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Help out at our hot springs and organic orchard in Coachella Valley, USA

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: No minimum

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    At our hot springs here in the Coachella Valley we have natural hot mineral baths in rock-lined pools and a non-commercial hobby orchard, 100% organic, with 9 date palms, Jamaican plums and kumquat. Our date palms produce 7 varieties, and these are all for our own consumption and use, and for educating people about the science of cultivating phoenix dactylifera, in an impossibly harsh climate on poor soil.
    Tasks include irrigation, pruning, picking, brush clearing, fertilizing, pollination, clean-up, trenching, house cleaning. We clean our soaking pools regularly, and we love to connect with folks who can operate a sewing machine, because we repair our date bags from insect damage. Electricians and carpenters are also appreciated.
    Maximum stay negotiable, 4 days minimum for helpers arriving by public transportation. 3 rooms & 6 beds, 3 hours help per day required, usually in the early morning.
    Shuttle from Greyhound in Indio or Flixbus in Palm Springs or Palm Springs airport. Year-round activities. We have bicycles but are not set up for kids or pets, and also have Wi-Fi. We are English speaking, and our kitchen has a no cooking with oil (frying) policy, but boiling & baking is fine, pre-packaged meat & canned fish are ok. International or out of state travelers. NO TOBACCO, alcohol or drugs. Internet access, we always have dates and bulk food items like rice, beans and lentils, but also apples, citrus, bananas, eggs, organic salad mix, pasta, potatoes, tomatoes, tortillas, bread, granola, herb tea, melons, avocados, carrots & such for our for our volunteers.
    We are located in a very remote desert setting, 2 and a half hours east of Los Angeles, or 50 miles southeast of Palm Springs, situated on a hillside overlooking the Salton Sea, in the warmest winter climate in the western U.S.
    Some hiking and cycling trails nearby and a massive snowy mountain range a little over an hour away. Our farm has natural hot mineral water that flows 16 gallons per minute at 124 degrees (51c), so we have both hot and cold bathing ponds, and also irrigate our palms with the same water.
    8 months of pleasant weather (October-May) then 4 months of intense summer heat (June-September). We are about 90 minutes to Joshua Tree, 90 minutes to Anza Borrego & the same to the Imperial Sand Dunes. We also own 40 acres of desert wilderness in the San Jacinto Mountains, 5 miles off the Pacific Crest Trail and surrounded by the Indian Reservation, and it has natural caves, deep pools and waterfalls, so we trek there regularly from March through October with volunteers to maintain the trails, collect medicinal native plants and eradicate tamarisk shrubs...so serious backpackers are appreciated for these outings.
    If you are interested in volunteering here with us, please complete your profile before contacting us, and that will increase your chances of us choosing you. But keep in mind that we receive a lot of inquiry so the more we know about you the better.
    This is a very healthy warm dry desert climate, where viruses do not thrive.
    If you think you have an allergy to bee stings, forget this place. Please, no vapers, e cigarettes or closet smokers.

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Farmstay help
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
  • UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN goals
    No poverty
    Zero hunger
    Good health and well-being
    Quality education
    Gender equality
    Clean water and sanitation
    Affordable and clean energy
    Decent work and economic growth
    Industries, innovation and infrastructure
    Reduce inequality
    Sustainable cities and communities
    Responsible consumption and production
    Climate action
    Life below water
    Life on land
    Peace, justice and strong institutions
    Partnerships for the goals
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    My farm is one of the very few Workaway hosts that grows and produces fresh dates every summer, and the culture and care of date palm is a unique science indeed. The palms are also only a short distance from our natural hot and cold water sources and bathing pools.
    We also have Jamaican plums.
    Several times each week between tasks we take trips into the surrounding bio-region, and depending upon the time of year it could be pine forests in the mountains, palm groves in desert canyons, desolate beaches on the Colorado River, waterfalls in the local mountains, wild hot springs, oasis in the desert, Joshua Tree Park, Anza Borrego Park or the high cliffs at La Jolla beach. The local desert and mountains have a very diverse assortment of native plants that were used as food and medicine for thousands of years by the local indigenous population and I am well posted on this subject and know where to go.
    The house also contains a large library of books and videos on subjects related to California, horticulture, pre-history, wilderness, psychology, the Pacific Crest Trail, botany, nutrition, healing, native cultures and California alternative cultures that pioneered natural living.

  • Help

    Help

    Pond cleaning, irrigating fan palms, brush clearing, road repair, gardening, house cleaning, trail clearing, fruit harvest.

  • Languages spoken

    English: Fluent

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    3 private bedrooms with 6 beds, with shared kitchen in a 1800 square foot house.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    My hot springs is located in the Coachella Valley of the southern California desert about 2 hours and 30 minutes from Los Angeles, or 50 miles southeast of Palm Springs, just off highway 111, in the morning shadow of the Chocolate Mountains, overlooking the middle of the Salton Sea.

    No pets but plenty of wild creatures about; deer, bighorn sheep, owls, hawks, bobcats, coyotes, turtles and fish in the canals, lizards, rabbits, quail northern desert iguanas.
    This is a natural hot water source that flows out at 124 degrees (51c) that we use for bathing and irrigation, and we grow 5 varieties of dates, and a few other fruits. Health oriented, no tobacco, alcohol or drugs, we are not close to public transportation, but we fetch people at Flixbus, Greyhound in Indio or Palm Springs airport.
    In bed by 10 pm and up by 6, the real attraction here is the natural world, with snowy desert peaks nearby, palm-lined canyons, empty desert canyons and very pleasant weather most of the year. We are 90 minutes from Joshua Tree and about the same to Anza Borrego, 35 minutes from Slab City and Salvation Mountain, 75 minutes to the sand dunes, and we have the warmest winter climate in the western United States.

  • 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

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    This host can provide space for campervans.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    3hr per day 5 days a week

Host ref number: 137279565929

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