By Liam Roberson
During my summer experience, I would like to try my hand at farm work, local travel, and meeting local people. Since I will be WWOOFing at Church Farm Ardeley, I will have my fair share of farm work. During this experience, I would like to keep what I have learned here and use it in other parts of my future. I have learned much more about carpentry during my first month here than in my twenty years of living in the United States. More hands-on approaches during my experience will translate to more opportunities in the future.
The United Kingdom is a small country compared to the size of the United States, however, its public transportation is unmatched. Even in a village of less than fifteen hundred people, there is a bus that goes to the big city of Stevenage nearly eight times a day or every two hours. So far, I have been able to travel to Cambridge and other small, charming cities, such as Hertford and Peterborough. All of this local travel while not even having a car, is completely alien coming from America. It shows how it can be possible and efficient to have more access to public transportation. There is still more of England and the rest of the UK for me to see and I believe that more access to reliable transportation is a better connector allowing for a more communal society.
While working and traveling I have been fortunate to interact with the local people whether it is from observing or through interaction. I can only understand so much about a country I have never been to, and learning through the people is the best way. It is interesting to hear their perceptions of the United States and Americans while I give them mine. There is still a culture shock even with the same language, and knowledge of British culture in America, the shock still hits just as much.
The skills that I have been putting to work during my experience would lead to teamwork. During many work days, we were given a briefing by a supervisor, and then I and another colleague would go out and get the job done. Essentially we have to work together in order to finish the job in time and correctly. Through teamwork I have to gauge other colleagues’ abilities and mine, and since the work requires two people, how to make the workload even. Examples would be setting up bunting (setting up flags to create private caping on a big field) and splitting the work between one hammer in the wooden posts another putting up the signs and ties the flag, etc.
Self-development has also been an integral skill during my experience in England. I have learned about an industry that I was naive about. Farming especially in the 21st century is not simply crops and vegetables, but having other attractions to bring in money such as goat walking and egg collecting events. I have noticed certain tasks are difficult for me; I did not grow up around animals so tasks and work with animals can be difficult and frustrating to me since it is so new. This experience is for me to learn and test new skills, some of which take years to grasp.
A quote that reminds me of this experience is “Not all those who wander are lost” from J.R.R Tolkien, and it represents me doing an experience completely outside my major and I had never had any previous farm experience. Even though this experience is an outlier it still is a wonderful and eye-opening experience.
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