
Ever wonder what it is like to milk a goat, drive a tractor, labor on a farm or to work your way around the world? Wwoof is an organization born in England in the 1970´s which connects hosting farms (mostly organic) with willing helpers. www.wwoof.org There are hosts in about 99 different countries. The WWoof forum connects willing helpers with the farms. Farm work varies from selling at the farmer´s market to mucking stalls and the accomadations vary. We have several friends who worked on Wwoof farms and were thrilled with the experience. Portugal along with quite a list of other countries have their own Wwoof forums. Check out www.wwoof.pt and read about a couples farm-hand adventures on the beautiful Azores Islands.
I´m so impressed with Jean Beliveau who in 2010 began his walk around the planet in honor of the Unesco decade, 2000 – 2010, for a culture of peace and non-viloence for the children of the world . He is currently on his homestretch, after over 70,ooo km, 49 pairs of shoes and staying with over 1,400 hundreds host families and even as a prison guest in South Africa. He is due to reach Montreal in October. His website www.wwwalk.org is an inspiring photo documentary of 10 years on the road. Ok, so you are not ready to feed the chickens at dawn or have the whole world underfoot, so consider an activity holiday at Colina Flora, the lovely eco-guesthouse located in the heart of the amazing Sintra Natural Park. Choose a week of surfing, hiking or participate in a Creative Fullfillment Retreat with several differnt hands artisan taster workshops or a week themed to book-binding, felting, pottery, quilting etc. Colina Floras artistic retreats take a holistic approach to recovering your creativity. Each day is dedicated to a different hands-on taster workshop: felting, book-binding, knitting, collage, decoupage etc. with talented, eperienced instructors. Yoga, great organic meals, walks in the beautiful countryside, sunshine and beaches, slowing down and fresh air round out the day. The Creative Fullfillment Retreats are limited to 8 participants. These retreats are relaxing, reviving, reduce stress and encourage artistic expression which tends to be so neglected in our daily rushed lives. Colina Flora is a lovely small eco-guesthouse which strives to pamper its guests. For more information go to www.colinaflora.com