wwoofing, meadows & gyms

One of the really cool things about wwoofing is that you get to live in people's homes for the time. Not a hotel, a hostel or B&B. But you get to learn about how people store their things, cook their food, their routines, rituals and habits.

Its something i definitely didnt think much about before we embarked on this journey. Small example, is that we've always had our butter in the fridge. Obviously habit from Singapore coz u have to!

But in the 3 homes we've been to now, their butter sits outside! which makes so much sense coz u need it softish to butter your toast! And how silly of us to have our butter in the fridge all this time in London. Oh well, we didnt have that much toast anyway.

Also, because we wash our clothes at each different home, your clothes will smell of the place its been at last. that strange. Now they all smell of the detergent from Plan it Earth. Which is the same smell of the duvet that we used there. Its sorta like bringing something from the place before to a new one.

We're here at Little Meadows, a little more north Cornwall, on Bodmin Moor, which is harsher weather, winds and really really remote. THere's definitely no pub or store nearby, just sheep and quite a nice smallish reservoir.

We're sleeping in a room in the house finally! Not that a caravan was not cosy, but its like living in the wild for a while, and its nice to be like, really inside, with brick/stone walls. When we were in the caravan, the winds or rains outside felt so close.

Sarah, our host has bee really really lovely. It feels that in the last 24 hours, we shared and exchanged so much more than we had with R&D in the last place. I know its not fair to compare, but it is what it is isnt it! She's a vegetarian so we've been eating really wonderful healthy vegetarian food. Which i welcome so much as we were honestly had a lot of pork in the last week (so much I puked alot of it out).

Today, our big job was to move the new shipman of wood into the wood shed. For the first time in 2 weeks, I feel about 100%. Fully recovered from flu, and not weedy anymore. Bjorn workd the chainsaw (i hung around like a little worried mom) !. Sarah also showed me (and i helped qiute a bit) to make bread, and we also had gooseberry crumble for pudding, from the gooseberry I picked in her garden. Those thorns are to be wary of! I must say, its the first time in a couple of weeks where I feel invigorated again. As we were moving the wood this morning the wheelbarrows, the physical labour made me feel great. I now think how silly it is to be in the gym, and trying to 'get the heart going' by sprinting on the cycling machine etc. I cant bring myself to go to a gym anymore. The thought of giving a place money, to expel your energy. It doesnt make any sense! They should be paying me money perhaps, and maybe the cycling machines can be hooked up to provide electricity or something. You know what I mean? Gyms are sad mark of city life. An ec0-unfriendly place in the first place with all the lights and the air conditioning,.. where people go to spend more energy that goes into nowhere, trying to burn those calories accumulated from gluttony. Here,... I eat the food that grows close to me in this land, food turns to energy which I spend helping the place grow more food. Its a closed loop cycle.

Anyway, I digress. Im glad to be here now. Its a long day, and a busy day ahead! Tomorrow the 3 of us are going to a nearby farm to work in the morning, in exchange for veg that will hopefully feed us for the next week! Cant wait :)