German singer volunteers for farm work

Olivia Stahn wanted to see the countryside while she traveled the United States, so she spent a week volunteering at Carol Carver and George Exum’s Island’s End Farm on Puget Island.

Stahn, a resident of Berlin, Germany, explained that she had grown up in the countryside and longed for more time away from city life. Eating organic foods are important to many Germans, said Stahn, adding that the country as a whole had been ecologically minded for many years.

Stahn and Carver first communicated through the website of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), a worldwide network that arranges volunteer placements on farms in 99 different countries. Volunteers spend 20 hours a week working and learning on host farms, who offer meals and lodging in exchange.

Stahn flew to New York City on March 21. After New York, she visited Boston and spent ten days touring Midwestern cities with her father, then spent four days in Seattle before coming to Puget Island. Stahn was at the farm from April 10 to 18 before heading south to Portland and San Francisco.

This was Stahn’s first experience volunteering through WWOOF, although she knew people who had volunteered in other countries. She found Island’s End Farm by searching the WWOOF website for opportunities close to the Interstate 5 corridor.

Island’s End Farm is the only WWOOF site near Cathlamet, said Carver. They had seven WWOOF volunteers last year. Carver said she had several reasons for participating in WWOOF.

“We needed help; that was certainly a part of it, but most of the people we’ve had come are genuinely interested in learning about market gardening. A lot of people are interested in a lifestyle similar to what we lead.”

Stahn spent her week weeding, planting garlic and onions, and repotting flowers.

Walking around the farm, visitors are greeted with the sound of chickens and the sight of bees flying through the air to their hives, where Carver and Exum gather honey.

At home in Germany, Stahn is a professional operatic soprano with a busy performance schedule. The week of her return she has three concerts scheduled, including two with an early music ensemble.

The ensemble will perform at a commune located between Hamburg and Berlin, near a place where nuclear waste is stored underground. Stahn said there are regular protests at the site when transports of new material arrive.

The commune was founded two years ago by friends of Stahn. The performances will occur in the barn where hay is stored.

“It’s a bit weird (as a choice of venue) because our program will be mainly Northern Italian early 17th century religious music,” Stahn said.

Stahn said that although she came from a small village, a nearby city offered musical training opportunities.

She started playing violin as a child, and began voice lessons at age 15. She took lessons in both for a year before moving to France. Because of the length of the French school day, she was forced to choose between voice and violin instruction. She chose voice, and after returning to Germany, began voice studies in the city of Lübeck before moving to Berlin nine years ago.

Stahn sang an aria from Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation” during a Sunday worship at St. James Episcopal Church, where Carver is music director.