Area: Pennsylvania
We are two suburban homesteaders with a tiny backyard flock of laying hens, honey bees, and approximately 2800 square feet of garden space. We're located in the Lehigh Valley of eastern Pennsylvania. Our goal is to produce as much of our own food as possible through organic methods, while demonstrating what degree of production is possible on a residential plot of land by ordinary people with no formal training in gardening or agriculture. In 2009 we produced over 600 pounds of food from our backyard, and in 2010, over 760 pounds. We expect to continue that trend going forward for the next several years. Since we grow for our own consumption and not for market, ours is very much a polyculture site. We have fruit trees and several types of perennial berries, a large garden of annual vegetables, and many culinary and medicinal herbs. Other interests include light DIY/construction work to address on-site needs, permaculture, herbal medicine (we're still very much beginners), various methods of food preservation, dumpster diving for construction materials, local foods, Transition, ethical consumption, and all aspects of sustainability. We look forward to learning more about the world, other cultures, and many areas of expertise from our volunteers. Plans for 2012 include the planting of a living fence to replace our old wooden one, installation of rain barrels for passive irrigation, as well as a tiny frog pond in the middle of the main garden. We'll also plant more perennial food crops, cook more meals with our solar oven, raise a few chickens and turkeys for the table, and learn to extend the growing season with our new hoop house. Finally, we'll experiment with the cultivation of Black Soldier Fly larvae for poultry feed.
Area: Andalucia
We live in Nerja on the Costa del Sol in a row house with 3 small dogs. In the countryside nearby (about 12 km away), our horses (2 belong to us and our two friends, on whose land the horses are / there are 3 large dogs). Nerja is situated on the Mediterranean and is a typical Spanish village. The sea is within walking distance from us in about 20 minutes. Probably there are not daily work for 5 hours, but we want to share our favorite home with others. We are very free and hope the same of the helpers. One should have good riding skills and the driving license. Wir leben in Nerja an der Costa del Sol in einem Reihenhaus mit 3 kleinen Hunden. Auf dem Land in der Nähe (ca. 12 km entfernt) stehen unsere Pferde ( 2 gehören uns und 2 unseren Freunden, auf deren Grundstück die Pferde stehen/dort gibt es 3 grosse Hunde). Nerja liegt am Mittelmeer und ist ein typisches spanisches Dorf. Das Meer ist von uns zu Fuss in etwa 20 Minuten zu erreichen. Wahrscheinlich gibt es nicht täglich Arbeit für 5 Stunden, aber wir wollen gern unsere Lieblingsheimat mit anderen teilen. Wir sind sehr frei und locker und hoffen dies auch von den Helfern. Eine Voraussetzung sind gute Reitkenntnisse und der Führerschein.
Area: British Columbia
We are a little family of 3 (Oliver, 30, Meike, 35, and Emil, 2) who are seeking connection to the land and community. We value sustainability and want to live a satisfying, healthy and creative life. We have just bought a piece of property with the intent of starting an organic farm and forming an ecovillage. We would like to invite like-minded people in our age group (20-40ish) to inquire, help out, learn and perhaps join and create a wonderful interdependent community with us. We are located only minutes north of Greenwood and only an hour from Osoyoos. 142 acres with Jewel Creek running through it. It has crown land on 3 sides and trails all around. Less than 2 km to Jewel Lake. This summer we are focusing on establishing our homestead to prepare for the winter. We are renovating a log house, one of the few buildings that are already on the land. We are planning to eventually build a cluster of natural homes designed to minimize ecological disturbance and maximize use of the fertile, previously cleared areas for organic farming and gardening. We will use building material sourced from our land as much as possible. We are big fans of cob buildings and round houses. We will produce our own power by setting up solar and hydro systems so we hope to get off grid quite quickly. Grey water will be treated naturally and used for irrigation. Composting toilets will provide humanure for some gardens and plants. We want to consume food that is produced locally, ideally on our own farm, but always sustainably. Our organic farm will supply residents and visitors with fresh, organic food; surplus can be sold on local farmer's markets (twice a week in Greenwood) and to restaurants in the area. We will build root cellars to store fruits and veggies for the winter. We are going to incorporate Permaculture principles: zoning, swales, terraces, composting, humanure, mulching, rainwater catchment, hugelkultur, just to name a few. Some of us have experience with biodynamic gardening. We look forward to meeting many cool people and are excited about what we can accomplish!
Area: Alberta
Turn your dreams into plans and your can'ts into cans! Come and ride with us. I am what they call a Can Chaser, a professional barrel racer. At our ranch we train horses and riders for women's western rodeo timed events. We also produce Barrel Racing & Steer Wrestling Events. We are a rodeo family, part of the rodeo community. We offer honest rodeo family hospitality and have well trained horses, beautiful trails and an arena to ride in. We are located an hour south of Edmonton and the world famous West Edmonton Mall, two hours north of Calgary and three hours from the Rocky Mountains. We are 15 minutes from Canada's largest Pro Rodeo, The Ponoka Stampede. Our town of Ponoka has some nice restaurants and cowboy style lounges and bars. A great western store for shopping!!! A few other nice boutiques and gift shops. There's also a indoor swimming pool, a few day spas, hair salons, skate park, mini golf and two golf courses and a movie theatre. And friendly small town people.
Area: British Columbia
Our historic ranch is located in the scenic San Jose River valley. It is 1200 acres of meadows and woods with a (small) river running through it. We use holistic management practices on our ranch. Our cattle are grass-fed using management intensive grazing with portable electric fence. We do not use herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and our cattle are not given growth hormones. We are committed to ranching in a sustainable manner and strive to improve the health of our soil through good management practices.
