Helping Hands

Here on the farm we can grow more food than we can eat, but it takes all of our time to keep on top of things. So it occurs to me that the farm would be better suited to supporting more people.

With this in mind, we have taken a few volunteers this year. The deal is that they are accommodated in a caravan and help for about 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. In return they get three meals a day and a jolly good experience.

Guest accommodation

Some people say this sounds like cheap labour, but it is more complex than that.  It is a cultural and learning exchange too. The balance of this equation is a fine one and has not always worked in our favour. It is not for everyone, but if I had time to travel I would certainly be happy to be on the other end of the deal. For the volunteers it offers a totally different travel experience to the usual treadmill of visiting famous landmarks.
For anyone wishing to have some time to reflect, to do some good honest work and to learn about self-sustainability, smallholding and permaculture, the swap is a very good one indeed.

Volunteers viewing our new ducklings - Arthur is helping out

The paddock team

From a professional carpenter who taught me loads to others who were trying out completely new skills

This is what volunteering schemes are all about

Let's look at the potential benefits if you get the right people and the right people management.

Knowledge Sharing

The post driver is a great

introduction to how satisfying

hard work can be!

As well as learning about each others' backgrounds and lives, we have been able to teach people all about our system of self-sustainable growing. We have taught practical skills too, from using tools such as hoes, hammers and drills to keeping sheep, poultry and bee-keeping.
We have learned from our volunteers too. One in particular had a wealth of knowledge about bee-keeping and taught Sue loads. The same person helped me out with my hopeless ineptitude when it comes to understanding how machines work.  
I have learned new construction skills too, even simple things like how to use my drill more effectively. 

Many Hands Make Light Work

Too many cooks spoil the broth, but many hands make light work.
It's all about choosing the right task. There were some tasks where all my time would be spent trying to supervise when I could have achieved the job in much less time on my own.
But there were other jobs where three people got far more than three times the amount of work done. These jobs fell into two categories.

Firstly, jobs which seem so daunting when you are on your own and would take days or leave you exhausted. With several people, these jobs became not only achievable but fun. So in no time at all we pulled thousands of thistles, weeded the whole raspberry patch and erected a hundred yards of fence. The last of these is a great example of using volunteers. On my own I can maybe drive in three or four fence posts before needing to take a break. The breaks become longer and more frequent the more the job goes on. Not only that, but the quality of the work goes down as I get tired and the risk of  injury goes up. But with three of us, each person did one or two posts and then handed over. In between we could even pick thistles. In no time whatsoever we had driven in about 40 posts. Nobody was tired or fed up and after a couple of hours we had a finished fence to admire. Very satisfying.

From preparing the ground to erecting a log cabin, 

this job would have taken me months on my own 

rather than just a few days with a little help.

Secondly, construction jobs. Jobs where I was able to gain greatly by other people's knowledge and skills. There are times too when you just need somebody else at the other end of a plank!

The new compost loo 

taking shape

The sheep testing out the facilities in their new paddock

 

The newly constructed paddock with volunteer accommodation in the background.

Not a long journey to work!

Time for other things
The main drawback to having all this help is the requirement to prepare three meals a day. Breakfast is easy, but a proper cooked lunch and dinner every day takes up a lot of time.
However, Sue and I really enjoy cooking, especially when we are using our own produce picked fresh from the plot, and we don't get nearly enough time to eat as we would like.
But with the volunteers, especially the ones who appear ready for breakfast and work at a reasonable time, we can get all the smallholding jobs done before lunch leaving the afternoon and evening free for all those things we would like to do more of but never seem to have time.
Cooking, baking, crafts, reading... even a little rest sometimes.



In Conclusion
Taking volunteers is a two way street and a big commitment. We have learned to choose carefully who we accept.
Plus points are: Over 40. Own transport. Skills to offer. A very good command of English.
Seeing through people's profiles is a skill we are developing.
Here are some translations:
We enjoy hard work =  we don't know what hard work looks like.
Enjoys caring for animals =  has very few practical skills and thinks they are coming to a pet zoo
Stronger than I look = not strong
Flexible = warning, this flexibility often extends only one way!

Do we plan to take more volunteers next year? Yes. Definitely.
If we can get it right the scheme is fantastic. We love to share what we do and what we produce and it is marvellous to work alongside other people and to meet people from all across the world.

One thing we need to work on is what to do on wet days. There have been plenty this year!
Hopefully the new log cabin and the undercover shelter will both be finished by the end of this summer which will give us much better areas for craft activities.

The scheme we have used so far is called Workaway. We plan to try WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunties on Organic Farms) as well next year, as this should provide a more targeted choice of volunteers.

To summarise, in all honesty at its worst we have found ourselves dealing with stroppy spoilt teenager attitudes! People who could not drag themselves out of bed, questioned everything and were very choosy about which tasks they wanted to do.

Besides the ones who didn't turn up, we have had our fair share of spoilt rich kids who in their mid twenties still seem to be spending a few years out exploring what they want to do with their lives. They get what we are doing here but their idealistic views of sustainable living have not always been matched by a willingness to get on and do what needs doing.

In particular, a pre 10am start seemed to be a challenge, even though Sue and I religiously got up early to have breakfast ready way before that time. We tried to adapt to this work ethic, but on days when rain was forecast for late morning and all afternoon, a late start seemed rather inconvenient and frustrating. And on days when afternoon temperatures soared, it would have been a lot more sensible to have made an early start.

The flip side of this coin is that we have had some of the most productive and enjoyable days ever on the smallholding. We have been able to undertake some big projects and it has been fantastic to be working as a team with such a range of people. I have learned loads and I think our volunteers have really had their eyes opened towards the possibilities of our style of sustainable living. 

We have met people we would never have met before and we have been able to share what we do and what we produce here.

So that's my honest, warts and all view of taking volunteers.

If you're a smallholder I would say it is definitely worth considering.

If you're looking to spend some time on a smallholding and haven't been put off by everything you've read here, please feel free to contact me. We have one caravan for short-term volunteers (up to 4 weeks) and one for somebody to stay longer term.