Dear workawayers! We are now planning our 2013 season and accepting applications. We will enumerate below what are the different projects for this spring, summer and fall. Hope to hear from you :)

First of all, we are a small Buddhist community of 3 persons living self-sufficiency in the forest of Lanaudiere, Quebec, on a land of 20 acres. Our place is easily reached with a daily bus from Montreal. We are cultivating approximately 5 acres with heritage and hardy fruit trees (Apple (over 200 varieties), pear, plum, cherries, apricot, strawberry, raspberry, haskap, blueberry, kiwis, etc) and with vegetables. The other 15 acres is forest. We live in a log house, the other buildings are made of recycled materials. The workawayer will liv in his own apartment with a bathroom and a small kitchen for his breakfast and dinner.

We have hundreds of projects, but only we are 3 to make them come true! We are eager to meet people from all over the world and to share our knowledge and experience!

After having host workawayers for over 2 years, we find it useful to specicy more clearly what we expect from workawayers. The aim of our place is to live self-sufficiently, and this indeed needs a lot of work. When you want to build and grow everything (or as much as you are able to), you have to literally sweat for it! This is the life we have chosen and are happy with it. We actually love to be active all the time and we never count how many hours we work a day, we just do what has to be done and we love it :)

This being said, except our workawayers to be interested in self-sufficiency, simply out of curiosity or because they wish to take on this lifestyle in the future. We are looking for a volunteer who would like to get immersed in our lifestyle; someone who would think : "I will take one month (or more) and experience what is it to live on a land to be self-sufficient.”

We make the effort of providing wide variety of tasks that are not too repetitive, so that each volunteer will experience many different fields (from constructions to gardening, from welding to mechanic, from beekeeping to hens caring, from fruit trees to cooking, from woodworking to canning, from processing food to plumbing.) Therefore it is important for us to have volunteers who give the best of themselves and do not count their hours of work. The more you give, the more you receive!

Quebec

The work will vary according to the time of the year. Here are our plans for each month:

Mid-April to late-May: This is the most physical time of the season and the workawayers must be physically strong and in good shape. It involves digging holes and planting trees, shovelling compost for the trees and garden, removing unnecessary roots/rocks from the ground, planting vegetables and seeds, preparing orders for the fruit tree nursery and grafting fruit trees. We have hundreds of trees to plant this spring! It is physically challenging, but very rewarding to know that your effort will be bearing fruit in the decades to come!


June-July- August: The volunteer still need to be in good shape, but the job is not as heavy as in April and May. I would say it requires more endurance because you will need to work in the sun and heat. The work involves the general maintenance of gardens, nursery and orchard: maintenance of trees, weeding, planting vegetables in the garden, harvesting fruits and vegetables, transforming harvest (canning and drying), construction of buildings (we have several construction projects in process: a greenhouse-chicken coop and a summer kitchen), renovation of buildings,

September: Mostly garden harvest and transformation (canning, drying, freezing). Construction projects to finish (same as summer).

October: Same as in September, plus preparing fruit trees orders (a few days only) and some tree plantation.

Please note that this is only a general overview, you will be invited to do more diversity than this depending on the need at that time. The projects and plans change all the time here!

Also, if you have ANY skill, whatever it is: computer, photography, mechanic, sewing, martial art, forging, etc, let us know! We are always open to adapt the work to every workawayer depending on his skills and interests. There is often a project to do with the skills you already have!

English, French, Spanish

Apartment with bathroom and small kitchen.

1) Minimum of 1 month stay, but more is better.

2)As a buddhist Theravada practicioners, we respect 5 precepts: No alcool or drug, no sex, no lie, no stealing, no killing (insect and animal included). Out of respect for the community members, we ask you to respect those 5 rules when you are on our land. (When you go out of the land, you can do what you want).

3) We eat breakfast and lunch together, but volunteer have to organize themselves for the preparation of their dinner The food and kitchen are provided.

4) This place is for people who like peaceful and calm environments. If you want to make party, please don't apply here :).

5) We speak French, English and some Spanish.

6) If you are comfortable with those conditions and the project is of interest to you, please contact us you are welcome!