It was Abruzzo that hosted this year’s fall gathering of WWOOF Italy: at the end of September, while waiting for the olives (for those who were lucky enough to have them…), some 40 members active in the association met to catch up on current processes and plan next steps. The Gran Sasso in the background provided the backdrop for three days of discussions and insights: consistent with the idea that if the hosts don’t go to WWOOF then WWOOF goes to the hosts, we always try to move the fall gathering to the more peripheral areas, to involve even the most decentralized members. It was also a pleasure this time to discover the vitality and energy of the hosts in the area.

A thank you to Abruzzo

The afternoon spent at the Rural Resilience farm, hosted by Francesca and Christopher, their children and countless animals, was an opportunity to explore various aspects in which everyone present, in different manners, felt involved. From the principles of sound animal husbandry to the difficulties of doing agriculture while facing an increasingly pronounced water crisis. From the now unavoidable need to grow local and national networks in order to survive in agriculture to the amount of commitment, sometimes really too great, involved in carrying out such beautiful projects. We thank Francesca and Christopher for hosting us. We also spend a word right away for our legendary Abruzzo coordinator, Fabrizio, without whose tireless work this Gathering would not have been possible.

The Community Board

During the three days, the Council Community met several times to pursue its issues. The working group dealing with new hires reported on the progress made in finding new people to join the staff next year. Increasing bureaucratic complexities brought reflections on how WWOOF can respond in case a host is asked for a Risk Assessment Document or there is an ASL inspection in a processing workshop where a WWOOFer is involved. The advisability of introducing in the future also in Italy a Declaration of Intent that Host and WWOOFer sign at the beginning of the stay, modeled on what has already been done in France, was discussed. And it was in France that the international meeting was held in September, on which Eszter, Stana and Francis reported to us. Finally, a look at new projects on the horizon, including the “WWOOF desk”: a system, designed together with Rete Semi Rurali, that will allow farmers to forward technical questions in the agricultural field to experts who will answer them online.

The Circle of Coordinators

Following the end of the journey over the summer to conclude the journey that began with the drafting of guidelines regarding coordination, at Friday’s meeting it was time for the coordinators gathered in a circle to count each other and pull the strings of this process. How does one become a coordinator? By when would it be desirable to make the first visit to an aspiring host? How can those who live farther away participate if they are unable to attend an annual meeting? In answering these questions, we understood the centrality in WWOOF of creating relationships between hosts and hosts, not just between hosts and WWOOFers, and we wondered how to incentivize these relationships: some create Whatsapp groups of local hosts, others recurring convivial events, but we set out to increasingly incentivize hosts to take small breaks to be WWOOFers, thus getting to know farming methods and fellow farmers from other parts of Italy while unplugging a bit.

An afternoon with Salvatore Ceccarelli and Stefania Grando

On Saturday, the day began with an in-depth look at the newly launched WWOOF app; a call for participation in the group on land succession to answer the question of those who want to leave in good hands the places on which they have focused their efforts; a talk by Cinzia who recapitulated the foundations of the ten-year relationship between WWOOF Italy and Mag6, relaunching on the centrality that ongoing liberality can have in continuing to guarantee important microloans on significant projects in the territories. The day was then marked by Stefania Grando and Salvatore Ceccarelli’s talk in the afternoon: their long research work has led them to be points of reference on evolutionary populations in Italy, a certainly better future solution than the TEAs (or NBTs) whose clearance the agribusiness would like.

See you in Massa Marittima

One last thing was decided, in Brittoli, before the inevitable arrosticini and the music of the Lu Blues: that we will meet again in Massa Marittima (Grosseto) in 2026, from February 26 to March 1, and it will certainly be an opportunity to return to the many topics touched upon in Abruzzo and open new chapters.