Come and help me and my daughter with our organic garden in Hagi, Japan

Details

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  Description

  Hi, I'm Lulu, 34, a French mom married to Toru, a 43 years old Japanese artist, and we have a 2 years and 8 months old daughter called Yuni, aka Pompon.
  
  I am a musician. We are living in a quite deep countryside small house in Japan, Yamaguchi prefecture, and I have lands where it is possible to grow veggies, have animals... not as a business but to feed the family and friends and workawayers! For now, I can't manage anything: compost, veggies, gardening small house, animals... I am way too lonely with my baby , because my husband is not really into veggies and he is too busy at work to help me, as well as my few friends (some are moms with young child, some are not often in Hagi, some just too busy or not into it...).
  
  So I am looking for helpers. Not just help to grow veggies in a permaculture way but also to build small garden houses for tools and animals, fences... as well as help with my daughter and musicians to play together!
  
  Our small city, Hagi, is really nice by keeping many historical places and the countryside is very beautiful though abandoned like so many other countryside places in Japan.
  
  The main land where I throw the compost and tried to grow veggies for 2 years (almost 3), is in the city itself closed to a school and surrounded by rice fields. And the house where I live is a bit outside from the city, next to a very beautiful river with many different kind of wild birds. Here too I started to use the land (orange trees field) and grow veggies but I need help to manage it.
  
  The house is 2~3km far from the main land, it is possible to cycle there easily, the ride is really nice.
  
  Recently my husband moved to the next house (our house is in 2 independent small houses) and we went through hard times and couple issues which are not yet totally fixed, but we try our best to keep a good relationship and mood, and he does his best to help me.
  
  So when you come I can't give you a room unless my husband is not here (he often goes to Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka for work), but you can use his living room as your room, or mine, but you might be awaken from 6 or 7 every morning by Yuni ^^
  
  I have a compost dry toilet but there is also a normal toilet (countryside style though, don't expect the electric Japanese toilet with many options ^^' ).
  Hot water is at my husband's side of the house, but in summer time, cold water is more refreshing!
  
  I would love to cook for the helpers as I enjoy cooking a lot, generally raw food with many salads but also steam and fried veggies, tofu, eggs, fish... I don't eat meat so I don't cook it. We have 2 kitchen and my husband does eat meat sometimes so if you want to cook your meat, please use his kitchen.
  Though I really enjoy sharing meals, until I don't have a proper garden I can't feed every meal because it is too expensive here in Japan, but be sure that I will provide minimum one meal a day, mainly dinner as we could have different plans in the day time (depending on our schedule). Also, feel free to try every restaurant in Hagi! I can't eat outside because of food allergies but you can try local food as much as you want.
  
  We're part of a small community at a friend's guest house where we often go to spend the evening and share meals, and there you can also eat (for free or any money you want to give) any kind of food and Japanese specialities. It is a very very Japanese place where every body adopted and loves Yuni.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  I can introduce you to my friend's guest house community and my neighbour's community too. Here nobody speaks English (or very few), and every contact is in Japanese. It's quite deep countryside so your experience will be totally different from Tokyo or any big Japanese city. We can also cycling or driving around to see the area which is really beautiful. Hagi is an historical city and famous for pottery. Old buildings have been saved and little neighbourhoods are very typical, like in a samurai manga.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  I mainly wish for help to manage my land for growing organic veggies in a permaculture way, with compost and good soil. I have almost no experience and never managed to do it properly over one year...
  I also need a lot of help to take care of my daughter as it is really, really hard for me to be a full-time mom.
  
  I would really love to manage a garden because I love nature and animals, I care about earth and the quality of the food my daughter and I eat, and I love sharing with the people. I want my daughter to grow up close to a natural way of life.
  
  I need help to keep clean the land especially at the summer time when grass grows as a jungle.
  
  As much as possible, I'd like to build the things with recycled materials such as the left over wood our neighbour doesn't use, bamboo from the forest, material from abandoned house going to be destroyed...
  
  There are 2 places where I'd like to have help: one is my garden where I throw my compost (kitchen and toilet). It is not at home but 2~3km away. It is in the Hagi city next to a school and surrounded by rice fields. I want to build a garden house for tools, and start to seriously grow veggies after 2 years of fail because of lack of time and care.
  
  Next place is my home where I'm living, I'd like to grow basic veggies, few quantity as it is small. We can use for free the Orange trees garden next to my house so if you have ideas how to build children games, it is also welcome. My daughter is 2 and I'd like to invite her friends to play here sometimes.
  
  If you are musician as a beside project we can play music together and there are some places in Hagi where we can have concerts.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate
  Japanese: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  About languages, my daughter is 2 and already started to speak 3 languages. I used to be fluent in Spanish but I forgot a lot since I came to Japan. I can speak to you in French to help you improving. And I can help translating from Japanese to talk with many local people.
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  Accommodation

  If you stay at my home for free, it is small so you can't have your own room.
  
  We can arrange with my husband to use his living room or his room when he is not at home (he often moves for work). Otherwise you might be awake by my daughter between 6 and 7am every morning 😅
  
  It has compost toilet but also normal toilet. I can cook for you but no meat.
  You could also have a tent in the orange tree garden or park a van or camping car at the parking behind (I don't have van or camping car to offer, bring yours please!).

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  What else ...

  My husband and many of my friends smoke but always outside and far from my daughter. I don't smoke and it is not allowed to smoke inside the house. Otherwise you can smoke any time you want, but for places Japan has weird rules like no smoking while walking on the street for example.
  
  People around here always enjoy meeting foreigners. The area is very beautiful and I can drive you to the far places, like Akiyoshidai or Tsuwano or Kasayama. There is also a fish market and many pottery places. It is possible to rent a bicycle and just enjoy cycling in the city. My Japanese husband knows more than me about touristic places so you can also ask him for more details ^^

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  If you're not driving a bus or truck, you can park just behind the orange tree garden next to my home.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We don't have pets yet but my daughter loves animals and if it is not a too big dog we have space outside too.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 3 hours a day, 4 days a week

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