My first WWOOF experience: Villa del Bosco

After my lovely week in Palermo in October of 2007, I traveled to an agrotourism called Villa del Bosco to serve as a WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) volunteer for one month. I lived and worked on this farm, close to the town Calatafimi, in order to research the role of community organizations like WWOOF in Sicilian farming communities and how they help support the viability of small-scale and artisan producers. While here I met a great deal on interesting people, including the family and friends of the farm's owner and other volunteers from the US, England, Japan, Australia, and Germany.

My main duties as a volunteer were to help out with the olive harvest, as well as smaller jobs such as bottling wine, cooking, and housekeeping. I was also able to take trips to an olive mill, other farms in the area, Segesta (a nearby archaeological site), La Riserva dello Zingaro (a nature preserve on the northwestern coast of Sicily), San Vito Lo Capo, Trapani, and Favignana. By becoming part of this agricultural community for one month I was able to better understand some of the dynamics and issues with running an organic, small-scale agrotourism. As I've written before, my dream is to open my own "beyond-organic" agrotourism in my family's native Puerto Rico, so this was a great experience for me to learn!

In addition to having about 1500 olive trees, the farm also had chickens, dogs, cats, a small fruit orchard, and a small production of organic wine. While I was there we hosted guests from both Italy and the rest of Europe. That was one of the best experiences, meeting and interacting with guests from different countries and having dinner while discussing topics as broad as food, music, politics, Sicilian culture, language, and environmental issues. I also played interpreter for some WWOOF volunteers who didn't speak Italian, which was a great exercise in improving my Italian!

While not working on the olive harvest, we spent our time taking hikes in the surrounding hills, walking 45 minutes to Calatafimi, resting in the hammocks, playing with the dogs (one of which I absolutely fell in love with), and sharing recipes and making dishes from various cultures. A German volunteer and good friend, Gudrun, and I made delicious Sicilian cannoli for one Sunday afternoon lunch, and a volunteer from Japan shared with us a typical Japanese meal. I also attempted to make a Puerto Rican-style dish with rice and chickpeas, though it didn't turn out as I wanted, lacking the necessary spices of course.

For more information on Villa del Bosco Agriturismo see their web site here: http://web.neomedia.it/degaeta/index_eng.htm

I'm currently updating a seperate blog I have for this research project, so check it out for more detailed descriptions of what I did! http://organicfarmingitalia.blogspot.com/

Here are some pictures from my time there...enjoy!