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wwoof hosts

Discussion thread for wwoofusa hosts

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Wwoof USA no longer has a host forum. We host folks from both permies and wwoof, but permies now is the only place for Hosts to speak to hosts. Any wwoof hosts out there care to communicate? We are currently being bombarded with out of country scam wwoofer applicants. How about you? Thank you. Jules

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Anne Miller

steward

Posts: 16724

Location: USDA Zone 8a

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posted 2 years ago

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I like the idea of WWOOF Hosts having a place to communicate.

Do you know some that like to have discussions too? Maybe tell them about the forum.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Yes I do and will share. Hosts at woof have alot to discuss! Jules

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Bobbett Jascor

Posts: 4

Location: Versailles, United States

posted 2 years ago

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I’m a Wwoofusa host and don’t like the fact that they have eliminated the host forums on their website. It was the main place for us to communicate about Wwoofers, scams, etc.

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Yes I agree. We received at least 4 scammer requests over the winter.

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

faith austin

Posts: 16

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posted 2 years ago

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Most Recently they also took away the Traveler Directory which only leaves the option for them to contact us which is not helpful because now i get random requests from people and I cannot even see their profile or anything about them, such as reviews, ect.

I am really disappointed in this because prior to that i contacted 30+ people through the year only to have my time wastes with zero actual visitors, people just ghost you. I even had made arrangements to pay for airfare for someone.

I am looking into trying workaway although its not the spirit of WWOOF that has altered my experiences- they do have an ambassador program and other incentives to get dedicated people. Nothing against those looking for summer camp but its a waste of opportunity for people that really are committed to being land stewards.

Im finishing 8 winters in the wilderness snowed in and 6 years as a WWOOF farm and I have had baby wwoofers born on my land but still none that dont have traveling feet....still looking for stewards to join our community. Its all been worth it for the best of it but i could of never imagined how messy building a commune would be. Hippies without self-respect is just another word for mental-illness and that is unfortunately the people most attracted to living off-grid are looking for some kind of free ride when in fact it is everything but...its legit survival out here in the wilderness!

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Agree!!! I feel a mass exodus of hosts is coming to wwoofusa.org. We have been stripped of ability to discern and gather for no reason. Without the ability to communicate with potential woofers or each other, where does that leave longterm, successful hosts like us with 31 reviews and years of service to wwoofusa.org? Not liking this at all. Jules

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Sent to wwoofusa.org just now: ?

me
To
WWOOF USA
Apr 7 at 10:49 AM
Wwoofs new policy is not good. Many of us longterm hosts are forced to find people on workaday and helpx now that wwoofusa.org is the ONLY organization that does NOT allow hosts to contact prospective visitors. Why did you shut us out? I am sorry but migration to a new platform is not the reason. When will this policy change? Thank you. Jules at Cherry Plain Sanctuary Farm. We are sadly looking elsewhere this year for visitors and not the only host in this position.

www.heartsinhandhorsemanshipllc.com

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 9476

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

4528

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posted 2 years ago

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I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Jim Fry

Posts: 606

Location: Stone Garden Farm Richfield Twp., Ohio

posted 2 years ago

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A caution on wwoof.

We have been long time Host members of WWOOF. It used to be a great organization. It no longer is for us. We are in "fly over" country, -Ohio. What we have noticed over the years is that there is a decided trend for wwoof'ers seeking farms to start looking in Hawaii, West Coast states and several (north and south) East Coast states. For much of the rest of the U.S. it's a harder sell to get wwoof'ers. So for many of the WWOOF Hosts I have talked with, we have needed to be more proactive in interesting wwoof'ers to come to our farms.

Originally, and for many years, we middle country hosts had to contact wwoof'ers in order to interest them in coming our way. And they did, from all over the country and the world. Many of them said things like, "I never knew Ohio (etc.) was so beautiful.", or "Your farm has such great opportunities to learn. I'm glad you contacted us.".

But then the California folks who run wwoof decided to take away the Hosts ability to contact wwoof'ers. They said, among other things, that Hosts just wanted wwoof'ers to come work. "And that's not fair." It did not matter that learning to farm or garden or care for animals requires learning by doing. You can have all the book learning there is. You can attend classes (and we teach many). But if you want to really experience what it means to live with and on the land, you have to really do the work, -and live on the land. Being book taught doesn't cut it. Now that WWOOF has taken away the ability of hosts to contact wwoof'ers, all those opportunities to live and learn are lost for the wwoof'ers. Hawaii has the romance, Ohio and fly over states do not. We had the right to contact wwoof'ers taken away. And they just miss the opportunity to contact us, because they just don't know.

So my suggestion for prospective middle America Hosts, WWOOF is no longer worth the cost of joining WWOOF. We no longer are even looked at by most wwoof'ers. WWOOF no longer helps us help wwoof'ers. We will not be renewing our membership when it runs out. There are other better and more helpful venues for us to use.

Creating sustainable life, beauty & food (with lots of kids and fun)

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Thank you Nancy for merging these threads. I agree with the Ohio Host's sentiments that woof intentionally cut our connection with prospective woofers. Do they think hosts are always going to lick crumbs? Our last woofer drove all the way from Texas to our farm and she was fabulous. Had I not been able to contact her directly she would never have found us. At this point we have one confirmed woofer coming in May, but no inquiries other than spammers. By now we would have heard from multiple woofers. Sadly, we probably won't continue with woofusa either unless they change their policies. Thank goodness for permies. I have always love this site. Jules in Cherry Plain, NY www.heartsinhandhorsemanshipllc.com

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Bobbett Jascor

Posts: 4

Location: Versailles, United States

posted 2 years ago

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I'm not sure if I got a scam Wwoofer or what. The applicants are from India. I'm waiting for them to reply to my questions, and then we'll see.
Previous to them, I only had one applicant this year, and she ghosted me after I asked her a few simple questions (which she told me to do when she applied). Weirdly enough, when I Googled her name and looked for her on FB, she seems linked to Epstein, so just as well she ghosted me. But the quality of Wwoofers has gone down over the years, and I get a LOT who just ghost you after applying.

Wwoof told me they're working on setting up a new host forum on the new website. We'll see if they follow through.

I wasn't aware that they took away our ability to message Wwoofers since I have only messaged them through the email system when they've written to me. What I guess you're saying is that I now can no longer click on a Wwoofer's bio and send them a message?

I'm glad, at least, that this forum is here

Bobbett,
South-Central KY

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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I promise you that is a scammer. Beware. You are correct Hosts can no longer click on a woofers bio and or contact them.

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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We opened up a workaway account today. This way we can look for visitors again since woof no longer allows hosts to contact woofers. We have had a helpx account for a while but so far have not found a good match. We do have one woofer coming in May. All others who have contacted us were definitely not a fit. Let's see what workaway brings us. Please stay in touch, hosts. Jules

85534.jpeg

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Jenna from wwoofusa.org just emailed me they are working on a woofer directory for us to search for woofers. Hopefully up and running by this summer.

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Bobbett Jascor

Posts: 4

Location: Versailles, United States

posted 2 years ago

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The Indian Wwoofers are not scammers, I'm happy to say. They secured their tourist visa, and will be coming for two weeks next month.
They are planning a 40-day trip to the US (they've been here previously) and will be spending two weeks with friends in IL, two weeks with me, and then back to friends for another two weeks of sight seeing, hitting NYC and other places.

Not all foreign wwofers are scammers. These folks haven't asked for any of the typical scammer stuff, like a letter of support or a letter of invitation or anything like that. In fact, they don't even have my address other than the town I live in. ALL our conversations have been held on Wwoof for security reasons.

In the past I have hosted Wwoofers from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, France, and England as well as an American who had been living in Hong Kong for 15+ years.

I still hope Wwoof puts back the forums on their website; it would have been nice if I could have asked other Wwoof hosts about these folks beforehand. I haven't figured out the Wwoof forum here on Permies yet, and I can't figure out how to reply to a specific post.

But anyway, wanted to update my original post on this site.

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Very glad to hear!!! We had several inquiries this last winter that were definitely scammers. I agree, totally miss the Host Forum. Please keep us informed about how things go. We only take woofers who provide photo ID and references which has worked out well for us over the past 8 years of hosting. Jules

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Thekla McDaniels

gardener

Posts: 3335

Location: Western Slope Colorado.

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posted 2 years ago

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I used to be a wwoof host, along about 2010. I met some wonderful people and some real lulus! But it’s been a long time since I had anything to do with the organization.

I joined wwoof USA as a volunteer this spring, looking for opportunities. I am trying to organize work exchange housing for myself for several months.

Listening to the dissatisfaction I am hearing from the wwoof hosts on this thread, I wonder if there’s anything a person looking for hosts could say to the organization.

Anyone have any ideas?

Best luck: satisfaction

Greatest curse, greed

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Hi Thekla. I email with woof and probably many other hosts do too. They know the issues. I believe they are doing their best its just not always ideal. Jules

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Keshav Boddula

Posts: 59

Location: between USA (usually California) and India

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posted 2 years ago

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yeah, workaway and others are not in the same spirit as wwoof, and actually i believe permies is a bit more aligned to my/our values/spirit than wwoof, but wwoof has more opportunities to join others (as good as paul's and some other opportunities that can be found on these permies forums can be). if only a merge of the two, or just have wwoofusa be more inclusive to bring back the forums, easier communication amongst wwoof hosts/wwofers, etc..., but there may be good reason for dropping that too, like how overthinking can be bad sometimes (like let the reviews, data, stats.. or even a more subjective, intuitive knowing speak louder than any of one's thoughts/communications to each other (including these?), i dunno.

i've used fic and wwoof on and off since 2016 (wwoof profile), and am unable to contact fellow woofers like i used to be able to.. maybe that'll also come back this summer. also, not the most important issue, but sometimes i want to just message a potential host to know more before requesting a visit, but this has been made unnecessarily a bit awkward too to HAVE to "request a visit".. but at the same time, maybe it's a good reason for this, like to encourage us wwoofers to take the initiative and show/have confidence in knowing what we want exactly...
i think the deep roots concept from wheaton labs is great! and is one of the things i'm trying to help with (actually doing or promoting) - the "homestead flipping exchange idea*," which is like a timeshare, especially for those who are younger or don’t know where to settle exactly, they help settingup good ecovillage type communities that they're not necessarily going to be part of, but get credit toward their final settling place basically.

with all the talk of indian scammers, it may be interesting that i'm between USA and India, currently trying to settle down in the right ecovillage long-term (my profile to help with that).

*https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOJNgocMW9RMSaXhW5poVueq87r9XHZ4/edit#bookmark=id.brre70gtjul3

Jules Harrell

Posts: 174

Location: upstate NY near MA/VT

posted 2 years ago

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Hi that's a great explanation thank you. Yes permies I feel is MOST aligned with my values in particular and also supports open dialogue. On India I know many Indians who are not scammers. Please let me note: I have received scam requests from multiple countries outside the US. Ñot singling out any country just somehow India happened to be mentioned. Putting that to bed. What we look for is a visitor who particularly is drawn here to our farm, why they are drawn, what they wish to learn and what they bring to the table. This creates a true educational exchange as we always learn from our visitors and believe they always learn from us. By allowing the discussion to flourish we ensure moving forward with refence checks is a good next step or not recommended. Limited time on all our parts. Jules

Family farm community, 150 acres, 30 plus years here in Cherry Plain, NY, growing many gardens with plants, bees, horses, goats, llamas, dogs, cats...

Jim Fry

Posts: 606

Location: Stone Garden Farm Richfield Twp., Ohio

posted 1 year ago

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Just as a quick update.

We've given up on wwoof. There's no longer any point to it for us. We used to get so many in a year. Now, none.
~~~Well, not exactly none, we do still get 30 to 40 yr. old men, usually Egypt or nearby, who all write a slight variation of the exact same thing. I've wondered if there's some script they follow.

I used to work fairly diligently to get folks here. And we did. And we had great reviews. And people learned lots. But now we can't seek folks out.
I guess to the benefit of Hawaii and other touristy places.
Thanks, wwoof.

Although on the happy side, there is still permies. And we have found great folks here.
Which has been a very good thing.

Creating sustainable life, beauty & food (with lots of kids and fun)

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