posted 1 month ago
My wife and I are restless retirees; we have been retired quite many years but just now reaching "retirement age"! We went sailing, had a farm for a decade, and now have a smaller sort-of-a-farm in Puerto Rico. But we want to see more of the world - not stay stagnant - and although we do not want to start again from scratch with a homesteading project, we know some of the skills and would be interested to pitch in. We have never been to the US west coast, but have concluded that western Oregon might be a good place for us based on climate and what we can see from afar about the local vibe.
Although this is not a forum for WWOOFer placement as such, and we have never been WWOOFers before - that sounds like the sort of thing that might suit us. Four hours per day of labor from both of us should be worth at least $80 most days; well over $1000 per month anyway - so that level of working in exchange for lodgings seems like a fair trade; maybe even lodging and a meal or two! It sounds like most WWOOFers only stay a relatively short time - so the balance between teaching time to get a new person up to speed, and getting some useful work out of them before they depart must be a win-some, lose-some kind of thing - but it seems like having a couple interested in a relatively long-term situation would be attractive - more chance to gain.
So, does anyone here know of WWOOF-like opportunities in and around the Willamette Valley region starting in about spring of 2026? Do many older folks do the WWOOFing thing or things like that? On the one hand, we are old dogs and maybe averse to learning new tricks - but on the other hand, we are complete noobs when it comes to the ecosystem details of the Pacific NW, so immersion on a farm seems like a really great way to learn a lot and fast.
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