I have a silly side, too.

Welcome to The News Base and greetings from France!  Depending on where you found my site, you may be interested in WWOOFing, organic gardening, books, homeschooling, traveling/being an expat, or cooking – including raw, vegan and vegetarian recipes.
You might also be someone I’ve met around the world, checking up to see how I’m doing.  You could be looking to save money, or make a little extra.

I’m involved in all these things, and I write about a lot of stuff.  I’m interested in getting recipes and meeting people worldwide.  If you would like to make a guest post on my blog, or a video of you cooking your favorite traditional meal, or if you have any questions or suggestions, please give me a holler!

For more about me, click here.

If you’d like to exchange links for free, click here.

TweetFinally, after way more time than I care to think about, my family is reuniting in Arkansas next week. Immigration issues are done and we can now restart our life. I’m trying to revamp my blog and start posting on here again. So here’s a little funny list of the differences between Washington State, where [...]

I am vegetarian and have been since I was 9. I chose to be vegetarian because in 5th grade we did a big research project in school. I chose chickens. During this time I did lots of research and discovered that most hens raised for meat or used to provide eggs were really treated poorly, by my standards. I didn’t think it was ok so I stopped supporting it by not eating it. My family followed.

TweetThis is not a joke. It is the review of a very moving film by Ric O’Barry, the man who trained “Flipper”. Before “The Cove” most people did not know how “Flipper” died. My husband warned me, and I will warn you. This is a graphic and heart-wrenching film. There is blood, there is death. [...]

Tweet In December of 2003, I was at a crossroads, literally and figuratively. I had been married almost four years. We had been through some good times and some hard things, but we were going through about the hardest thing we’d been through so far. Earlier that year, my husband had been picked up by [...]

Tweet This is more of an issue for long-term WWOOFers. In most WWOOFing situations, you will have free rent and utitilities, and at least some free food.  Some hosts will even have Internet access, a swimming pool, a vehicle to use, or other extras.  But at most places you’ll just get the basics. So when [...]

Tweet The Basics I get asked all the time if you can WWOOF if you have kids.  The short answer is yes!  Many hosts do allow and even encourage volunteers to bring their children.  But actually doing it can be challenging. What is WWOOFing, exactly?  Willing Workers On Organic Farms or Worldwide Opportunities on Organic [...]

Pablo tells of his first experience as a WWOOFer, with all the highlights and disappointments. Do you have a WWOOFing story? Please share!

TweetI’ve heard WWOOFing horror stories from both hosts and volunteers, and I’ve seen some incredibly bad behavior.  Most of these things (as with all things in life) could be avoided if people would just communicate and do their jobs.  Here are a few pointers: 1. Not communicating – if there’s a problem, most WWOOF hosts [...]

TweetWWOOFing is a great program, but each person’s experience is a little different because WWOOFing is conducted by individuals who make their own decisions about who they want to work with and what they expect in return.  The organization puts farms and volunteers together.  But it doesn’t decide who does what. There are a couple [...]

The woman didn’t want to take her computer out of the box: “I don’t want smut on my computer!”