If you read the 40 Farmers Under 40 article, and are jonesing to get dirt under your fingernails, then you should WWOOF. It’s a global, customizable barter system through which you work on farms in exchange for room and board. Plus it’s a healthy way to do some armchair ethnography.

In years past, I’ve worked on a dairy farm in Denmark, sold flowers in Iceland and spent months harvesting olives + clearing fields of boulders in Tuscany. Spoke none of the native tongues, but learned heaps while silent. I think this citymouse now needs to get himself back to the country.