Come help and learn with us, on our off-grid homestead in the West Kootenays of British Columbia, Canada

Infos

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  Description

  We are a couple living on a small homestead, in SE British Columbia; we have been here since 1976. (46 years). We own 5.3 ha. (13 acres), most of which is forested; our homestead encompasses, a fenced, approximately 0.8 ha. (2 acres).
  
  We have a large garden where we grow our vegetables, dry beans, soybeans, sunflowers, grains, and an orchard with many kinds of berries, and about 40 fruit and nut trees, which includes many of the varieties that can be grown in our climate such as peaches, cherries, apples, etc. We also have five laying hens for eggs. In this way, we try to grow as much of our own food as possible; we grow all of our fruit, vegetables, nuts, and most of our grains for the year. We also save a good deal of our own vegetable seeds.
  
  We started out with a vision of living a conserver lifestyle, with a view towards self-sufficiency in our food production, and in our way of living. (We do grow the majority of our food, now, with the exception of dairy and oils, as we no longer have dairy animals.) We cook our meals from scratch, utilizing the food grown here. We can, freeze and dry our produce, and have a root cellar for storing vegetables and fruit. We have an outdoor kitchen that we use in the summer for processing and preserving our produce. We have a wood cookstove that we use for this purpose.
  
  We live in a forested area, which is off grid, so produce our own power using a unique micro hydro system. We also use our water wheel to directly operate a large chest freezer, without using electricity. We heat our house and water using wood. In the summer, we use a solar hot water heater. Our house, that we built of stone and wood, is earth-sheltered.
  
  We are pragmatists and base our practices using science as our guide. We choose to live a conserver lifestyle. We do lots of things “by hand”, using simple tools, such as shovels, rakes and axes. However, we do have a electric chainsaw for cutting firewood, and various electric “gadgets”, such as a small, handmade threshing machine and nut cracker. We also have cooking appliances that run on our power system. We do not own a tractor.
  
  Our interests include, visiting friends and other farms/homesteads/places, to see how they function; gardening, orcharding; talking with people about gardens and orchards, and just about any other topics. We both enjoy stimulating conversations, frequently involving different ways of looking at things.
  Frank likes inventing, tinkering, and fixing things. He has invented and built various tools and devices to help us on our homestead. He also likes to figure out how to make gadgets/tool for various jobs that need to be done on our place, fixing things, hard work, and figuring out ways to make jobs more efficient.
  Libby has a special interest in native plants, and has taught wild edible plant workshops, (for the plants in our area); drawing and painting, helping people, cooking and swimming.
  
  We both have extensive knowledge of small scale garden and orchard growing, and homesteading. For ten years we have been teaching a garden and orchard course tailored for our area. It is called Growing Through the Seasons, and is held once a month throughout the growing season. It is held on our farm and covers what gardening and orcharding subjects that are relevant for the specific month.
  Spring is a very busy time for us. Starting in early spring, we prune the fruit trees and vines. In March, we start our early garden crops in pots. In April, we are in full on planting and transplanting mode. The garden beds will need to be dug and raked in preparation for planting. May is another busy planting month, for us. As the season progresses, there will be crops from the garden and orchard to harvest and process.
  On a mostly self-sustaining homestead, there are always a multitude of tasks and projects that could be worked on. A lot of the time, this is where we can use the extra help.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Aide informatique/internet
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Good conversation is always welcome at our house; we like to engage people in wide ranging topics. We also like to learn about other people's lives and experiences.
  
  Learning opportunities abound on our homestead, including: many aspects of gardening, fruit and nut growing, grafting, grain growing and processing, freezing, canning, drying and storage of garden and orchard produce, cooking from scratch, with existing supplies, creating and maintaining a micro hydro system, building and other aspects of creating and maintaining a homestead.

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  Aide

  We are specifically looking for someone who has a particular interest in simple mechanical and/or electrical systems, and enjoys working on these type of projects, as well as some building projects. Examples of this could include improving our micro hydro system, working on ways to improve our water intake system, and many other projects. An ideal worker would be a good ideas person; one whom ideas could be brainstormed with to come up with creative solutions to specific problems. Of course, there are a lot of gardening and orcharding chores that need doing, and these would provide many learning opportunities for the right person. Both of us tend to be perfectionists, and therefore like to think things through and do a good job on whatever we do, so having similar traits would be preferred.
  
  We are looking for someone who is self-motivated and interested in working with us on various projects, and in our garden and orchard. These include, but are not limited to: digging and planting the garden, harvesting and processing produce; cooking, from scratch; getting firewood, fence repair, making improvements to our water and micro hydro systems, building, innovating; experimenting; etc.
  
  As we have been doing this work for a long time, we can offer the teaching of various skills involved with running a homestead.
  
  We are flexible with working hours, a baseline being, 4-5 hours/day, 5 days a week. We like to have a trial period of one week. if both parties are satisfied, we would like a minimum stay of two weeks, but are open to someone staying longer, even for the entire growing season.
  
  It would be highly desirable if this person is handy with using tools and has a mechanical aptitude.
  
  Ours is a non-smoking farm.

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  Langues parlées

  Anglais: Courant

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  Hébergement

  Although we have a spare bedroom in our house, we find it best for both us and the Workawayers to each have their own space. We have a trailer to accommodate our guests.

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  Autres infos...

  One of our philosophies is trying to live a less consumer based life. Our world revolves around our homestead as we try to live more "sustainably". We feel this would be a great opportunity for someone who thinks they would like to learn this kind of lifestyle.
  
  We have hosted many volunteers, in the past, including college students, and a few interns.
  
  We are fairly isolated, with no really close neighbors; the nearest town, Castlegar, is about 32 km (20 mi.) away. Several km away, there is the small community of Deer Park. It is mostly made up of “summer home” people, but there are some permanent residents, and we have friends there. There are no services, such as stores or gas stations in Deer Park, so having a car would give a workaway person more freedom.
  
  We are within walking distance to Lower Arrow Lake, which is good for swimming in the summer. There is also easy hiking around our place, because it is an open type of forest, for the most part. The West Kootenay area is home to spectacular hiking trails, but a vehicle would be necessary to access these.
  
  Being in a forested area, we have forest animals, such as white-tail and mule deer, elk, black bear, bobcats, cougar, smaller mammals, and other wildlife, which may be sighted from time to time.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  We have a good wi-fi connection which works well inside our house and outside.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  We have ample room for campers, vans and or even a small trailer, and can set up running water and electricity to them.

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  A dog is alright as long as it is not aggressive. We do not have a pet at the present time.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week