To be fully honest and fair, compared to the many other volunteering experiences I've had, my stay on the farm overall was just okay. Not amazing but also not terrible. Some things I truly enjoyed and some others I thought left room for huge improvement.
I've already voiced much of this feedback in private to the owner who received it with a
… read more positive attitude. Thanks for that! Still, I do think it's my duty as a volunteer to share my experience objectively with prospective volunteers so they have a more complete picture if they are considering joining. I hope this is all taken as constructive feedback with the best of intentions on my end.
Let me first be extra clear and sincere in my gratitude and thanks to the owner and team for hosting me and for the work, time, and meals we shared over the course of two weeks. Special thanks go to the worker I assisted most of my time. An older gentleman who is kind, patient, and generous with his time and attitude.
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I really enjoyed and am extremely grateful for:
- Owner is friendly, responsive, and open to receiving feedback (all communication via messages)
- The team is friendly despite the language barrier
- Work matches description and work hours are respected
- Enough variation in tasks to keep things exciting
- Shared meals everyday
- Quiet and calm atmosphere
- Gorgeous landscape all around
- Decent accommodation and hot shower (compared to other farmstays)
- Good enough access to the sea (half-hour walk then half-hour bus)
- Very good opportunity to improve Turkish language skills
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At the same time, the volunteer experience in my opinion is heavily shaped by two facts:
- The owner (who recruits volunteers and who speaks good English) spends little to no time on the farm. I personally never met him during my time here and we only exchanged messages.
- For all practical purposes, nobody speaks any English on the farm.
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Which brings us to where I thought there is huge room for improvement:
1. There needs to be someone present on the farm who dedicates much more attention to volunteers. For example, someone to give them a tour when the arrive, show them the place, introduce them to the team, gets them up to speed on how things work and what the schedule and protocol is, checks with them regularly to receive and give feedback, and so on. As things are today, the volunteer experience is not very smooth since there is no one to fulfill this role and you mostly have to put the pieces together by yourself.
2. It's a missed opportunity that volunteers aren't able to learn about organic farming as much as hoped. All you will learn is through your own observation unless you speak fluent Turkish and can borrow time from team members who already have a busy workload.
3. With this being an organic farm, I had the expectation that I would be able to have access to some of the fresh produce I helped harvest. Unfortunately, I was not offered to try any of it directly. Not a single tomato, for example. I found that to be strange and will say it must have been for lack of attention rather than lack of goodwill. I know if I'd asked it would likely have been okay, but you get the idea. For fairness, salads (which include tomatoes) became more present on the dining table after making a request for that.
4. Speaking of food, volunteers do not prepare their own food and do not have access to ingredients. Food is available at set times. Lunch and dinner are prepared by a cook and breakfast is prepared by one of the workers you assist. Some people will like this and some won't. I personally like lunch to be a shared meal but would have loved to have more freedom in making breakfast and dinner. Don't get me wrong. I was well-fed, but in my opinion food management is made just a bit more complicated than it needs to be. Lastly, strict vegetarians need to be aware that most meals contain meat or traces of meat.
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If you're considering joining, here are a few more points to keep in mind:
- I think a very basic command of Turkish is extremely important for volunteers to be able to function on the farm. You may be able to barely get by without it but life will be much easier with it. (Side note: If you happen to speak Russian, it may help out as well.)
- Unlike in the photos, there doesn't seem to be many volunteers around, even in summer. You may overlap with one volunteer for part of your stay but you should be prepared to be there solo as well. Female volunteers need to be aware this is a predominantly male environment, for better or worse. Lastly, the team is very nice but I did not get the impression that they are as enthusiastic about organic farming or food as the photos may indicate. That's just my impression during my two weeks.
- Internet access is great in the hotel building, which is generally off limits for volunteers. The signal is good in parts of the courtyard but practically non-existent in the volunteer room. If you plan to do any serious work online, consider asking in advance to have access to the hotel lobby.
- If you've never worked on a farm, consider measuring your capacity for farm work on a smaller and non-commercial farm first. Farm work is physically demanding and repetitive. Not everyone can keep up with that. It's also a rougher lifestyle with long exposure to the wind and sun, hours of bending and kneeling, and lots of dirt and bugs and mosquitoes. Especially mosquitoes at night. I personally enjoy this kind of work, but your mileage may vary.
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P.S. to the host:
I repeat my sincere gratitude for this opportunity and I hope you see this review, again, with the positive attitude you've shown so far. I truly have the best of intentions at heart and hope the farm will continue to be a destination for enthusiastic volunteers. I also hope the Workaway community continues to be the strong and welcoming community that we all want to be part of.
All the best!
Farming
Cooking & food
Photography
Camping
Cycling
Hiking
Vegetarian or vegan
Culture
Languages
Writing
Beach
Nature
DIY and building projects
Gardening
Hospitality/Tourism
Languages
Teaching
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping with Computers/ Internet
