When you hear the words “An organic farm in Big Sur, California”, what images come to mind? A nice house with a barn nested on green land overlooking the Pacific Ocean?
That’s what I had in mind when I signed up for this second wwoofing experience but I quickly had to change my mind. Sweetwater farm is nested at the top of a thick forest. The owner of this farm, Charlie, who’s also a chef, lives as self-sufficiently as possible and only goes to town when necessary. Electricity and hot water are produced by solar power, the toilets are compost-based, food comes from the garden and eggs from the chicken. There is no garbage collection, washer or dryer, cell phone reception, TV (of course!) and Internet is only available via dial-up. The closest town, Monterey, is about twenty miles away and half of the ride is spent navigating windy dirt roads down the mountain.
You will understand that I didn’t have the opportunity to post new entries since I arrived on April 12!
I quickly realized that this new experience would be more challenging that the previous one in Kansas in terms of the extreme location, the isolation, the work, and the social interactions. As a result, I am grateful for that month-long preparation I had in Kansas as I would certainly not have adapted as well as I did to my current lifestyle without getting a sense of what farm life entails.
Overall, I enjoy the nature-based lifestyle here and the work with animals but I know that it would be a little too extreme for me to enjoy for months on end, especially the ‘ living in a yurt’ part during the wet and cold winter months. There is a 19-year old woofer who arrived last December and will stay at least until the end of the Summer. She truly loves this place and this life and has only ‘been to town’ three or four times since her arrival. She is a true free spirit who loves the goats, has developed a deep friendship with Charlie, and devours books. I admire her…
In terms of my schedule, my day starts and ends with milking the goats. Milking the goats involves a detailed routine of preparing the barn, feeding the goats alfafa, cleaning them, sterilizing and cleaning the milking equipment, etc.
For the first week, the most challenging part has been the actual milking of the goats. One, because I had to learn the technique of literally pulling the milk out the adder, and two, because I have to do so squatting for about 15 min. to milk one of the goats. Fortunately, the Alexander Technique has helped me survive this intense experience and after a week, my back can now take it! I’ll put that on my list of achievements!
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