WW50.Luke_Sidney Australia

Luke from Sidney Australia arrived on July 29th and stayed to the following Friday August 7th. On Lukes first day he was initiated into the endless rock raking. Unfortunately, that evening he wasn't feeling well and spent the better part of that night at the hospital being rehydrated(we suspect that he had sunstroke which resulted in dehydration). It took him a couple of days to recover, and so he missed out on the huckleberry picking and Thompson Falls, I don't think he minded missing the berry picking. Luke also particpated in the annual burr round up (chopping down of the infamous bi-annual burr bush). He gave a go at raspberry picking but there were too many wasps buzzing him, so instead Loren and Luke picked and shucked peas .
Luke canoed at Susan Lake with Anne (WW 49), where they saw a moose calf. Luke left on route to Banff and then onto Toronto. He has a work visa and is hoping to work while he stays in Canada. Luke didn't sign the wwoofing book, nor did we get a picture of working, so I found this photo on his blog. You can check out Lukes travels at the link http://www.aussie-in-canada.com/.

WW49 Anne; Alfeld,Bavaria

Anne arrived around July 15th, 2009. She had previous sent me an email that ‘I’m not afraid of work’ and of course this was true. But what is so nice about Anne,is that she never takes things too seriously. Anne was thrown right into work here, as the strawberries were in full production and winter syrup needed to be done. Anne helped with haying, the endless rock raking, turning over the lodge after a group left, sanding the cabin walls, weeding in the garden, grooming the horses, cleaning the barn and the annual burr round up.
Anne attended her first wedding shower here in Canada, picked a half-gallon of huckleberries in the Rocky Mtns, picked Saskatoons along our drive and canoed at Susan Lake where she saw a moose calf. But I am sure the best of all, was when our friend Paul took Anne for a helicopter ride to his lodge in the Purcell Mtns. Paul was doing a maintenance check and delivery to the lodge, and thought Anne might enjoy the trip. He picked here up right here in the horse pasture. It was quite the afternoon for her, and she even was treated to lunch at Purcell Lodge. August 4th, Anne packed to the brim, caught a ride to Edmonton with our neighbour, and now we have already received emails from her new wwoofing location. She will be a welcome spark to any farm where she Wwoofs. Anne plans to return here this fall.

Johnathon and Sonia from Halifax Wwoofers 47 & 48

We were Johnathan and Sonia's first WWOOFER hosts. And although they were only here July 3rd to the 13, we hope their experiences with us encourages this positive couple to continue with the program. They had started their journey camping in Banff and then came here to Golden on route to visiting and Wwoofing their way to California for September, at which time they will return to Halfix in the fall, where Sonia for sure will continue with her studies. Sonia and Johnathan are very interested in organic gardening, sustainable lifestyles and influencing positive global changes. Sonia and Johnathan both played the guitar and sang, and Johnathan was very good at playing his ukulele. Around the campfire Loren even played some accordion while Johnathan played his ukelele. They were very helpful in the garden (weeding, feeding and thinning). Sonia had plenty of experience as a gardener, as she volunteered at the Dalhousie community garden and had a garden of her own in Halifax. Together they finished up the raking of the pond casting (a huge job), picked strawberries, helped build next years compost and cleaned the barn. Johnathan was a huge help at the sawmill, where he helped Loren with the milling of the cabin flooring and ceiling material. Johnathan and Sonia left on the medi bus for Cranbrook where they hitchhiked onto to Nelson. They phoned to say they had arrived in Nelson and that getting a ride was relatively easy.

This video was written, produced and performed by Sonia and Johnathon. They own the copyrights..

Once they left here they headed first to Nelson, then to Penticton and their last email said they were on their way to Woof in the US on route to California.

Martin WWoofer 46

Martin from Aalen,Duetchland was a 'super' woofer. Martin was here May 26th to June 7th. Martin was a lot of help with the heavy work of building the cabin. Martin helped Loren put the roof structure on the cabin. Together they finished up the pearlins, rafters, dormer and strapping. If the tin would have been here they would have done that as well. Besides helping with the cabin, Martin mowed the lawn, helped with a couple of loads of firewood and got a good start on raking the casting from the pond. Martin and Loren hiked the Mummery Trail to the ponds below the glacier, and even though they had to trudge through snow and bush wack Martin thought the hike was 'super'. Martin left too early for Loren's liking as Loren had hoped to finish the roof while Martin was here. Oh well. But Martin left saying 'I learned a lot of things from Loren. I'm almost able to build my own cabin.'

Sarah and Anna WW 44 & 45

Sarah and Anna are from Germany (Sarah from Würzburg, and Anna from Stade). They had met at university and were travelling in BC to become proficient in English. They both had just finished their studies as teachers of English. It turned out that Loren was able to pick them up in Kelowna on his way back from Naramata. They had been staying at the Hostel there and Sarah had been working at Tim Hortons. It was fun to have two chatty women around, as their zest helped to keep up the tempo on the farm. They helped Loren and Julian work on the trails and put up firewood. They helped a bit with the lodge, weeded flowerbeds and weeded and mulched in the garden. But most appreciated, without prompting they helped with cleaning around the house and in the kitchen.
One evening they braved riding the horses. Duchess was her usual stubborn self, while Duke was distracted by the potential of a mouthful of grass. But this brief ride on our horses was to be just a teaser for their next Wwoofing experience.
We dropped Sarah and Anna at the bus depot where they would start their journey to Banff. There they would meet their new hosts, who would load their luggage onto a horse drawn wagon and ride their new mounts to the ranch. A few days after they left, their new hosts relayed a message to us, that all was well for Anna and Sarah. I hope this meant that they were both enjoying being cowgirls. “Yea Haw!

Julian. Willing Worker 43

April 3 to 17 & April 24 to May 15, 2009

Julian, from Steinerweg, Germany, was taking time off before he started his studies at university. Julian first arrived April 3rd, after a ski holiday in Banff. He is a very experience skier and made it to Kicking Horse Mtn Resort to ski three times during his first two week stay. It was a bit cool for Julian to stay in the bus, so he stayed in the guestroom in the house. And then when he returned Anna and Sarah were in the bus, so again he stayed in our house. During Julian's first stay he helped Loren get a good start on the firewood, did spring clean up around the yard, pressure washed the inside of the cabin and house-sat while Loren and I were away. After two weeks Julian caught a ride back to Banff for some spring skiing there. He stayed almost a week and then came back. This time he stayed for 3 weeks. While here he helped Loren saw wood for the roof of the cabin, helped Loren move and assemble 3 round of logs on the cabin, cleared and raked trails, worked in the garden, put up a fence and drove the tractor and quad to fetch stuff for Loren. When Julian first arrived spring had just started so there wasn’t much for hiking, so we settled for a hike part way of Willowbank one Sunday afternoon. Julian did get out on the bike, and attended a campfire night with us, where Loren played his accordion. He also went to Radium with Anna and Sarah. And best of all he saw his first bear during the last week of his stay with us. The bear was spring grazing at the edge of a field not far from our farm. Julian left for a farm near Nelson. We heard that at first he was sleeping in the hay. It sounds wonderful for a young traveller.

Laura and Maja

Woofers 41 and 42 March 10 to 29, 2009

Laura and Maja both from Hamburg, Germany were only planning on staying with us for a week. In the end they stayed for three weeks and were so helpful to us.
Although we don't usually have enough for willing workers in March, we did have many outstanding domestic chores that needing doing. So when Laura and Maja asked to woof here, I made it clear that many of the jobs were catching up on winter cleaning. They had no problem with this and were very willing helpers once they arrived.
They helped in the lodge, around the house and at the barn. They cleaned the tack room and team harnesses, peeled some logs for the new ski cabin, washed a lot of windows, beeswaxed counter tops, painted some new shelving and kept the kitchen spotless.
As you can see from their slide show, they had fun on top of helping us. They took the community bus to Radium and soaked in the hot springs for 3 hours, tried x country skiing and snowshoeing, helped with a sleigh ride, snowmachined to Susan Lake for ice fishing, where we caught and ate our limit, made the margaritas for our Fiesta and shared our company over meals, music and movies.
After 3 weeks I drove them to Banff, and on the way we visited Emerald Lake and Lake Louis.
I had to say a quick Good Bye to make saying so long, easy. After 3 weeks Loren and I we really miss having these to positive youth here. We know there paths will always be bright.