Wonderful WWOOFing

I don't want to jump the gun here, especially as I've only done about a month of this...but I'm just having such an ab fab time, I thought I'd tell everyone about it!


I think I've always loved the outdoors. I love the countryside. I find plants and animals both fascinating and beautiful. I love the colours of nature and the fresh air. It just makes sense for me to be outdoors and pottering about. Which is mostly what I've been doing today in the form of propagating plants of all sorts. That was about it, but it does take time separating tiny little threads of seedlings from one another and replanting them. I also took some cuttings and set them up for rooting in this sandy soil mixture. It's nice to think that I'm helping plants grow, they do so much for us and I reckon hardly anyone says thank you, this is my way of saying thank you little plants for photosynthesising and looking beautiful, I shall help you to make little clone armies of yourself. Plants are great.


Basically, I think my true calling in life is to be a gardener. Now I know it's a job with like pretty much no progression, it's unstable as a career as people don't care so much about their gardens when they don't have the money to feed themselves (although technically they should as it could help to answer that problem), I know it may seem a little bit of a waste of a degree and it wouldn't necessarily allow me the standard of living that other jobs could. AND to top it all off, it would be copying my father of all people... But I think I've decided now, he's ok. I dont really worry too much about my standard of living either, as long as i can afford vegan bacon.... And I'm still jolly happy to have had my degree education as not only was uni a lot of fun (educationally speaking of course) but it was a subject that truely interested me and I wanted to know more about. A degree doesn't have to be a means to an end, it's an end in itself. On top of that I imagine parts of that course are pretty handy for gardeners. I have no answer for this potential career choices instability during times of recession, other than to say that the same could be said of many jobs and my father is still working, good old pops, always does the work of ten men apparently. And the reason there's no progression would be because I would be my own boss... Unless I started off in a team... Which would be handy as I can't drive... Hmmm, I think my family may need to discuss a team McIntosh.... I'll Skype father at some point. Anyway, so that's a potential life swerve. We'll just see what happens eh?


So gardening, it's a bit like like meditation really. I worry about thinking too much at times, but I think there may be different levels of thinking. I seem to be at a stage where I feel constantly on the cusp of something, ever closer to understanding... Something... But I'm not quite sure of what it is, I'm sure it's as a result of all this thinking. Reading about rights and welfare, reading about herbs and their properties, learning about gardening techniques, discussing politics and religion, debating environmental issues. This is all making me think in ways I've not really thought before. These are things that I have always been interested in, but either I've not found informed people to discuss them with or I've not bothered researching them. And why? Probably because I felt I was too 'busy' with life. I think there are many people who feel too busy to do what they really want, they're now driven by 'the man', consumerism. Hectic lifestyles, trying to fit everything in, drinking with friends of an evening, planning a dinner for the weekend, work 9-5 mon to fri, walk the dogs plan the wedding clean the house. Why? Why are we so busy? Do we even take time out to think over about enjoyable parts of our day? Our week? Can you really enjoy everything if you spend so much time thinking about what needs to be done next? I'm not saying I'm not guilty of the same! Crickey, I'm already excited about things I plan to do when I return to the UK. I'm dreadful at living in the present. But this wwoofing experience and travelling in general does help with that.


Strangely, I've also found that travelling in general makes me feel closer to my family. I probably Skype home more frequently than I used to phone. I send long e mails to my sister. I sometimes speak to my brothers... Some things don't change. But I also appreciate them more, and I realize from listening to so many sadly tragic life stories now from people that I have met, that I am so lucky to have my family. We may not stay in touch like some do, we're not a particularly huggy family or even always that open, but I think we are connected by respect of one another and a quiet sort of love, except mother, mothers love is very loud! With all her exclamations and Higgs and kisses whenever one of us pops home. I'm going to sound horribly girly now, but love, is just so important, it's such an essential part of life. I just read a very short book yesterday, the greatest thing in the world by Henry Drummond, very well written and concise and just so lovely to read, it's made me think about love more.



I've met quite a few people now on my travels, and so many people have struggles and tremendous difficulties in life, it almost makes me cry as I think about what people have told me. I have been so blessed with my life. I was lucky enough to be born in England, which already put me at an advantage over so many in the world in terms of opportunities. My parents love me, so do my siblings. My parents could afford to give me a good education and I've had the privilege of being able to travel without being trapped by the economics of my country, myself, or any social norms of the country I reside in. I am so grateful not to have had any horrific or emotionally challenging life altering events. As I think of the stories I've heard My thoughts turn to my friends, so many of whom have or are going through ongoing struggles. You have my utmost respect it is an honour to know such strong and clearly wonderful individuals.



This blog has turned into a bit of an emotion-fest. I don't know why... I never now what I'll write until it happens really.



In other news:


I thought I'd save some money and baggage by seeing what happens if I dont use shampoo... I wash my hair with hot water and hope that the natural oils do their own sort of cleaning and don't make it look too greasy. As my hair is fairly dry after washing with shampoos and whatever anyway it's not really been a problem, my current host Sandra seems almost reluctant to admit that my hair doesn't look bad, although she reckons it looks less shiny than cle... She didnt finish her sentence. After about a month, it's feeling a little greasy, but looks ok. The investigation shall continue....


I went to an Anglican mass last Sunday as the others were all going and I'd never been to one before. It was probably one of the best masses I've ever been to. There was some guy welcoming us all at the beginning and making jokes, I think he was like the pastors son or something. There were balloons for the kids to let go of in the mass to symbolize Jesus' ascension and allow for more jokes from the in church comedian. The order of the mass was quite different but I liked how there were always two hymns at a time, really beautifully sung music by a married couple with a guitar and piano accompaniment. The words are projected so everyone can look up to sing. And even the oldies at the mass were really getting into it even though it had a really young modern vibe. It was pretty cool. It made me want to be a priest.


After all the thought I put into the title I hardly talked about the day to day side of wwoofing, but the animal sanctuary ended just as delightfully as it started. I must return. I stayed about a week at Annemarie Cootes place to help with her garden and watch sunsets, or miss sunsets at the beach near her house. It was a wonderful time, her and Derrick were wonderfully friendly. I especially enjoyed trimming hedges and trees. I'm now at Sandra and Bruce Wilson's place, it's beautiful. I chose these hosts for their surname, as an ode to Neil, and for the fact they lived on bunnythorpe road. It all paid off. The gardens are a delight and their nursery is so extensive it looks like they have their own garden centre. I've olive picked and pressed and sampled the delights of homemade extra virgin olive oil.


My sugar free(more or less) regime continues(more or less).


I'm going to wwoof with some nuns next. I may not have easy access to the Internet.