26 From Winschoten to Nieuw-Buinen - Wwoofing for a week!

To stay in one place for a while, learn new things, and be useful, I traded my sports shoes for rubber boots and worked in the garden in exchange for food and lodging.

My wwoofing spot was on a former farm that is now used as an alternative school, similar to a very small Waldorf school. The farm has a huge, slightly overgrown garden that was designed based on permaculture principles, which I wanted to learn more about.

My hostess initially showed me the farmhouse that had been converted into a school, where my room and the kitchen were located, as well as the garden. She told me that she and her husband got the idea for the school from their own two sons, both of whom have autistic tendencies. Unfortunately, her husband passed away almost two years ago... (Somehow this topic seems to be following me lately...)

Anyway, this tragedy, combined with the corona crisis and a restructuring happening at the school and the associated foundation, meant that the garden was put on the back burner and was only occasionally maintained by wwoofers, so there was a need for further cleanup work.

Specifically, my task was to clear the paths and make them safe for young children by removing a large number of nettles and other prickly or even poisonous plants (giant hogweed!). To give you an idea, in this enchanting garden, everything seemed a few sizes larger - especially the rhubarb, which blew my mind :D But so did the nettles, which were easily 2 meters tall and had developed roots and small trunks like little trees. So, pulling them out was quite a workout ;) And with all that exercise, I definitely won't be getting arthritis anytime soon :D

The atmosphere in the garden was wonderful, and it felt really good to work with my hands instead of just my head in the office - very grounding! The weather was also ideal, mostly cloudy, sometimes a bit rainy, but much more pleasant for work than intense sun.

In addition to weeding, I also took care of the chickens and rabbits from time to time. There was also a rather large rabbit that surprised me when I first saw it :D And what I particularly liked about their enclosure was that it was on sandy soil, allowing the rabbits to dig their own tunnels and have a more natural habitat :)

Overall, I was a bit disappointed that my hostess was so busy and also lived in another house next door, so we saw each other very little and couldn't have in-depth conversations. She was always very warm and answered all of my questions, even via WhatsApp - but somehow I had hoped for more contact and more opportunities to learn about permaculture. On the other hand, working alone and focusing on the task at hand was somewhat meditative, and it was nice to know that I could take some of her many tasks off her plate. And who knows, maybe at another stop on my journey, I'll find something where I can quench my thirst for knowledge better and be surrounded by more people ;)

Nevertheless, I was able to pick up a few more or less interesting things:

- Horsefly bites or rather stings are incredibly nasty because they make a small hole in the skin and then "pour" the venom into it - ouch!

- Germany, the Netherlands, and North Korea are the only countries where homeschooling is illegal because there is compulsory education (instead of a right to education) :O

- In the northern Netherlands, there is virtually no corona, there were only 5/6 cases, that's it...

- Indian balsam has become a real plague in the Netherlands (and probably in Europe in general) and must not be intentionally sown - although the neighbors have apparently asked for some seeds a few times :D

- There are wild strawberries that bloom yellow and have their fruits grow with the tip upwards, but unfortunately, they don't taste very good...

After gardening, I had plenty of free time to indulge in cooking (pancakes, oven-roasted vegetables, rhubarb compote, etc., instead of minimalist one-pot camping meals :D) and explore the surroundings. In the province of Drenthe, there are quite a few dolmens, including the largest in the Netherlands, built from boulders that were pushed here by glaciers from Scandinavia a few years ago :O The exact origin of the dolmens themselves is still a mystery to this day...

Otherwise, I also wanted to visit a treetop walkway, which turned out to be closed when I arrived.. Fortunately, I cycled against the wind and practically flew back with the tailwind :P Since it was super windy to stormy here almost every day, I limited my other explorations to walks or destinations in the east, so I could enjoy the west wind on the way back ;)

Of course, I also took advantage of luxuries like Wi-Fi for Skype calls, electricity to charge devices, or the washing machine to get everything nice and clean again :D

All in all, it was a very good week, which also made me feel the urge to continue traveling and increased my desire for new experiences :)