20+ years ago my wife and I volunteered as WWOOFers on several farms in New England and had great experiences. Sometimes it was hard work and long hours, but we were always fed well and ended up learning interesting things and having good experiences everywhere we went. I highly recommend the program as a way of inexpensively seeing the world and learning new skills.
For the past ~20 years my wife and I have hosted WWOOFers on our own farm in Hawaii, and we've had mostly good experiences. We've met WWOOFers from all over the world who have made our lives more interesting and helped out a lot with farm work.
The
WWOOFHawaii.org website used to have a forum where potential volunteers could post reviews of farms they'd WWOOFed at, but I just checked and the forum seems to have disappeared. Not sure why...
Comments in the thread above about possible safety concerns potential volunteers should consider are valid, but in my experience those types of concerns go both ways. Hosts are inviting strangers to live with them, many times in their homes, and they also need to use good judgement and vet potential volunteers. Of all the dozens of volunteers my wife and I hosted over the years, most of them were fine, a few of them were incredible and a couple were kinda sketchy.
Luckily, now with the internet it's easier than ever for potential hosts and volunteers to communicate fully ahead of time to make sure their expectations are in line. Communication is key. Write to any hosts you're thinking of visiting and tell them what your expectations are. If you're a strict vegan, maybe you shouldn't ought to volunteer on a farm that raises livestock for meat...
Anyone thinking of becoming a volunteer through the WWOOF program should take the time to read over the recommendations on the WWOOF website and think long and hard about what your goals and expectations are. In my experience, if you communicate fully with potential hosts you're thinking of visiting ahead of time, there's a higher probability of success.
Above, someone posted a link to the
wwoofinternational.org website. Be aware that this is not the only website you can use to find participating host farms. Each country, and sometimes even regions within countries, may have it's own, sometimes competing, WWOOF type volunteer program website. So, for example, if you're thinking of going to Norway, try googling WWOOF Norway, and the first result will be
wwoofnorway.org. So, before you pay the fee to register as a volunteer it's best to check out the different options for the country(ies) you're planning on visiting and make sure to join the organization that seems like it has the best selection of host farms available and maybe even options like others have suggested above where previous volunteers have a way of posting reviews of farms they've been to.
Other options, similar to WWOOF, for anyone interested in traveling and volunteering overseas or even close to home, are
Helpx.net and
Workaway.com. There's some overlap, but those two aren't exclusively farm stays. Some of them are in cities and towns, and the work can be anything from helping with editing English language documents to painting or waiting tables in a cafe.
My wife, 7 year old daughter and I are preparing to take off on a year long, around the world trip, and we're hoping to find some interesting farms and maybe other volunteer opportunities where we can help out, meet new people and experience parts of other cultures that most tourists never get to see.
Good luck in Norway, OP! One of my brothers lives and works way up in the north in Kirkenes. We're planning on visiting him for sure. Although we hadn't really considered WWOOFing in Norway, it seems like it would be a great place to volunteer. Unless you have a free place to stay, Norway is crazy expensive!
