WWOOF San Felice

Keeko the dog who followed me around everywhere.

Anna, who ran the farm

I've had a lot of labels over the years: pharmacy tech, cashier, student, Peace Corps volunteer, teacher and now I can add farm hand to the list. Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) has branches worldwide and I choose to sign up with the one in Italy. I found out about if from some PC friends and figured it would be a nice way to transition between Africa and America. It also crosses off one important item on my life list: Learn how to cook in Italy.
Waiting in the train station in some random town in Southern Italy, was I nervous. You bet. I was waiting for a complete stranger to come pick me up, to go someplace I had only seen from their website, not knowing exactly what to expect or if they spoke any English or French. Sure I've done something like this before but that time I had the US Government backing me up. Now I was just going off on my own crazy crackpot idea.
I wound up in a small valley at the edge of Cilento National Park, not far from the sea at a small family run farm where they sell fresh produce and preserves. The family is nice, the work isn't hard (although it can be tiring) and the scenery is gorgeous. Since things are slow I start my day around 8:30, starting out by feeding the pig and the horse. Normally they are waiting for me impatiently and it's hard to drop the pig his food without dumping it all on his head as he eagerly scarfs down grain. The horse wonders why I'm not hurrying up and feeding her already and gives the fence a sharp wrap. The dog runs over to see what I'm up to and keeps stopping me so I'll pet him, which only makes the horse want me to hurry up more. Then I mostly straighten up around the place. If I go to work up the hill where they have all the olive trees I can look out and see the sea.
All in all it's a good experience though it can be tiring, especially with the language barrier. After spending a month there I decided it's time to move along. Because we have trouble communicating I feel weird being there like some sort of creepy stranger. Plus I don't have access to things like internet which I really need if I want to accomplish some of the goals I have for myself, like trying to find a job. So it's on to other things.