucestershire. In this district it be a corruption of its alternative name, myrobalan. It is
flourishes with the health and vigour of a weed, but with still used as a hedging plant; the Rothschilds planted pure
very few exceptions it does not thrive elsewhere,’ wrote hedges of it around their estates in the Chilterns and Vale
Humphrey Phelps, a local grower. It was a popular plum of Aylesbury.
for jam making and canning, and heavy crops were picked
from late August by Forest of Dean miners during their From the wonderful Common Ground website,
holidays. Even though most of the orchards have gone, with thanks - www.commonground.org.uk
Blaisdon celebrates the plum on the Sunday before the
August bank holiday.
wwoof uk news: issue 223
the classifieds
page 11
Please note that a new flat rate of £10 for up to 50 words will be applied to all adverts in the classified section from the
next issue. Please send adverts to [email protected] and cash or UK bank cheque to the main office: WWOOF
UK, PO Box 2154, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, MK18 3WS. Payment must be received by the copy deadline in order
for your advert to be printed. WWOOF accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of advertisements and does not
endorse the products and services offered. You are advised to check before availing yourself of what is offered.
For Sale: 60ft traditional narrow boat
built by Mike Hayward 2001. ‘Mollie’ is a
spacious cared for boat. Includes solid
fuel stove, open plan lounge/diner area,
shower, double bedroom. Beta marine
1500 engine, hull recently blacked, new
safety certificate issued. Currently
moored in the Cheshire area. £39,000.
Contact Jeff 07976 091425 http://
members.lycos.co.uk/havealook/Mollie.
htm
Free to WWOOF members: Hut
in N.Cornwall wood for holiday breaks.
Very basic facilities. Peace and quiet. Call
01208 812603
To Let: Bunkhouse (sleeps 5). On
organic Croft in Achmelvich, NW coast
of Scotland, very close to beaches. For
more details phone: 01571 844315
Renewable energy engineering
student, 27, looking for practical
WWOOFing experience over the
summer. Looking to help in the design
and installation of the technology. I have
a lot of WWOOFing experience around
the world and am passionate about
small scale renewables (solar, microhydro, wind, etc). Please email cw290@
exeter.ac.uk or call 07877 625621.
SC15: Housesitter/s required from
around 24th July to 9th August 2009 to
look after garden, two ponies, cat, fish
and house in beautiful Highland glen (25
miles north of Inverness). Wonderful
walks and bike rides locally. Will need
own transport (nearest shop seven
miles). Call Juliette Lowe: 01349 884440
or email [email protected]
Help wanted: 50 acre organic farm
with hens, sheep, pigs and polytunnels
in Forest of Dean. More time spent
marketing leaves less time for farming!
All help gratefully received – animals,
fruit & veg, farmers’ markets, farm shop,
farm maintenance, haymaking, renewable
energy projects. Long or short stays.
Friendly hosts. www.crookedend.co.uk,
email Brenda at sales@crookedend.
co.uk, or 01594 544482.
Gay Guy, seeks friends forWWOOFing
or possible long term employment. Some
experience on land, willing worker and
keen to learn more. Interests - nature,
conservation, history, old buildings,
folklore, cycling and walking. Tel: 07505
250214
Paid
Opportunity
Offered:
Smallholding with 6.5 acres, producing
vegetables for boxes and weekly farmer’s
market. Lovely setting in rural Somerset.
Looking for a worker to stay until end of
September 2009 (although short-term
worker considered) Offering £50 for a
four day week, caravan accommodation.
Narrowboat for sale. 48 foot, all Contact 07956 429531
steel. 1500 BMC engine, good working
order. Kitchen, woodburner, porta potti, Employment sought, by competent
bed base. Front cratch with cover. New allotment holder and long-term
battery, current safety cert. Shropshire. WWOOFer on fruit/veg farm. I am
£15,000. Andy 07923 940169
willing to work anywhere in the UK. I can
supply references. If you are interested
Copse Barn West Dorset, one-acre please contact me at squirtybottles@
garden and extensive SSSI woodland yahoo.co.uk
in a beautiful spot. Italian/English
family growing vegetables, poultry, and Kitchen Apprentice required, for
planning forest garden. We need help exciting opportunity in Devon. Learn to
with gardening, landscaping, firewood grow and cook fresh organic ingredients,
etc. Accomodation in tent or camper innovatively. Enthusiastic, hard working
van. Located on a bus route five miles to apprentice required for six months
Bridport. Please contact Anna on me@ minimum – long term. Comfortable
annabest.info
accommodation, washing, linen and all
meals included in return for forty hours
Female WWOOFer, 50, seeks per week with two days off. 01409
companion (male or female) near 211236 [email protected]
Manchester for walks and outings.
Interested in theatre, cinema, classical SC47: Talamh
Housing
Co-op
music, walking, foreign languages. Email: WWOOFers required 1st to 14th
[email protected]
June for lime-rendering of straw-bale
structure at Talamh. Email: annatalamh@
Land wanted, cash purchase! I’m googlemail.com or tel: 07728 388029
looking for half an acre to two acres Also for plum harvest. Last week of
of good cultivable land, near a water August and first two weeks of Sept. Call
source, for growing organic veg and fruit, 01555 820550 Email: talamh@lineone.
plus space for yurt and compost loo. net
Reasonable transport links to London
preferred, but any area considered. Opportunity for individual (and/or
Please contact dharma_steve@hotmail. friend) who may like to start a small
com
nursery-garden in Pembrokeshire (nr.
Tenby)Accommodation available.Details:
S45: Help needed May - November 01834 810157 or 07977 210250
full time between two market gardens
in the beautiful Dorset Downs. Help Needed: October harvesting,
Accommodation in own mobile home pressing and bottling apples. 3,000
plus a modest wage. If you are interested reused bottles in aid of Oxfam and
and keen to learn about growing Practical Action. Pasteurising this year
organic vegetables, contact Hugh and hopefully in wood fuelled clay stove
Patsy Chapman 01300341779 or email and biogas fuelled cooker. S.Devon
chapmanslongmeadow@googlemail.
coastal smallholding. Caravan or
com
house accommodation. 01548 830650
[email protected]
wwoof uk news: issue 223
page 12
Friendly,
self-contained
couple,
40’s, with 22ft motor home seek
new skills, particularly solar/building/
beekeeping/permaculture. We can offer
thatching, gardening, picking, walling,
admin, cooking, house-sitting. Contact
[email protected]
WWOOFer wanted: On friendly
Devon organic beef farm with a
difference. Space for one WWOOFer,
available now until 10th July. Minimum
commitment of six weeks. Preferably
able to drive and happy to work on
a farm producing meat. Self catering,
caravan, shared kitchen & shower. See
www.westtownfarm.co.uk & email
[email protected] if interested.
Cortijo for sale: LasAlpurras £190,000
three beds, two bath, kitchen, dining, two
reception, stable, garage, brick compost
loo, outdoor shower. Solar elec and
hot water. Ten acres inc veg garden
and 120+ almond trees. Fifteen mins
from sea between Grenada, Malaga and
Almeria [email protected]
Free accommodation, and facilities
in caravan or own van/tent/caravan. In
return we are looking for animal care
of excellent standard and minimal
watering of plants. Possibility of longer
stay by negotiation. The position is for
the summer holidays. Email pudding3@
btinternet.com
Vineyard near Hastings - 6 Ha
vineyard near south coast resort of
Hastings offers long or short-term
self-catering working holidays in large
mobile home. Wide variety of ‘hands
on’ vineyard tasks all-year-round, as
well as wine making and processing
of fruit juices on site. Vineyard &
Woodland Nature Trail plus wine
tastings for visitors during summer.
Free use of facilities such as shower,
washing machine, local phone-calls and
on-line computer. Email roy.cook@
englishorganicwine.co.uk for more
details.
Help Wanted - on wonderful 6-acre
viable ecological smallholding near
Help Offered: Versatile mature lady Hay-on-Wye.
SA symbol; market
Slash fuel bills - with the installation offers help/possible investment in garden with polytunnels, greenhouses,
of a Dimplex ‘air source’ heat pump by rural enterprise from ‘soil to table’ vegetables, fruit and herbs. Established
accredited installers.The pumps, with up or new/renovation building projects. permaculture area with large forest
to 400% efficiency, work by extracting Interests include horse racing, fine art, garden. Very varied work with
energy from the ambient air - like a classical music, good wine. Suggestions excellent learning potential + food
fridge in reverse - providing hot water welcome. S England. Call 07908 274872 and accommodation. Innovative and
and/or heating. Email guaranteed@ [email protected]
traditional building methods adopted.
live.co.uk or phone 07896003696 for
Also helping in the kitchen is expected.
further information.
Enthusiastic female, 30+ seeks The accommodation may be considered
long term paid opportunity. Some modest by those with high expectations.
For Sale: Residential creamery, three experience on farms and gardens. Eager Contact Paul, Primrose Organic Centre,
acres, barn, polytunnel, chalet, large to learn. Responsible, conscientious and Felindre, Brecon, Powys LD3 0ST. Tel:
pond, fruit, mature and growing trees, love working. Caravan accommodation 01497 847636. E-mail: paul.benham@
god access. Suit small business or preferred. Any area considered. Call ukonline.co.uk
studio. 6 miles Bantry. £180,000 027- 07544 732975 for a chat.
52674 Ireland
(continued from page 4)
Worryingly, the new MRSA carried by Dutch farmers is
resistant to the tetracyclines and at least some of this
resistance can be traced to animal infections where
resistance evolved in response to excessive, and many
would say reckless, inclusion in feed.
Organic farmers are usually happy to treat sick animals
with antibiotics to prevent unnecessary suffering provided
the production system does not require their routine
use.
The idea is to provide a diet and environment that
promotes health rather than routinely fighting the disease
that is an inevitable result of intensive production.Yet, the
modern pig, poultry and pharmaceutical industries lobby
hard for continued prophylactic antibiotic use in feeds,
on the basis that the large scale, cheap, pig and poultry
production would be impossible without it. We know that
it is not.
Photo: Riverford Farm
Riverford Farm are WWOOF hosts in Devon.
www.riverford.co.uk
next copy deadline: 31st july 2009 [email protected]
WWOOF UK, P.O. Box 2154, Winslow, Bucks, MK18 3WS