WWOOFing in Inchigeelagh
We WWOOFed from October 4th to the 25th, 2014 at a family farm in the South of the Republic of Ireland. This family farm has been the home, work, and life project of Klaus and Hanna, a couple from Germany that immigrated to Ireland over twenty years ago. Klaus is a horticulturist and Hanna a florist with many years of experience. They work side by side to grow organic flowers and vegetables in two different sections, one in front of their house and the other in the village center of Inchigeelagh. The vegetables are for self-consumption and their flowers are beautifully arranged to sell during spring and summer at the weekly farmers markets in Cork and Macroom. Hanna also gets contracts as a florist for weddings and they were busy preparing decorations for multiple events in the summer. During our WWOOFing experience, we lived with Klaus, Hanna, and their children Oona and Malachy, 19 and 15 years old respectively. We also got to enjoy the company and colorful eyes of Lily, their dog, a cute 15-year-old border collie.
We WWOOFed for 3 weeks at this family farm during the end of the flower season and we completed tasks which included weeding, cutting and pulling out plants, collecting pine cones and bark for Christmas ornaments, harvesting vegetables, preparing preserves of apple sauce and apple compote, and cooking family meals. One time we helped remove thorns and leaves off roses for wedding arrangements. The entire time, we wished we have been allowed to help harvest and prepare flower arrangements, but Klaus and Hanna were very protective of these tasks. This became an inevitable disappointment to our great expectations of what we thought was going to be a pretty unique WWOOFing experience. Although we did not get to do what we were looking for, we tried our best to be helpful in other ways. Respecting Klaus and Hanna’s judgment and directions, we learned and enjoyed our days as much as we could.
One of our favorite things about this WWOOFing experience was harvesting and eating organic fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. The majority of our meals at the farm were vegetarian as the family only ate meat sporadically. Apples, grapes, eggplants, zucchini, cabbage, tomatoes, lettuces, butter squash, bell peppers, leeks, beet roots, pumpkins, herbs, and many more vegetables grow at their farm. Picking them directly from the land was the best way of grocery shopping. We felt deeply privileged! Boiled or fried organic eggs from their 10 free range chickens were a Sunday breakfast tradition prepared by Klaus. Cooking and baking in the evenings with Oona and Hanna was always fun. Their apple crumble and apple cinnamon rolls were delicious.
It was apple season and the family had lots of them. We were able to learn new recipes and play in the kitchen. When the weather was not the best for working outside, which happened a few days, we were giving the fun assignment of making apple sauce, apple compote, and apple cake.
We also got to cook for the family and enjoyed making different dishes, including roasted pork, pizzas, pumpkin soup, and even a traditional recipe from our countries: beef tongue in sauce. We spent quality time with the family and we also got to watch interesting films and documentaries with them at night. In the evenings, we often joint Klaus and Hanna for a glass a wine and enjoyed a chat. Sundays were resting days and the family welcomed us to go places with them. During the weekends, we went hiking to beautiful areas along the south coast of Ireland, like Baltimore and Sheep’s Head. We were also fortunate to meet some of Klaus and Hanna’s friends for coffee or tea, and they were always kind.
During the week we worked mostly in the mornings and had the afternoons to ourselves. Watching The Simpsons at 6 pm with Malachy became part of our schedule. We had a small cabin that accommodated us and on cold nights we enjoyed lighting the fireplace. Gisela was happy of having free time for reading and devoured two interesting books about North Korea and China: Escape from Camp 14 and Wild Swans. Sal took advantage of the free time to catch up on his articles for the website, read, and plan for our coming visits to Morocco and South America. One evening during our last week, Klaus invited us to the cinema club in Macroom and we watched “Omar” an amazing Palestinian thriller nominated to the Oscars and winner at the Cannes Film Festival. We always had interesting conversations with Klaus regarding politics and social issues. He was always eager to hear about our travels around the world and willing to share his own experiences. He is an honest man of liberal ideas with a talent to enhance interactions with a good sense of humor. We really enjoyed our time with him. We admired the open conversations and family dynamic between Klaus, Hanna, Malachy, and Oona as they treated each other with love and equality.
Until that point, this was the longest time we had been in one single place in our entire world trip. We welcomed our departure with the excitement of hitting the road again. Celebrating our two years of travels on October 7, 2014 at this farm and slowing down for a few weeks was definitely what we needed. We will miss the melody of Klaus’ piano, Malachy’s guitar, Oona’s kindness, and Hanna’s beautiful flowers. In the core of our gratitude, lays the memorable opportunity of having lived with a family that creates and self-sustains their needs in harmony with nature.
