WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

Vacations can reveal a wealth of hidden treasures, waiting to be found, if one goes looking. We found one such jewel, while on the Big Island. We had gone off the main highway to look for a coffee farm. The farm appeared to be closed, so we went exploring. We came across a sign for a macadamia farm that offered tours. We turned at the sign onto a short dirt road that opened into a clearing. As we pulled in, a few small dogs came a barking. There was no marking for parking, so I decided to park next to one the work trucks.

We got out of the rental car, as a woman came at us, calling out, “They are my door bells,” referring to the dogs. If I remember correctly, her name was Diane. She was transplanted to the Big Island from New York many years ago, which gave her character, talking non-stop, with a New York accent. I mentioned the tour and she said, “That’s why I am here,” which informally started the tour immediately.

Mac Nut Shell Cracking Machine

During the tour, we moved, in a circle, around the clearing, where we first drove into, upon our arrival. It gave me the same homely feeling of being shown around her studio apartment. Throughout the tour, as if we were her guests, she shared stories about her life, the farm and the animals on the farm.

We started by where I had parked the car. She introduced us to a worker that was at a small machine cracking the hard shells of the macadamia nuts and separating the nut from the shell. He was separating the shells from the nuts by hand. Macadamia nuts have a perfectly round thick shell surrounding the nut, which makes it impossible to crack without the aid of a cracking tool. Running it over with a car works well, too.

From there, we move a few feet over to a small table with a manually cranked cracker. We each took a turn and I must admit that these macadamia nuts tasted a bit old, which is not too surprising as visitors to the farm may be infrequent. We turned around and rows of macadamia trees were in front of us. She explained how they harvested the mac nuts, by letting them fall to the ground and then gathering them together.

Joe’s Nuts Label Featuring Joe in a Swim Trunks

Off to the right were two men working, one of which was Joe, for whom the company, Joe’s Nuts, is named. She said, jokingly, “Joe agreed to work for free, if I agreed to be his girlfriend.”

At the end of the tour, we move right into the tasting and sales pitch, at an outdoors homebuilt sales counter. They flavor and package their own nuts. The nuts were packaged in sealed bags with inkjet custom printed labels attached with packing tape. The labels featured their trademark cartoonish Joe in swim trunks. Again, giving Joe’s Nuts a homely feel with a personal touch.

Diane made sure that we each had an ample taste of each of the flavored nuts. There were Kona coffee flavored, onion and garlic, vanilla, coconut curry, and plain or as she called them “naked.” The “naked” flavor featured a tastefully naked Joe on the label. She explained the pricing and we decided to get the “buy six, get one free” package. It wasn’t cheap and in retrospect, we didn’t really need that many mac nuts. But, I did want to bring something to work from the Big Island, so I did share two of the seven with my co-workers.

The goat had jumped onto the counter in search of something to eat.

Along with the two dogs, she had a few cats that mostly kept their distance. She also had a small goat that was not yet full grown. I can’t remember how she had come to have the goat on the farm, but she has had the goat since it was a baby. The goat was being much like goat are and would occasionally attempt to ram the dogs. The goat also poked his/her nose into everything, to find something to steal. One time, I had to run down the goat to get back a pair of clip-on sun glasses.

It was a very interested and unique experience, but there was one more thing we learned from Diane. During her explanation of their method of harvesting, she mentioned WWOOF, which is World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. WWOOF is a network of organizations that links volunteers—or WWOOFers, as they are called on their website—with organic farmers. In exchange for their volunteer work, they receive food, board and an opportunity to learn about organic growing, country living and ecologically sound lifestyles. Of course, accommodations on her farm would be more akin to camping, but would be a great opportunity for the young to be on their own, taking care of themselves and learning a work ethic. She told us of volunteers that would come and help her gather up the mac nuts for harvesting.

WWOOF started in the United Kingdom, in 1971, under its former name, Working Weekends on Organic Farms. It all started with a weekend arrangement set up by Sue Coppard and from that first success and many following ones, WWOOF has expanded to encompass volunteers and farmers around the globe. Since WWOOF is a worldwide network of farms, it is a great opportunity to be exposed to another country’s culture. I couldn’t think of a better way to be immersed in another country’s culture than by volunteering. Finding WWOOF and Joe’s Nuts was definitely and diamond in the rough.

Links:

Joe’s Nuts
WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
WWOOF – USA
WWOOF – Hawaii