After many years as a board member and coordinator of WWOOF Germany, Jan handed over these tasks in August. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his commitment and are delighted that he will remain associated with the association as part of the active team. The association board and the active team awarded Jan honorary membership in September 2024 for his great commitment and services to the association. Below, Jan looks back on his eventful years with WWOOF.
After many years as the board’s chair and coordinator of WWOOF Germany, Jan handed over these tasks in August. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his commitment and are delighted that he will remain associated with the association as part of the active members team. In the following, Jan looks back on his eventful years with WWOOF.
One day I heard about WWOOF and my life changed fundamentally. It started with my hands. “You have to understand the world also with your hands”, a dear person said to me at the time, meaning that all the university knowledge I was absorbing in these days was only one side of the coin. I would do well to open up the world to myself through concrete action, through creating things with my own hands. WWOOF was a wonderful opportunity to do just that and to find a balance for my mental work. However, WWOOF was more than a balance and also more than a matter that was limited to my head and hands. WWOOF presented itself as an opportunity to understand the world through encounters with other people: Through a variety of new acquaintances and the experience of getting to know people in their everyday lives. And even then it didn’t stop there and new ways of understanding the world with WWOOF kept opening up. For example, through the senses (think of all the wonderful food) and through traveling, which is inevitable when you visit WWOOF farms. At the same time, it is also about putting down roots in new places, even if only for a certain period of time. For me, life in this world of experience can be understood as work and as play, can be mastered by experiencing one’s own limits as well as experiencing friendship, has to do with pursuing one’s own interests as well as with dedication to something that is greater than oneself.
Under this impression that WWOOF has something of everything, I gladly and naturally accepted the task of looking after the interests of WWOOF Germany. After my first contact in 2007 at the WWOOF Whitsun Festival, which motivated me to spend a year visiting WWOOF farms in Germany and Spain, I joined the WWOOF Germany team. WWOOFing also motivated me to study agricultural sciences in Vienna and to discover beekeeping for myself. I spent a year on a goat farm (the Reimehof), spent quite a long time cycling from farm to farm and thus initiated a WWOOF host liaison team. This later developed into a small community project in a former watermill in Thuringia, which I co-founded and which put me in the WWOOF host role for a while. I set up a WWOOF Germany office in the center of the country and helped to shape the fortunes of the Federation of WWOOF Organizations (FoWO).
After a long term of office of over 10 years, I have now relinquished my position on the board and all the tasks associated with it and I leave with the impression that WWOOF is doing well and that there are people who will continue to care. This makes me happy and I am very grateful to all those who have accompanied me for a shorter or longer period of time and have fond memories of the shared experiences and numerous farm visits. It was an incredible time, I’m glad I had the chance to get to know you all! I wish the whole team all the best for the future! And a great time with WWOOF to all members!
If you would like to get in touch with Jan, you can still reach him at the email address janphilippgutt@posteo.de.
