22nd February 2010 / 4 comments

We’re gonna be WWOOFers!

Well, we’ve finally made the big decision of where to go once we finish up here in Oahu on March 15th…

We’re going to WWOOF on Maui!! 🙂

Like many people, we had no idea exactly what WWOOFing was or what it meant to be a WWOOFer before researching volunteer opportunities around the world. What we discovered was WWOOF.org…World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

The way this works – you trade a few hours a day working on the farm in return for a place to stay and food from the organic garden. It’s a chance to learn anything from bee-keeping to how to milk a goat…you can already see the funny pictures, right? 

  There are SO many different farms to choose from…coffee plantations, medicinal herbs, goat dairys, wellness centers, yoga retreats, fruit orchards, vineyards…virtually any type of work you may find interesting. There is no age limit to WWOOF (thank goodness!) and some farms around the world even have facilities for families with children.

We sent out several e-mails to hosts across the Hawaiian Islands and sat back to see what would come back. Because we’d waited so late to inquire, many farms were already full. Hey, it’s a free place to stay in Hawaii, so these places book up fast! 🙂

Happily, the next day we received a postive response from Maui Dragonfruit Farms…”We are the first dragon fruit farm on Maui. It is located in Lahaina, West Maui. The area is very close to beaches and a lot of attractions. We just planted 200 dragon fruit trees and will be planting a lot more. We are very excited about providing such a wonderful fruit to the island…”  

“What’s a dragonfruit?” Cheryl asked.  I shrugged, so we hit the Internet to find out…and this is what they look like!

Our hosts also own Island Paradise Farms that produce pesticide-free baby salad mix. We’ll have no excuse for not eating healthy! From the e-mails we’ve exchanged so far, it looks like we’ll be spending time at both farms in the month we’re staying.

March 15th will be here before we know it and a new adventure awaits! A chance to get back to the basics, meet some wonderful people, and enjoy the natural beauty of Hawaii.

Right now we’re very excited about WWOOFing…we’ll see what interesting stories (and pictures) there are to share! 🙂

Thanks to Beth for her fun Wanderfood Wednesday to get some great ideas of what to do with this yummy organic food!

Tags: maui organic farm sweat equity voluntourism WWOOF wwoof experiences wwoof hawaii