WWOOFING ADVENTURE IV and V: Good Apples. Bad Apples.

It has been a while since I last wrote. There is a reason. I did not want to. The last two WWOOF places were drastically different. The first was another wonderful family in Mecklenburg Vorpommern near the Baltic Sea. This was great, we learned some basic essential building skills and met more lovely people. I also found out that I really do not mind weeding or working a garden, if it is not too big. This time we realized that we do not want to live so far away even if it meant not living next to an ocean. It was hard for us to go there as at this stage we are a bit tired of all the driving and moving around. It is time for these gypsies to take a break and settle a little while. However, once there, it was a lovely experience I would not take back. 

 

This brings me to the last WWOOFing place we attended. We had such high hopes. We met the farmer briefly a few weeks before going there. It was a beautiful property on the river in Rheinland Pfalz. It also would sound amazing on paper. A organic apple farm producing juice and cider and raising endangered cow species with a small community living there. It also had apartments, a farm store and teepees! The farmer also showed interest in starting a cafe. The farmer also was looking to retire in the next 10 years and was looking for a family to take over his farm without the hefty price tag. Really it was too good to be true. 

Our hopes were so high and they got crushed with every apple picked. It turned out not to be a dream but a reminder of reality. Dreams do not come true so easily. However, we must not give up, we must allow forgiveness and not focus on failing but on learning. Easier said then done but still we keep going. 

So what do we do now? With our heads a little lower but still in good spirits. I would not take away our initial decision of leaving our good jobs in Australia for a second. We made the choice to come to Germany and we do not look back. Yes, it is a challenge and there are some low points but Germany has so much to offer and to be frank I am enjoying the seasonal change and the culture it brings. If it was too easy it would not be an adventure and it would cause no fear but where is the fun in that? 

The past six months of traveling and WWOOFing has put a lot in perspective. We are trying to figure out our path together and with that we must be flexible. We ran with an idea when we left but it is not nor will any chosen path be set in stone. We are flowing in the river and where it takes we do not know. We only know where we are at this moment and as long as we do not try and cement ourselves in time we can flow with the water, with life. 

At this moment we will apply for jobs and see where it takes us. We have finally set sights on where we would like to set up and only time will tell if the river will flow towards it. It is good, we still want to incorporate nature, farming, sustainability and family into our life. But maybe full time farming which we have come to realize may not be entirely for us. What we have seen in the past six months is the full-time farmers are real busy and there is not much time left for family. They work so hard and are not getting enough money for their efforts. It is amazing that money does not end up in the farmers hand but the pushers. 

Maybe part time farming is good, art is also something I have thought about. Whatever it is the moment will come and it will happen. Life is like an insect in the forest, you don’t know you are in the dark until the sun breaks through between the trees. 

Do not get me wrong, I do not see this as a failure. I see this as a step in growth. We have made the choices and taken the challenge, there is no looking back. We are flowing with energy and ideas. We are smiling, happy and healthy. This is merely a reflection and sometimes you need a bad apple to point you in the direction of the good ones. 

As the tree sleeps in winter, so we shall. Now is not the time to give up but to ground ourselves and make sure we are rooted but still flowing freely. As I write this last sentence an overwhelming peacefulness has come over me. Once you accept where you are you realize that fear is only of what has not yet to happen. Surrendering is one of the greatest gifts to oneself.