Gitte Mueller is a "WWOOFer."

For the last two weeks, WWOOFing -- which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms -- has allowed the German tourist to visit northern Alberta on the cheap.

In exchange for helping out with the chores at the Greens, Eggs and Ham family farm in Leduc County, Mueller receives free room and board.

Owners Andreas and Mary Ellen Grueneberg said being one of 42 Alberta farms listed on WWOOF Canada's website has been a big help, particularly in the spring.

"We help them, but they really help us with all the little projects that never get done," Mary Ellen said.

"It's almost a nightmare to find someone who is interested in working on a farm, even for a number of weeks," Andreas said.

WWOOF began in the U.K. in 1971 to give urbanites a chance to spend a weekend in nature. Back then, it was known as Working Weekends on Organic Farms. Today, the non-profit organization covers the globe. Denmark, Germany, Kazakhstan, the U.S. and Canada, are among the roughly 90 countries involved.

Canada hosts approximately 3,000 WWOOF volunteers a year. About half are Canadians, while the other half come mainly from Japan, the U.K., Germany and the U.S, said John Vanden Heuvel, the co-ordinator of WWOOF Canada, who lives in Nelson, B.C.

Most listings are for vegetable farms, but other places such as environmentally-friendly horse ranches, hostels or bed and breakfasts can join, too. Gas station owners who scrub their bathrooms with Comet, however, can't plop a cot in the storage room and sign up as WWOOF hosts.

Once at a farm, volunteers perform chores which might range from weeding raspberry bushes to shearing alpacas. At Greens, Eggs and Ham, Mueller, 22, washes potatoes and helps harvest greens in her first WWOOF experience.

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