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Help in veggie and herbal gardens, making medicines, dog care, etc in Lillooet, Canada

  • Favourited 573 times
  • Last activity: 28 Mar 2024

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: at least 3 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    Looking for spring 2024 help at this time.

    Come experience off-grid living on the edge of wilderness! Join us on our diverse organic, off-grid homestead on a previously neglected meadow, which we are transforming into an oasis. Help us plant trees and shrubs, put up or fix fences, move and sift compost piles, start new gardens and plant and maintain existing ones. We grow organic food and herbs, for ourselves, trade and in some years for market with the extras. We have a small yet successful home-based medicinal herbal products business and grow and wild-harvest the vast majority of our medicinal herbs, as well as culinary herbs for the table. In addition, we also run a micro coffee roasting company, possibly the only off grid roaster for many miles. All the freshly roasted organic coffee (and herbal teas!) you can drink, always available! Please inquire asap if you are interested in the coffee roasting apprenticeship.
    We live off the grid and so you will learn about responsible, sustainable, independent power & water systems. Our drinking and irrigation water originate from the mountains behind us, and is the freshest and cleanest water one can have. Tasks for you to help with include (this is an incomplete list): soil/compost building; fencing; gardening (planting, weeding, thinning, watering and harvesting); food preservation in season (drying, canning, freezing); dog walks and care; orchard help; fire protection, and probably plenty of other things we can't think of at this time! The larger community we share this paradise with is located 45 minutes outside of Lillooet, in a hot, semi-arid ecosystem. Our community is described as a very social, alternatively-minded, loosely intentional group of friends, where playing music (much of it home-grown) and having potlucks of the most delicious variety of lovingly grown food are favourite pastimes. Also for your enjoyment and leisure is hiking or visiting local lakes and rivers for swimming or just dangling your feet in to cool off on a hot summer afternoon. On your time off, you are welcome to find a quiet spot to read, rest, contemplate, meditate, dance, do yoga, play music, do art, go for a hike, etc. There is no shortage of outdoor space as we live on 190 acres on the edge of wilderness.
    Your accommodations are your own while you are here and your privacy will be respected. There is no cell service or radio or city lights...the stars are incredible, so is the moon! Wifi is available and is fast enough for most people's needs.
    Accommodations are very comfortable, and include a separate, beautifully built sleeping cabin and/or a travel/camping trailer; private enough yet within the dinner bell range! For facilities, there is a comfortable outhouse with a great view, and we have an indoor toilet when you're in the main house that uses a vermiculture composting system. You can bathe in our house shower or claw foot bathtub, or in the solar shower in the garden in summer. You can do laundry in the house. Until the kitchenette addition on the cabin is finished, we will share meals together, eating organically raised meat, while also accommodating vegetarians. Having breakfast on your own is an option, we'll happily supply the food. Otherwise, we ask volunteers to come in after 8:30 am so we can have quiet/family time before hand, and similarly, we would like to have quiet/family time after 9 pm ish, unless we end up playing a game together, or are deep in conversation with you!
    We ask for an average of 4-5 hours a day of your time, 5 days a week, depending on The List. We also ask for your participation in the kitchen, including doing dishes, sweeping the floor, and cooking a meal once a week or more if cooking appeals to you (and cooks don't do dishes!). We speak English and some rusty French and understand a bit of German.
    YOUR OWN HEALTH INSURANCE IS REQUIRED FOR YOU TO VOLUNTEER HERE. Please respect this. Contact us by email preferably (see under: Contact). We strive to answer all email inquiries as soon as possible, and appreciate you telling us as much as possible about yourself: what is your interest or desire in coming to our place in particular; what do you want to get out of the experience; what is your experience if any; when are you available and for how long; do you have any allergies or mental / physical health concerns that we need to know of (hospital is 45 minutes away); and any other interesting or pertinent information to help us get to know each other! A trial period of a week is asked for, to make sure we can live and work together - we like to welcome volunteers as part of our family, even if it's only for a few weeks. WE PREFER A MINIMUM STAY OF 2 WEEKS if you have your own transportation, longer if you don't! The coffee roasting apprenticeship is long term. Thanks for checking us out, and special thanks to all the volunteers we've been blessed to have hosted over the years!

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Farmstay help
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
    Help with Computers/ Internet
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    We have hosted almost 100 different people from all over the world, and love sharing stories of each other's cultures, backgrounds and interests. We especially love listening to our volunteers describing their home town, home life, culture and lifestyle, thus learning about other places without going there in person (but would love to travel more, in the future). There is also a rich and active First Nations culture locally, since they are the original inhabitants and people of this land; we strive to respect this heritage, and have participated in many First Nations cultural events. In our own valley, there is a local, self made culture as well, making and playing folk music together, as well as making and sharing food, and stories! This self made culture, the lived experience, is something that is deeply rooted in our community, and there are endless colourful stories originating in bioregional, ecological and pragmatic philosophy.

  • Host offers payment in line with the minimum wage

    Host offers payment in line with the minimum wage

    This host offers accommodation and payment.

    Host has indicated that they will pay at least the minimum hourly wage of their country for each hour worked and that accommodation will also be provided. They are asking for help with a business or business activity. Contact the host directly via the site messenger for more information and details about the wage provided. Any arrangements should be agreed in advance with your host.

  • Help

    Help

    We strive to make communication as clear and open as possible, and hope our volunteers do the same. That way, hopefully everyone is doing what they enjoy and have agreed to do. We prefer to host people who are willing to live less with their handheld phone or personal computer at their fingertips, and who enjoy communicating one on one, having good conversations about community, herbs and health, food, ecology, permaculture, child rearing, education, society, culture, alternative lifestyles, philosophy, or just about you or your favourite novel! We are working a lot off the farm, so if you like being alone, helping in a very low stress situation, but love the company of dogs and a cat this is the place for you! Don't worry, we will teach and guide you as much as we can and won't expect you to know how to do everything or anything for that matter.

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent
    French: Intermediate
    German: Beginner
    Spanish: Beginner

    This host offers a language exchange
    This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
    You can contact them directly for more information.

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    A beautiful cabin will be your home, complete with wifi! There is also cozy camper trailer OR tenting close by or a nice distance away = space we have lots of! An outhouse with a great view is available, and when in our home, the use of our bathroom with toilet, shower, bath, sink and laundry, is available as well. A solar shower exists during the warmer weather.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    Make sure you are ok with being away from the city, in a semi-wilderness valley with most of the comforts of a regular home and that you can live without cell service though it works ok over wifi. TRAVEL MEDICAL INSURANCE IS A MUST AND WILL BE ASKED FOR - please respect this.

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    We have satellite internet, and wifi reaches the cabin, sometimes the camper, and is definitely available on our porch and surrounding yard if you need it. It's not super fast, but it's not super slow either! Right now, we have 3 phones on, music streaming and our computer all online, working well!

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    We can accommodate fairly large campervans, but the longest 5 wheels may have trouble on one of the switchbacks. We can plug one in if need be.

  • Can possibly accept pets

    Can possibly accept pets

    maybe? our newest dog (a stray/rescue) has issues with resource guarding and has shown some aggression towards new dogs but doesn't bite or fight, more bark than bite. So we're not sure if we should have other dogs here at this time, unless you're a dog trainer!

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    Two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    25 hours maximum

Host ref number: 287243926224

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