I had every intention of taking a chunk of time on my way home from the WWOOF AGM (about 10 days ago) to collect my thoughts but somehow I wasn't in the right frame of mind. The intensity of happenings at the moment means it's taking that bit longer to mull said goings on...and by the time I've mulled, another bag load of things have happened! The "simplicity" of the drumming at Ingleton Falls at the weekend somehow made scribing about it easier, but the time has come to dig into the memory cells to capture what was another fabulous weekend and adventure - and look forward to the next!
Since my first "proper" WWOOFing experience in August, I feel like my eyes have been opened to a completely different way of approaching "living" (in particular housing arrangements and work) and so for the time being there's a since of living two parallel lives - my existing one, and the times I dip into this parallel universe of living in community, working the land and seeing the world through completely different "lenses". The chance to touch in with the organisation that facilitated this awakening at their AGM seemed like a complete no brainer (especially when it was being held at a fascinating looking community in southern Scotland) and so Adventure-Dumfries was born.
As with all adventures in the Golden Chariot I wanted to make the most of the places I was passing on my way up and back, and on this occasion that involved two National Trust properties and a Massage with a NO HANDer who I hadn't seen for a while but really enjoyed catching up with. The Massage was brilliant but, alas, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the two National Trust properties. I don't want to lay the blame on the less-than-summery-weather as I don't think that was it, and they certainly had merit in themselves. But I've got so used to falling completely in love with the properties I've visited to date that the fact these ones somehow just didn't tug the heart strings in the same way was a little disappointing. That said, I did meet some fabulous little owls in "art in the woods" which was fun.But the reason for the trip: the AGM. Well, the gathering which had the AGM as part of it :)
Which.
Was.
Brilliant.
Hosted at a beautiful old country house which has been functioning as a community for 40 years (the building itself has parts which date back to the 16th century and a more recent "extension" which was built barely 30 or 40 years before the house went from being a residence to being a hospital - one which took consumptives, no less!) we were incredibly well looked after by our hosts. Not only were the beds comfy and the food fantastic (and they did me vegan puddings! Anywhere that does vegan pudding wins prizes as far as I'm concerned), but there were members of the community on "being available to answer questions, queries or offer general assistance" duty right the way through the day and fairly late on into the evening. It all fitted together so beautifully - fabulous.
Having the opportunity to meet and hear from others who'd attended the AGM (members of the board of directors, other WWOOFers like me, hosts, staff) gave me a real sense of the deeper ethos behind WWOOFing. I've known about WWOOFing for years, but when I first got involved at the beginning of the year my main drive was simply to get out and get my hands in the soil. Spending time listening to others' motivations, challenges and desires for WWOOF as an organisation has given me a much greater depth of understanding of this constantly evolving community I'm now a part of. And highlighted the divisions language can create: by specialising our knowledge it's very easy to get channelled down a track which may seem very different from the next person's view of the world, but in fact there are so many overlaps - it's just a case of taking a breath and looking for them.
Alongside the "business" I met a whole host of brilliant people, got to dance with lots of them at one of the best ceilidhs I've been to in ages (my general sense of "This is all BRILLIANT!" may well have contributed to that), took a barefoot walk to the loch and back early one morning (my feet certainly knew about it by the time I was home - a lot of the return journey was on a forestry-type track which was rather lacking in soft patches of grass for me to stepping-stone along), spent wonderful hours by the bonfire listening, chatting, gazing at the stars and even went on a late night adventure to find the sauna (which, sadly, wasn't in operation at the time but when I found it again in the daylight was an even more brilliant set up than I'd realised in the gloaming of the nighttime). AND I got expert advice on pulling up brambles! (It's all about loosening the roots then grabbing the plant by the chunk of roots under the surface, rather than just tugging the "above ground" bits. Who knew?!)
I've a sense of all these memories from the weekend still settling in and embedding themselves into different bits of my brain - but I'm definitely sold on WWOOF AGMs!
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