Living and Learning on Organic Farms
Your introduction to learning as a volunteer on an organic farm.
The LLOOF Learning Guide - A free downloadable learning guide about organic food production, entrepreneurship, volunteering and cultural exchange on farm enterprises.
LLOOF (Living and Learning on Organic Farms) is supported by funding from the EU Erasmus + Strategic Partnership programme. The project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication/communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held.
Introduction
This free downloadable guide is for anyone who wants to learn more about growing food organically and living more sustainably – an extension to the hands-on practical experience of volunteering, supported by experienced host farmers.
It is mainly written for the 30,000 or so adults (mainly under 30 years old) who volunteer each year to live and learn on organic farms and smallholdings across Europe. Farm volunteering is practical learning in an informal situation, undertaken in a hands on way. It aims to complement the volunteer's practical residential work experience and informal one-to-one learning offered by host farms in different European countries. It is for these farm volunteers before, during or after their visit to a host organic farm or smallholding. They may want to learn about sustainable diets and lifestyles, more formally about organic food production, or as potential food producers or processors.
The guide focuses on the practical skills of organic food production (eg. making compost, saving seed, managing pests) that volunteers may be able to experience on a host farm or smallholding. However these skills are dependent on the particular local resources, conditions, cultures and, most importantly the experience and interests of the farm host. So this guide will only complement the practical volunteering experience and informal one-to-one learning offered by the host farms.
It introduces the farm volunteers to eleven basic topics ranging from working with hand tools, other people and healthy soil to growing organic crops, rearing organic livestock, and possibly setting up their own starter enterprise. Each topic of 5 to 8 pages is only presented as text but has many weblinks to other sites and videos, rather like Wikipedia. The text and weblinks are also the basis of the LLOOF website www.lloof.eu, which is more pictorial, collaborative and interactive.
The main sections for each topic include Introduction, Background (basic information, approaches and principles), Practice (the practical aspects on the farm), and Across Europe (the wide variety of farming). These are followed by a section on what WWOOF can offer to volunteers and then weblinks to a wide range of Organisations, Networks and Links. The Hands on section, in italic text, gives simple, short activities that could be done on the host farm by the volunteer. Lastly a range of practical skills are included in the Competencies section.
The ten partner organisations are all part of the European WWOOF Network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and are based in Germany, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.
WWOOF – Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms - is the largest and one of the oldest exchange schemes for young farmers in Europe and has been continually expanding over the last 40 years. WWOOF, first established in the early 1970's, is now a worldwide movement linking volunteers with farmers and growers to promote cultural and educational experiences based on trust and non-monetary exchanges, helping to build a sustainable global community.
More information
LLOOF e-learning site: http://www.lloof.eu/
LLOOF Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LivingandLearningonOrganicFarms
Email: info@lloof.eu