Come and live with our family, help with everyday life and larger projects in Oklahoma, USA

Details

• 

  Description

  We are a family (all adults, retired parents and two brothers, basically at a beginner-intermediate level of homesteading). We are not producing our own food yet, we just get a few things from the garden but most of the food comes from the store. My brother and I are just here to help, it is my parents' home, and we have their two granddaughters during the summer (only 2 months per year, they are 11 and 14 years of age at time of writing). There are many many tasks to be done in and around the house, both for maintenance and for expansion and improvement of the property and operations.
  
  We are not desperate for help, nor are we a well organized business with strictly set rules and procedures for volunteers. Just Bible-believing Christians trying to live a peaceful life in nature, who would enjoy some pleasant and helpful company from time to time. It would be a more informal, family type of homestay. Yes there is plenty of work to be done, but it's just life work, and we are all a team trying to accomplish the same goals, to somehow improve our time and resources each day, and to supply the daily needs of the family, it's usually pretty low stress around here, with very little urgent work coming up, so we have time to do whatever we do correctly and put thought and care into it, also experiment with various options. We are strict vegetarians, almost vegan, though we do use some honey, and eggs are not totally forbidden, just very rare and must be locally sourced from happy healthy hens. Nevertheless, the diet is based on whole foods with an emphasis on health, using as little refined and processed foods as possible, and avoiding food from animal origins (especially their flesh and milk). We eat two meals a day, about 7:30 for breakfast, and 13:30 for lunch, ideally you would join us for those meals. If you can't get used to only 2 meals a day, we can provide transport to the store weekly and you can purchase anything you need for your suppers. Of course, if you cannot afford any daily expenses, but you like what you are reading, and after talking with us you would really like to come and be part of the team and help out, then we can cover such costs as a third meal.
  
  What we would like is someone who is interested to come and live with us like a productive member of the family, for at least a few weeks at a time, and maybe a few months or more, assuming we all get along, and we all benefit from the arrangement in some way. You don't have to participate in every family activity, it would be nice to have people who don't keeps their distance, acting as servants or hired hands and Just doing the 20 or so hours of work a week only to spend all their free time alone or away from the house, nevertheless, if you are highly skilled and come to help us knock-out a specific project or two quickly, then you can be as anti-social as you wish. Also, if you are a family and bring your own RV, then obviously you could live like neighbors rather than family members, when you are not working.
  
  If you have some polished skills in gardening, building, auto-mechanics, small-motor mechanics, masonry, carpentry, landscaping, tile work, sewing, knitting, or virtually any other practical life skill... and you like teaching these skills to others, then we would be happy to have you come out and learn from you!
  
  If you lack in polished skills, but like to help out and don't mind simple and perhaps tedious tasks, we have plenty of this kind of work, from food prep, to raking leaves, to digging holes for planting, to cleaning and laundry, to chopping firewood, trimming and chipping tree branches, mulching gardens and other areas, cleaning the above ground pool and hot tub (it's not listed as a property amenity because it's just a 3-foot deep above ground, nothing special). There's really no end to the types of work, or the weight of work, from heavy jobs, to light jobs.
  
  There are a few things we do regularly which you might like to learn from us. Such as making granola, crackers, and soap (cold process lye soap). All the other things we know how to do, we don't have such polished skills in, and they do not get done on any regular routine, so different skills we be on display at different times based on what we have going on when you come. Nevertheless, we can of course teach you what we know in any area that you feel our knowledge is in advance of your own, might not always be able to give demonstrations, though. If you bring your own vehicle, and it has some issues, we could very possibly track down the problem and fix it, teaching you how in the process.
  
  I listed that we have pets, the only pets in the house are fish, we also have cats, but they live outside, so if anyone has allergies, don't worry, you won't share a house or room with any animals (other than the fish).

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
• 

  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

  ×

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  What's this?
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Certainly one could improve their command of the English language, if they are not fluent or native speakers already.
  
  A person could potentially learn a lot of new skills, and practical life perspectives being here. However I try to do everything in the most natural way possible, which often means you need to spend a lot of time with repetitive but purposeful tasks, so if you come for a short stay, I don't know what you will take away from the experience, except maybe a few new ideas and perspectives.
  
  People who stay long-term could learn about soap making, programming, clothes making or quilting, my mother is a professional musician and music teacher, so you could learn voice or various instruments from her. Parents with children who they want to homeschool are welcome, we are very much into homeschooling here, but don't currently have our own children to teach.
  
  I'm a researcher with limitless interests, so there is really potential to learn about all kinds of things, but it would require patience, because I am not making discoveries or breakthroughs every day, in fact I don't even have time to research or work on my projects every day or every week. many weeks I am doing common domestic chores, or work for clients that helps to bankroll my voluntary projects and research and development. This is one reason I am hoping to attract some helpers, so the daily chores can be completed much faster, and more time can be spent on big projects and R&D.

• 

  Help

  Ongoing tasks:
  
  *️️️️️️️️️️️️ Preparing meals, this is a two meal a day household, and we have 0 problems with eating leftovers, so cooking one day to eat for 3 days is fine with me.
  *️️️️️️️️️️ General cleaning of floors and walls in the home.
  *️️️️️️️️️️️️ There are basic house chores always to be done, cleaning, cooking, laundry (nobody will be required to do anyone else's laundry, but voluntary service, or swapping of chores between parties is both permitted and encouraged).
  *️️️️️️️️️️️️ making homemade soap from oil and "lye" or "potash".
  *️️️️️️️️️️ There's always plenty of computer work for those who have the requisite skills.
  *️️️️️️️️️️ Organization is a big focus right now, hoping to get everything organized this year and focus even more on R&D in following years.
  
  Desired projects, dependent on time or help:
  
  * Build bungalows on the property for accommodating more people/families comfortably
  * Upgrade the various water systems on the property for increased quality and variety
  * Build more cabinetry and shelving in the main house for organization
  * Pour a slab and enclose the tractor port to convert it into an automotive shop building
  * Build retaining walls and an inground swimming pool / pond with elaborate natural landscaping
  * Lots of landscaping around the house and along the walking trails in the forest
  * Build a massive masonry stove and connect it to a hydronic heating system
  * Experiment with solar and hydroelectric options
  * build a Japanese style garden somewhere on the property [we already have Koi :)]
  * Rebuild an old Ford 1 ton pickup truck, with an old Cummins diesel engine
  * and much much more!

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  Romanian: Intermediate
  Bulgarian: Beginner
  Italian: Beginner
  Russian: Beginner
  Turkish: Beginner
  Ukrainian: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  I'm a language enthusiast, so I am interested in learning a bunch of different languages. The rest of the family are only trying to learn Spanish.
• 

  Accommodation

  We live in a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house, with another small apartment on the property where my brother is currently living. This leaves two private bedrooms available in the house, as well as a semi-private multi-purpose sun room with a bed. There are also couches and air mattresses available for those who don't mind roughing it, and just want to be a part of the experience! Also, plenty of land and forest if you enjoy camping, we have several hammocks with bug-netting and rain tarps which guests could use if they don't bring their own equipment. One of the pending projects is to build bungalows on the property, so if you enjoy roughing it, but also want a more comfortable long-stay, and you are good at construction, you might want to come help build one of those and then get to live in it for a few months while helping with other projects.

• 

  What else ...

  You free time is your own, but as long as you are on our property you will be expected to respect certain rules and standards as well as the rights and privileges of others, this includes the right to have their ears free of noise pollution. Music to one person may be a terror to the ears of another, please come prepared to use headphones for any media consumption you may do during your stay.
  
  This is a vegan home, so you should not come here if you need to consume animal products every day. It doesn't bother me if my guests or volunteers go out and eat meat or dairy at some restaurant or a friends place, but I don't want it here in my home, or cooked in my pots, or served on my plates, or eaten with my flatware. It's also an alcohol-free zone. If you enjoy the occasional glass of wine (or even beer) with a meal while out, but never get drunk or even noticeably affected, that probably won't be a problem, however you should not bring alcohol onto our property, and you should not come home drunk or tipsy or smelling strongly of alcohol or smoke or anything else, unless you were helping to save the life of a some drunkard and it rubbed off, and you plan to go straight to the shower to clean up and run the laundry on the clothes.
  
  I have high cleanliness standards and a keen sense of smell, so showers, laundering dirty clothes, and cleaning floors and walls and all surfaces in the home on a regular basis is pretty important, as I prefer my helpers be healthy, happy and as odor-free as possible.
  
  We are living out in a rural area, the nearest small town is 5 miles away, it is unincorporated, but it does have a fuel station. We have a bunch of bikes that needs some repair and maintenance, wouldn't take much to get them going again if you wanted to use one, or bring your own. There is kayaking in the area, if you are into that. If you prove yourself very responsible and trust-worthy, and you have a driving license, we will probably have a car you can borrow from time to time, but unless you are driving somewhere for us, you would be expected to pay for your own fuel. If you like off-roading, there are places for that all around, we haven't discovered them all, but we know of two nice areas to go off-roading in this region.
  
  There is an above-ground pool, not super big, but you can cool off in the summer, or enjoy some contrast therapy in the winter going between the pool and the hot tub. You may get tasked with cleaning the pool and hot tub if you want to use either of them ;)

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  There's a large sun room on the north side of the house with a desk, table, printer, and of course wifi access, this area can be used for office work.

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  We do not currently have convenient electrical and sewage hookups (they are on the agenda, though), but we do have the space for you to park, and we can run hoses for water, and extension cords for electric. you'll have to manually dump any brown water, or just use the facilities in the house for that kind of business.

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

• 

  Hours expected

  Maximum 4 hours a day, 5 days a week

Feedback (2)