It is a cold day here in Nelson, winter has finally arrived!
You may have received a message from a woman who says she is from the Ukraine, it looks like she is misusing her profile and possibly a scam. The red flags are that it says to contact her direct through her email (not the messaging system), she wants “to discuss something important” and to reply to her email address immediately. We have taken down her profile. It is a good idea to only communicate through the messaging on your profile and not use personal emails at least until you have had your WWOOFer to stay and have become friends.
On a positive note we are happy to see a small increase in WWOOFers signing up. Generally winter is quieter and we’re looking forward to many more members as people start arriving for a lovely spring and summer visit to our country. Below are some tips for making a good host profile (there is plenty of paid work available and people don’t join WWOOF to do odd jobs and clean up the place). Your WWOOF guests are interested in growing organic fruit and vegetables, making food (bread, cheese, sausages… ), creating craft-work, managing stock and land organically, or learning homesteading skills and how to become self-sufficient along with wanting to to experience a more personal and meaningful stay with New Zealanders.
Host Profile Tips:
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- Mention what your guests can learn or experience while staying at your place.
- Include what organic and sustainable practices you use.
- Add some activities to do on your property or in your area during free time.
- Upload some photos showcasing you and your place. Include some of the interesting activities WWOOFers can be involved in, creative projects, homesteading skills.
- Cute animals are always a winner!
We post on social media as a way of attracting WWOOFers so having good quality photos that inspire on your host profile is really helpful (if you are not happy to have the photos used you can turn the permission off in your photo gallery).
I recently saw a Guide to Unpaid Interns and Volunteers on the government website which was quite good and maybe useful to keep in mind when writing up your WWOOF host profile. Here’s the link if you are interested Alternatives To Hiring an Employee . Scroll down the page to find the heading Unpaid Interns and Volunteers.
MBIE address one of their main concerns and that is that offering an internship or volunteer position isn’t just a way to get free help — you need to be sure that the person doing the work will benefit from it, even if they’re not being paid. Do you need to make some changes to your profile to show that you are all about your WWOOFers?
Keep warm
Jane