Willing Worker On Organic Farms

Hi! I am currently WWOOFing in a small town outside of Mendoza, right below the Andes. Manual labor is what I signed up for, and manual labor is what I got. Some things that I have done - shovel, move dirt in a wheelbarrow, move dirt again, collect rocks, collect cacti, plant cacti, remove cacti from fingers, and chop with fire wood with a machete (I like it better than the axe). The rooster crows at the break of dawn. We get up at sunrise and work til sundown. When we wake up, we have breakfast (usually bread or toast, and tea) and sit by the fire to get warm. The mornings and nights are very cold. To sleep, I think I wear 5 shirts, a sweatshirt, sweater, 2 pairs of socks, long underwear, pants, and 2 blankets. Yeah...But then the day begins. After breakfast, we move the horses from the stable to a pasture where they eat grass. The farm uses the horses to remove the grass so later the farm will have cleared land to grow potatoes. Then, the rest of the day we are planting, mending gardens, and fixing fences. Work changes everyday. I´m sorry, the farm that I am staying on is ¨Mother Earth.¨ Let´s paint a picture of who runs the farm. There is the older guy who has a long white beard and has to be in his 60s. He is together with a woman who is 36. They aren´t married because, well, that is part of the system. They have been together for several years and have two young children. The children are homeschooled, but I don´t really know when ¨school¨ is. Then again, the children are not always there. The two children each spend about 5 days living on another farm run by other family members. It´s a communal feel as everybody is raising the children. The couple is certainly anti-, well anti-most things. They are tired of the capitalist system, yet they own a car, sell products at fairs, and have a television. They are very cynical too. It´s not that myself and the other American volunteers feel like we are being judged, but we take everything they say with a grain of salt. It is somewhat annoying, but oh well. Before going abroad, I read that you may feel more like an American at times. This is one of those times. So here it goes - yeeeeeeeeeehaw USA! Ok, there is also a man named Marc, kinda a shady character. He is from the US but now lives on the farm, way back in the forest. He is financing a project to create cabins where ¨artists can come and finish their work and all of their needs will be taken care of.¨ Sure, ok Marc...They were shooting for a september opening date, but they dont even have 1 cabin up. Fortunately we are not here to work on the cabins, a private enterprise. The farm has 3 horses, over 40 hens, and many gardens that need serious work. Maybe I havent seen the whole farm or something, but the only vegetables I have seen coming from the farm are pumpkins, garlic, and I think tomatoes. I thought this would be a sustanible farm, and in some aspects it is, but it is not as if these people can live without the outside world. This farm cannot yet maintain itself and survive just through what it produces. They buy bread. They even have bought eggs, because eggs come infrequently on their farm in the winter months. And they certainly rely on volunteers. If there were no volunteers, the farm simply wouldn´t function. But it is a cool experience. I am learning a bit about the land and I have definitely challenged myself. Two of the volunteers are a newly married couple and get this - the girl is from Evanston and went to Camp Chi! ¿How crazy is that? There is a another young couple and now 2 guys my age from Argentina. But soon it will just be me and the Argentines. This probably would have been a better experience had I been here with a friend, but its ok. I´m enjoying my time, but I am defintely looking forward to being in Chicago with my friends and family who I miss dearly. This is exhausting work in a rustic setting, but at least there are hearty meals. My muscles are sore and I have dirt under my fingernails. I think I am going to leave the farm Thursday, see the city of Mendoza, and then go to Buenos Aires that night. Today was a half a day of work and tomorrow we are off. I may go to the mountains and do some hiking or something.

Talk to you all soon,
Farmer Dan

And some parting words from President Obama´s speech in Ghana today:

And here is what you must know: The world will be what you make of it. You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease and end conflicts and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can ... because in this moment, history is on the move.

But these things can only be done if all of you take responsibility for your future. And it won't be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you every step of the way -- as a partner, as a friend. Opportunity won't come from any other place, though. It must come from the decisions that all of you make, the things that you do, the hope that you hold in your heart.

:)