Rich Forest

Weight forward, on your toes, arm outstretched, the other gripping a fragile branch behind.
You extend your body that tiny inch further, thorns tear your clothing and pluck at your skin.
Spiders scatter along their web away from the vibration. You successfully grasp the juciest blackberry, perfect to place on your bowl of muesli for breakfast.

During our four weeks volunteering at Bogata Suma, 'The Rich Forest', we foraged for blackberries every morning. Finding great success early on as we discovered hidden bushes. In our final week, we agreed we had depleted an abundant resource for a season, we couldnt recall how many kilograms we had picked. Our bellies gurgled in appreciation.

Through the WWOOF network, we had chosen a permaculture farm in Croatia to experience and learn. Our hosts, Barbara and Peter were from the Netherlands and had two delightful children, Nol 15 and Fleur 9. They had called Bogata Suma home for ten years, near the small town of Vojnic and had created part of their vision for a forest camping retreat and permaculture garden. We were excited to be a part of their journey.

We joined one volunteer when arriving, Sam. He was a chef from a variety of countries, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and United States and we quickly warmed to his excellent nature, impossible card tricks and cooking.
On our second day we were joined by two Argentinians, Claudio and Ornella, who equally relaxed into the groove of volunteering and within a day we had become the Warrior's of the Light, thanks to Claudio and Ornella's knowledge of Mayan Kin. Claudio is Storm, Ornella Wind, Sam Mirror, Jamie Sun and Ian Earth. Many, many fun journeys were made during the hour trek to Vojnic for a drink and some card games, and a boisterous hour walk back to Bogata Suma.

During the week we spent the mornings working in the garden or in the camping area digging up stumps, weeding, mulching, fence-post making, gardening and everything in between. We found we made a good team and enjoyed the physical labour. In the afternoons we generally did more relaxed jobs like processing dried herbs or painting signs and later on we would come together to prepare dinner for ourselves, the family and any paying camping guests ( up to 18 people some times!).

While Sam was with us we were all treated to some excellent fare and were lucky enough to get some cooking tips too. Sam taught us how to feed the kombucha and kefir cultures and make sourdough bread, a chore that Jamie took on for the duration of the stay, excellent practice and opportunity to perfect the bread we shared at lunch, topped with a variety of homemade spreads.

We generally finished our 'To Do' lists at the end of the week which had been set on Monday, and on Fridays would have a feedback session to help identify any potential improvements and highlight the good things of the week. We thought this was an excellent idea for task process improvents, but in practice it was focused on personal and group improvements.

Living with the Permaculture Principles as interpreted by Barbara and Peter, and applied to both life, garden and general decision making, the culture was one without schedules, rules or structure as such. It was an excellent learning opportunity for us on an alternative style of living and we felt very lucky to be with volunteers who pulled their weight without requiring a schedule or breakdown of jobs.

Mid way through our stay, Sam departed and new volunteers Ana from Croatia, and Linda from Germany arrived. We understood their confusion at how things worked as we had experienced it a few weeks before upon arrival. We tried to take them under our wing and show them the ropes and they soon settled into the groove.

With Spanish, English, German, Dutch and Croatian being spoken, it was loads of fun to learn words and enjoy the international enviroment.

In our final week, we began to discover what it felt like to be a volunteer at Bogata Suma. The beauty of the environment was unmistakeable. To walk into the woods and breath the cool air from the trees was a true privilege.
Our limited engagement with our hosts and extracting of permaculture experience, primarily came from a reference of self education and direction to the book shelf.

Moments of joy were found each morning, we made sure to wake before the others and share some peace while preparing breakfast. Shortly after our arrival in the kitchen we would hear two heavily panting dogs rush up to the back step and peer inside. Nina and Rosie would be half covered in mud and have a thrill of excitement across their faces. An incredible tale they wanted to tell us of their nightly adventures. But first they would quickly scamper to their food bowls for some energy.

Another privilege were the many hours we had with Fleur. It was her Summer break so she enjoyed her time at home with the volunteers and any campguest children. We had great fun playing cards, drawing pictures, hunting for mushrooms, foraging for blackberries, making pancakes, creating games such as a scavenger hunt and snakes and ladders, then spend hours playing them.
Fleur was more than capable of looking after herself, including the dangers of the wrong mushroom and preparing all of her own meals. We do hope one day we will have an opportunity to see the incredible adult she will become.

With excitement we hopped out of our dilapidated caravan for the last time, eager to get back on the road, but grateful for all we had learned. We may not have learned what we set out to, but with our minds open we gained much from our time at Bogata Suma, including some wonderful friends.

Our four weeks were a great experience, we are thankful to Barbara, Peter, Nol and Fleur for allowing us to stay. We hope we provided them with enjoyment and helped with some tasks.

We will take a lot away, none more so than affirmation a life with permaculture is a life well lived.