On her last day of a week that flew by, Mami, WWOOFing from Japan, works to rejuvenate a bed of Swiss chard battered by the drought. Despite a fairly formidable language barrier, there was much conversation and laughter about life, times, Hollywood movies, smoking laser printers, the apparently grave state of the world…the usual field chatting fare! For no one reason I can put a finger on, it was an energizing bit of cultural exchange, and a lot of extra fieldwork got done as well. Through this blog, tiny farming has become for me kinda…transnational, and Mami’s visit made that feeling even more real (the ClustrMap comes alive!). It’s really all about People in the Field!!
I first got interested in farming by spending a few weeks with an Austrian family on that seminal college trip to Europe. Despite a language barrier, they were very loving people and treated me like one of their family! That experience put me on the road that I am still on today — that’s why I think these internships and WWOOFing experiences are so valuable.
Wow!
What a great picture! Sounds like a great time!