Our time at Scooby’s Farm near Miami, Florida wasn’t our first Workamping experience. Before heading to southern Florida, we had spent a month working for a lovely woman named Melissa at her small goat farm in Tallahassee. It was there that we fell in love with being Workampers. We couldn’t help but find another place to volunteer our time.
That place just so happened to be Scooby’s. Unlike Goat House Farm in Tallahassee, Scooby’s is a large working goat dairy. They have their own farmer’s market twice a week. Jon’s main job while there was to finish construction of their new market. The farm was currently in the process of moving to a different property. But before they could do that, they had to make sure they had new pastures fenced in, proper buildings for their chickens, and a new building for their market and housing.
Scooby’s played home for more than just Jon and myself. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Motty and Michelle (the couple who ran the farm), and five other helpers who called themselves WWOOFers (pronounced woof). Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms is a way to link visitors with organic farmers, promoting an educational exchange. WWOOFers work for these farms in exchange for things such as food and lodging. Each farmer creates their own terms for work exchange.
We spent our first night at Scooby’s huddled in a circle with all of our new friends jamming out to guitars and bongos. As much out of our comfort zone as we were, we felt right at home pretty quickly. We spent our first week learning our new jobs. I learned how to milk goats. That’s right! Milking goats is definitely a thing. And come to find out, there are so many amazing benefits to switching from cow’s milk to goat’s milk. We’ll have to get into all of that another day.
There were around 300 chickens on the farm. Around 100 of them were raised for butcher. The rest were full-time residents, and provided around 150 fresh eggs per day that were gathered on a daily basis. Each Wednesday, around 25 broiler chickens were butchered, de-feathered, dressed and package for resale. And yes, we helped with that, too.
But as you could probably guess, my absolute favorite time of day was when I got to milk their goats. There were 8 milkers total, and 11 adults overall. Most of their names are Hebrew: Halva, Yaro, Booba, Yael, Gilly, Arabesque, Lady, Navi, Ella, Shlomo, and Mazy (short for Mazeltov). As you can imagine, learning the names by heart was a bit of a challenge at first.
We loved working with the goats. Jon and I took over the evening tasks: milking goats, collecting and cleaning eggs, and feeding all the animals. They didn’t just have chickens and goats. There were also a number of ducks, a couple sheep, and a few turkeys as well. And among all the chores, there was still plenty of time for playing/relaxing. Jon and I went out kayaking all afternoon one day. It was a beautiful way to soak up some sunshine and explore some of Florida’s coastline.
Before we knew it, our month-long work commitment was up, and it was time for us to hit the road again. Leaving Scooby’s Farm was much harder than I had anticipated. It was just about gaining more knowledge about farming. Our eyes had been opened up to a whole new world, it seems. As simple as we thought we were living, we met people who were living with a lot less, and they were some of the happiest, most inspiring, people we’ve met on our journey as full-time RVers.
Saying goodbye on our last morning at Scooby’s
Amazing people, amazing experience
It was a humbling experience. God opened up our hearts and showed us a love that goes so much deeper than material things. It was this experience that really jumpstarted our deep desire for living off the land and pursuing a more holistic lifestyle. We are so grateful for this amazing opportunity. We gained so much knowledge and experience, and added many more to our list of lifelong friends.