My Adventure in Colorado

Written By K.C

In July of 2013, I embarked on the most adventurous trip I have ever experience. I went to Colorado, the idea of which came from a brief conversation with an old church friend, Brody Klein. I had overheard that he was going to Costa Rica over the summer to work on a farm. This was incredibly new to me.

I am Asian American. He is not. Asian Americans in the Bay Area are not known to go on adventures to places for an extended period of time. The most outdoorsy experience would probably be a weeklong church retreat in the woods. But I wanted more. I had decided to myself in May that I wanted to experience the countryside, work with my hands, and live like how people had lived for the thousands of years before the commonplace academic training and cut throat corporate competition seen in today’s young adults. So I asked Brody how he was able to find a program to go farming and he directed me to a program called WWOOF, World Wide Organization of Organic Farms.

WWOOF operates like a Craigslist for farms. Men and women that own farms and burgeoning homesteads post their farms on WWOOF and, for a $30 annual subscription fee, browsers can view farms, their owners, and the activities that they can expect to do while on that farm. I looked in multiple areas like Idaho, Montana, areas of California, but I eventually decided on a small homestead in Southwest Colorado, near the Four Corners Region.

I emailed the host and began the interview process. We both made sure that we were not axe-murderers, sane, and likable. My host, Kelly D, struck me as quirky and a little awkward, but no red flags went off for me. He would end his sentences with multiple periods, which I thought was strange, but apparently other older folks do that over email and text messages. The interview process went smoothly and I was able to confirm and buy tickets. The date was set and I was committed. July 6^th would be my departure date.

惊险之旅 － 科罗拉多

作者：陈开文 ／ 翻译：红花

  2013年暑假，我经历了一次奇妙的旅行。我去了位于美国中西部的科罗拉多州，并在那里生活了一个月。最初萌生去山区当农民的想法，完全来自于与教会朋友的一次简短谈话。他的名字叫布莱德·克莱恩。他告诉我，这个暑假，他打算去哥斯达黎加的一个农场体验生活。这对我来说简直难以置信。

 

  我是一个亚裔美国人，布莱德·克莱恩则是美国白人。

 

  在我生活的北加州湾区，我还从未听说过哪个亚裔美国人敢于有过真正意义上的冒险行动。我经历过的户外活动，最多不过是教会主办、为期一周的森林夏令营活动。这对我远远不足，But I wanted more。 

  五月份时，我想好了，决定到美国农村，去体验一种全新的生活模式。所谓全新的生活模式，就是用双手劳动，就好像几千年的原始劳作那样，完全摒弃当下年轻人在激烈竞争的环境下成为被规范塑造成机器模型的生活样式。我问布莱德如何去做，他给了一个网络名称叫“WWOOF”的机构。这是一个有机农场的世界组织。

 

   WWOOF 是World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms的缩写。是1972年在英国率先成立的一个世界范围的组织。它的用意就是让都市人体验农村生活的“以工换食宿”的工作方法。

 

  WWOOF农场的影响力，类似于Craigslist广告网页的操作模式。会员只需缴纳30美元的年费，就可以把自己的农场放到WWOOF网站上，提供给感兴趣的人，也欢迎有兴趣“以工换食宿”的爱好者参与他们的活动。

 

   我先后在网上浏览了爱达荷州，蒙大纳州，还有加州等地区的农场，大致了解了一些基本情况之后，决定选择位于科罗拉多州西南地区一个小型农场。它的地理位置比较封闭，四周被其他内陆州包围，就好比是城中之城。

  心动不如行动。我开始广发邮件与相关人士联系，希望能找到愿意接收我的人和家庭。在寻找过程中，我必须做到谨小慎微，因为大家素未平生，谁都想找到一个看着顺眼，容易相处，有理性的正常人，谁都不想倒霉碰上一个动辄拿出斧头就狂喊杀人的丧心病狂的无赖吧。

  我选中了一个名叫凯利的农场主。这个人给我的最初感觉很不舒服，具体我也说不清楚，总之有些言行怪异，但还不至于吓退我的信心。比如，凯利敲打键盘的时候，喜欢随心所欲断句和停顿，行云流水。这点让我很不习惯，但是来回交流次数多了，我也就慢慢接受了他的风格。我想，也许上了些年纪的人大都如此。

  通了几次邮件后，我和凯利彼此感觉都还不错。我决定订票去科罗拉多。为了与别的暑期计划不发生冲突，我选择的登机时间为7月6号。

（未完待续。。。）