Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Shameless Self-Promotion

Last semester I made a short film, Environmental Identity, for my fall senior project. In my film, I interviewed an ex-coworker, Elin Ljung, who shared with me how the environment influenced her identity.  Elin works as the communication coordinator at the Mono Lake Committee, a small, non-profit environmental organization in the Eastern Sierra where I volunteered during the summer of 2008.


After I completed my project I sent Elin and the MLC a copy and they wrote a short article about it on their blog, the Mono-logue (which I highly reccomend for anyone interested in the going-ons in the Eastern Sierra and water politics and usage in California).

Anyways, I'm posting this here because they mention my future plans - including my upcoming WWOOF volunteer experience - in the article.  It was during my volunteer time at the MLC that I first learned about WWOOF from a co-worker and was instantly hooked.

Check out the article on my film here!

Searching for WWOOF host farms in Washington state

 I have decided to WWOOF in Washington state.  This does not necessarily mean that I am going to college up north, but I'm currently very interested in exploring the pacific northwest. 

Flipping through my WWOOF USA host directory, I have marked and highlighted and attached sticky notes to tons of listings for attractive host farms in the Puget Sound area.  As I am whittling down my selections, I have started to develop a list of questions to ask host farms which can help me get a feel for the one or two farms I will spend endersession working on.

  1. How many hours will I work each day?
  2. What specific jobs or projects will I be working on?
  3. Do I need any specific, uncommon skills for these projects or jobs?
  4. What sort of living accomodations do you offer?
  5. How many meals a day are WWOOFers provided with?
  6. What type of crops are grown on your farm?
  7. Is your farm small or large-scale?
  8. Do you participate in farmer markets or a local CSA (community supported agriculture)?
  9. Can I expect to be working with other WWOOFers or independently?
  10. Do you allow WWOOFers to access the internet?
  11. How far is your farm from the nearest town?
The closer I get to choosing my host farms the more excited I get for endersession -- and the closer I get to the end of traditional high school.  Excluding endersession, breaks and weekends, there are just over three weeks left in my senior year.  I feel WWOOFing will provide an exciting transition between the formal school year and my "free" summer before college.