I’m honored to have Austin Merrill be the first WWOOFer to share his story. Austin is a musician who decided to spend a bit of time WWOOFing while music events were on hold due to COVID. Read about his time WWOOFing at a holistic farm in Southwest Georgia, USA.
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Hi, my name is Austin and my first WWOOFing experience took place down in SW Georgia. I’ve long been interested in learning more about the farming lifestyle and getting back to our roots (so to speak) that we humans have as cultivators of the earth. I was fortunate enough to have some downtime in my schedule and since there’s no time like the present, I decided to go get my hands dirty with some real-life experience.
I spent a week down on the farm, living in a cabin with my farmer hostess, a wonderful woman named Shana who is a wealth of knowledge on all things agriculture. We laid irrigation piping and dripline, stapled down landscape fabric, planted onions, kale, lettuce, and flowers, and did so much more. I learned about planting cycles, transplanting vs. direct seeding, fertilizing, you name it.
I also helped her with a lot of infrastructural things on the farm. Leaning on some prior (and very informal) handyman experience, I did things like hang shelving and fix planter boxes. We even harvested bamboo in the forest, and I built a 6’x6′ arbor out of bamboo and twine for her to grow gourds on.
I could go on and on about the projects we accomplished in my time there, but all in all I think the sense of accomplishment itself was one of the greatest things I took away from that experience. It was so rewarding to look back at a hard day’s work and see the difference we had made. I came to have an even deeper appreciation for that lifestyle and the people who live it, particularly those that engage in holistic, polyculture farming.
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It was hard work, and it was also a ton of fun. I met her entire community during my stay, and very quickly felt right at home. We all had a picnic on the weekend and went out on the lake, and finished the night off with some songs around the campfire. You can’t make this stuff up. It was perfect, like a scene from a movie.
This experience has only made me more passionate about organic farming and further encouraged me to one day have a farm of my own. To anyone considering WWOOFing in the future I say: just do it! It’s such a unique experience and one of the best ways to challenge yourself and learn new things. Sometimes you’re told exactly what to do (like where and how to plant a certain vegetable), but inevitably on a farm, situations arise where you have to problem-solve things together, and it’s all extremely rewarding.
The food was good, the lodging was good, the work was good, and the memories are great. What more could you ask for? Go grab yourself a slice of adventure.
If you want to follow me on my journey, whether I’m farming, snowboarding, falconing, or out on tour playing shows, you can check me out at @austinmerrillmusic on Instagram.
Peace out y’all, -Austin
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