Volunteering

WWOOFing at Località il Piano

Would you like to volunteer to work on a farm in exchange for room and board? The WWOOF program can make it happen, connecting you with host farms. WWOOF stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms, orWorld-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, as it is known in Italy. WWOOF is a network of farms in many countries around the world, which offer meals and accommodations in trade for help with farm work such as harvesting crops, irrigating, animal care and other agricultural tasks. Specifics vary country by country and farm by farm. For detailed information on the WWOOF program in Italy, please refer to www.wwoof.it. Below is some information on WWOOFing at our farm, Località il Piano.

about us & Località il Piano

We first became involved in the WWOOF program in 2004 while honeymooning in Norway at a carrots-and-beef farm, and started hosting short-term and long-term WWOOFers on our own farm in 2006.

Adolfo is a native of the Spoleto area while Darcy is a native Californian. Our farm is located in the Appennine mountains in rural Umbria, tucked in a small valley under the tiny village (13 inhabitants!) where Adolfo's ancestors have lived for generations. In 2003 we bought some abandoned fields and the ruins of a 15th-century farmhouse and have since been busy starting up a farm from scratch.

The farm consists of about 50 hectares of mountainous terrain, including 25 hectares of woods, 4 hectares of orchards, 1+ hectare of olives, a small vineyard and some pastures. Our interests and hobbies include permaculture (we have a "forest garden" or "food forest", started in 2007), medicinal herbs, and wild edible plants. We have 2 Jersey cows, 10 Comisana dairy sheep, various poultry, 2 cats, 3 livestock guardian dogs, as well as a large market vegetable/herb garden and about 2000 fruit trees to take care of. Our primary focus is producing most of what we eat: we sell or donate the rest. We want the farm to be an educational place too: we host organized school visits and WWOOF volunteers and interns, as well as paying guests.

We live simply and work very hard, but feel lucky to live in such a spectacularly beautiful place and to have the opportunity to farm. Adolfo has a day job in Spoleto working on olive oil and olive tree research, while Darcy works on the farm full-time. Our sons, Ben (born 2008) and Filippo (born 2011), keep things lively. We are all fluent in English and Italian, and most of us speak Spanish too.

Looking for enthusiastic WWOOFers, no experience required!

Since 2006 we have enjoyed hosting more than six hundred WWOOFers, from places such as Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Belgium, Holland, Serbia, Australia, Singapore, France, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, Denmark, Finland, South Korea, Croatia, Portugal and the United States, with an age range of 18 to 62 years. Many have no farming or gardening experience.

Many of our WWOOFers stay with us for about 2 weeks, though we can arrange longer stays in some cases. One week minimum stay. Most of the work that we do is in the fields so it is important to be in good physical condition and to enjoy working outdoors. You can think about WWOOFing here as an introductory mini-internship in sustainable farming, offering hands-on experience in a wide variety of farm chores. It is an amazing experience for people passionate about agriculture and food. Over many years of hosting WWOOFers, we've noticed that people who are not genuinely interested in agriculture and who are just seeking a relaxing vacation would be happier at a youth hostel.

No previous experience in agriculture is necessary, just an open mind, willing body, enthusiasm and curiosity about a sustainable way of life. We ask WWOOFers to be prepared to be relatively independent: sometimes we will work together in the fields and sometimes you will work alone or with head interns. Likewise some meals will be together but others we'll ask you to prepare and eat alone. Generally we host 2-3 people at a time, though in peak season we sometimes host larger numbers. We and the WWOOFers speak mainly English, as this is the common language of most travellers. No young children or pets, please - the WWOOFer quarters are not kid- or pet-proof.

Farm tasks

We enjoy hosting people enthusiastic about sustainable agriculture and have lots of spring, summer, and fall projects for WWOOFers. Our main spring tasks typically include orchard maintenance, weeding, animal care, fence maintenance, clearing brush, moving rocks, planting vegetables, building trellises, putting in irrigation lines, etc. In summer we spend a lot of time irrigating the fruit trees, rotating the animals though the pastures, weeding, maintaining the irrigation system, harvesting vegetables, fixing the fence, harvesting berries/plums/apples/peaches/figs and jam making, etc. In the fall we pick grapes/olives/chestnuts/kiwis/persimmons, cut and stack firewood, care for the animals, do orchard work, etc. There is generally a lot of variety in the tasks that need to be done, both day-to-day and within a day, though there are also times (for example bringing in the hay or picking olives) where we will try work on the given task until it's finished. 

Farm work is mostly outdoors, manual, and is often physically challenging, so we want people to be aware of this before volunteering. Expect to be tired! WWOOFers often comment that in the first week their bodies feel creaky, but after two weeks they feel stronger. We do work hard, but we don't ask people to do any kind of work that we don't also do ourselves. We usually do farm work an average of 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. For example, a WWOOFer staying at Località il Piano 10 full days would have 6 days on, 1 day off, then another 3 days on. Hours depend on the season.... we work cooler mornings and evenings with a midday break to avoid summer heat, but tend to start late and work straight through midday in the winter when days are shorter. Outside of working hours WWOOFers are expected to do their part of household chores like meal preparation and clean-up.

Accommodations & meals

While you're welcome to bring a tent, most WWOOFers prefer to sleep in a very large apartment in the basement of the farmhouse (cool in the summer, warm in the winter!) which has a bathroom and a kitchen. Accommodations are simple but decent, comparable to a youth hostel. We supply single beds with mattresses (there is one double bed) and can loan you linens/towel/blankets. Remember to pack shampoo, sun screen, insect repellent, medications, etc.  since the nearest store and pharmacy are in Spoleto.

Usually we can offer slow WiFi access via satellite, which is adequate for checking email but not for downloading/uploading large files: please plan on doing any Skyping or video watching in town (Spoleto or Norcia) rather than over the farm connection, or buy your own data plan. FYI: the TIM network has the best reception here, Vodafone is also good, WIND is not so good.

WWOOFers prepare some of their own meals (we provide the food, much of it grown on-farm) and other times we all eat together upstairs in our kitchen or picnic in the fields, mostly vegetarian meals. For example, often we all eat dinner together while WWOOFers prepare their own lunch. If you have special food needs such as being vegetarian, vegan, or having food allergies, please let us know when you contact us. You may want to bring special foods, like soy milk.

What to bring?

Other than enthusiasm and energy, the two absolute necessities are sturdy hiking boots and valid WWOOF Italia membership. Remember to pack old clothing for fieldwork including sun hat, rain gear, etc. Rubber boots are nice too, if you have them. Though it can be quite hot in the summer, most people prefer to wear lightweight long-sleeve shirts and long pants for protection from sun, insects and brambles. Winter can be very cold, and spring and fall mornings and evenings are crisp: bring warm layered clothing. For 6 months of the year, wool socks and long underwear are key to working outdoors in comfort.  We have some rubber rain boots to lend that might (or might not) be your size. You may want to bring work gloves to protect your hands. Be ready to get dirty!

Where we are & how to get here

We are located in central Italy, about 25 minutes by car or bus outside of the town of Spoleto (population ~38,000), in the province of Perugia, in the region of Umbria. Our sparsely inhabited valley is a great place to hike and explore, with lots of old mule trails and abandoned towns. Many WWOOFers choose to explore Spoleto in their time off, which is very culturally active and has a lot of interesting features like Roman ruins, 14th-century castle, and an ancient bridge-aquaduct. We're within easy day-trip distance of Assisi, Norcia, Perugia, and Rome.

You're in charge of getting yourself and your luggage to and from the farm! Fortunately this can be done by public transit plus a short walk. Most WWOOfers travel by train to Spoleto. It's easy to get to Spoleto from Rome as there are many trains each day (1.5 hr, ~8 euros). From the Spoleto train station you can take the public bus (20 min, ~3 euros), followed by an approximately 500 meter steep uphill walk from the bus stop to our front door. It's highly recommended to bring a backpack rather than a suitcase to make your uphill hike easier. See our contact info page for train and bus schedules as well as very detailed info on how to take the bus and find our house.

get in touch!

The WWOOF Italia coordinator once described our farm to a potential WWOOFer as follows: "beautiful place, nice people, hard work"! After two weeks at Località il Piano the WWOOFer agreed, and added "great food"!

If this sounds like the kind of experience that you are looking for, contact us ahead of time by email or phone to see if we have room for WWOOFers during the dates you would like to come! Once you have confirmed your dates with us, we'll write you on the calendar and reserve a bed for you. At this point please consider it a firm commitment, as we do: we are counting on your extra hands and last minute cancellations can cause us problems. Thanks for being considerate.

Darcy Gordon
gordondarcy @ gmail.com
+39.338.7075765 (cell)
+39.0743.616300 (evenings)