Caitlin Tacey

Personal Bio

My name is Caitie and I have just completed a Bachelor of International Studies and Development. I have spent the past 4 years learning all about the great problems of the world; poverty, politics, food insecurity, indigenous issues (to name but a few) and I am now very much ready to get out of the city and academia and into nature and to work with my hands and learn from people actually working to address these issues firsthand.

My greatest passion is food, with an interest in all aspects of the food chain. I have worked as a chef for numerous years, have completed an internship with CERES Environmental Park and with their partners in Timor-Leste where I worked on issues of food insecurity in remote communities.

I work part time as nanny and have done so for the last 2 years and so love spending time around children if your family happens to have any.

While studying I lived for 6 months in Denmark where I studied issues surrounding Scandinavian food production and distribution.

For my final uni thesis I am studying the effects of COVID on Melbourne’s local food system by interviewing local producers and farmers market managers. I very much believe in economic localisation as a sustainable path forwards, as well as the power of community.

I have volunteered at numerous food related organisations and festivals including Festival 21 – Our Future Through Food, Free to Feed, and most recently in the Volunteers Kitchen at Woodford Folk Festival for 6 weeks in December/Jan last year.

In my spare time I’m a big reader and nature seeker. Being locked down in Melbourne has really tested me and proven just how ill fitted for city living I am. I have missed the ocean and the mountains SO much, with yoga and meditation keeping me sane.

I am known to be a very thoughtful and calm person. I work really hard and love physical labour and ‘dirty’ work. I really love meeting new people who I wouldn’t necessarily come into contact with in my everyday life and am very eager to learn about the organic farming aspect of the food chain from the source themselves, rather than through textbooks and journal articles.

I grew up in Country Vic where my parents grow their own food. My mum has just recently started a flower farm on their property which prior to lockdown I was loving helping her with, both the growing and also the arranging of the flowers for sales. Flowers are right up there with food as one of my greatest passions.

I can’t wait to get out of the city and onto farms, where I will relish the opportunity to work and learn from inspiring new people.

Why I joined WWOOF

After 4 years of studying am very eager to get out of the city and away from theoretical concepts and into the natural world with real people working hard to solve issues around food production. I cannot wait to have my hands in the soil rather than typing away on a laptop all day.

Through WWOOFing I hope to gain an understanding of the real life practise of organic farming. Given I grew up in Victoria, I am not so much interested in a cultural exchange or spending time doing ‘touristy’ things but rather working and learning from growers and farmers.

I do hope to one day own my own land and have my own kitchen garden and so (rather selfishly) also hope to learn a few tricks of the trade for my own food production. I currently have leafy greens growing out of planter boxes in my tiny garden out the front of my unit in the city and it ain’t cutting it!