Help on our homestead in Santa Barbara County’s beautiful wine country, Santa Ynez, USA

Details

• 

  Description

  Our homestead is 3.5 acres located in Santa Barbara County's beautiful wine country. We are in the small town of Santa Ynez which is approx. 30 miles from Santa Barbara. We have owned our property for five years. We would love to be self-sufficient one day. We have 30some chickens, 3 goats 8 turkeys, 1 tortoise, 6 geese, 3 horses, 2 miniature horses, 2 cats and 4 dogs. We love our animals, they are our pets.
  
  The garden needs to be planted. We have a lot of seedlings we started that are ready to go into the raised beds as well direct sow some seeds. We had quite a bit of rain (for us anyhow) and so there are weeds needing pulled. Daily animal care in the morning and evening, stall cleaning, coop cleaning and basic farm up keep. We would love to get some strong abled bodies for a small building project as well.
  
  Future Projects
  
  -Help make raises garden beds higher
  
  -chop wood
  
  -Put bark in garden areas as weed preventative
  
  -Add on to arbor
  
  
  
  -Paint barn and stalls
  
  -Greenhouse (old windows needed)
  
  -Cement slab
  
  -Building project
  
  -Gardening-seed starting, planting, harvesting
  
  -Daily and or frequent chores
  
  -Feed and water animals
  
  -Turn horses out to pasture-fly sheets, fly spray etc
  
  -Clean animal pens
  
  -Fill gopher/squirrel holes
  
  -Collect eggs
  
  -Composting
  
  -Weeding, weed whacking general clean up
  
  We thought our lovely area with all the vineyards, hiking, biking and Santa Barbara 30 miles away it may be someplace of interest for someone to visit and help out. The nearby towns are Solvang and Los Olives. My husband speaks Spanish, Portuguese as well as English. We have a 24' RV (motorhome- caravan) that would be used for your accommodations. It has a queen bed, kitchenette, small bathroom, dinette area. You will be responsible for keeping it clean and draining the gray/black water (we will show you how to do it) We are on a farm so you will hear the animals, this is farm life you can always use earplugs but if this seems like something that bothers you then farm life may not be for you and should look elsewhere.
  
  Summers can get hot here at times if it happens to be really hot when you are here we may have to start earlier in the morning to avoid the really hot times and do shade chores then too. Also it can get hot in the rv in the day in the summer but more than likely it is not where you will be in the day...
  
  We prefer stays longer than a week but I am open to discussing lengths of stay. We are looking for someone who is excited to be here and enjoys working and getting their hands dirty, a self-starter and takes pride in their work. We want someone who is honest, caring and loves animals and is nonsmoker and not into drugs, Alcohol in moderation. Help is expected in meal prep and clean up. There will be shared meals as well as meals on your own. When the garden is in production we utilize the stuff from the garden so you will be harvesting stuff for meals. We would love to also experience traditional meals from our volunteer’s. Our past volunteer let us experience some food we never heard of or even imagined it could taste good and it was delicious!
  
  This is real farm life, you are expected to help feed and put animals in morning and evenings. We have 4 dogs under 20 pounds that are in the house with us and go in and out. You must like dogs as they are part of our family, if you do not like them this is NOT the place for you.
  
  If you are a couple then make sure BOTH people want to be here and work hard and be on a FARM.
  
  Our WIFI is satellite and is very limited. If you prefer staring at your phone or computer over interacting with people then do not come as that is not what we are looking for and this is not the place for you.
  
  If at anytime we feel that it is not a good fit for us we will ask you to leave. We want this to be a fun experience for all and we have made life long friend through this program but due to a not so positive experience with someone who just wanted to drink and not work we want to make it clear that if you have a bad attitude or other problems you will be asked to leave we do not have the energy for that. We like a fun positive environment where we share stories and can laugh and joke around with each other.
  
  As far as food goes breakfast items are usually any of the following oatmeal, toast, eggs (depending on availability)tea/coffee. Lunch soups, salads or sandwiches and dinner is dependent on what is on hand. We will utilize what we have in the garden first.
  
  We have met so many great people and made life long friends we hope to continue with those experiences. We love traveling and hearing stories of others adventures! We enjoy sharing and experiencing and learning about different cultures. Any questions let me know. I want this to be fun and enjoyable for all!
  
  Here are a few things we enjoy! Traveling, wine tasting, reading, DIY projects, beer making and wine making to name a few.
  
  Here are a few things that might interest some of you that I can teach you on your down time if you would like to learn. Artisan bread making, simple farmers cheese, beer making, kombucha, soap making, ice cream making, bee keeping, and we have a guest house we put online if you are interested in learning about hosting.
  
  Remember we are not a pristine full set up working farm we are a work in progress trying to become self-sustainable as possible and it is done as we have realized in small steps due to health, finances and energy! We would love to share the process down this path with others interested.
  
  We can take 1-2 people and length of time is flexible. We are not looking for someone local who is basically looking for a place to live…By agreeing to come to our farm you are accepting all responsibility for any accidents, health issues or injuries.
  
  
  To get to our location you can take Amtrak to SAnta Barbara or other destinations depending on where you are coming from and they have a bus that connects to Solvang. Same for when you leave, a bus from Solvang takes you to SAnta Barbara or Santa Maria etc and you connect in to Amtrak. google bus/train info that comes to Solvang usually you will connect through Santa Barbara. Wanderu I believe has the schedule online. We can drop you off or pick you up in Solvang or there is a small bus stop near our lane. If you are taking Greyhound bus then you will go to SAnta Maria and then there is a bus Breeze 200 that goes from the SAnta Maria transit station to Solvang.
  
  When you write to us please do not send a cut and paste general response, read our listing, tell about yourself etc. make it personal. Sometimes when you write with your dates we have to contact other helpers that maybe coming at the same time so we need to double check with them. Please respond to us after we write back to you within 24 hours and let us know if you are coming or not so that way we can go on to the next person.
  
  Thank You!!

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  General Maintenance

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Farmstay help

  Help with Eco Projects

  Help around the house

  Animal Care

  Language practice

  Help with Computers/ Internet
• 

  UN sustainablity goals this host is trying to achieve

  ×

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  What's this?
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We have traveled a lot and love learning and sharing information about different places. In my listing about our farm I have an extensive list of things we enjoy and can teach if you are interested.

• 

  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

• 

  Help

  Gardening, building projects, weeding, cleaning, cooking, animal care, general maintenance

• 

  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent

• 

  Accommodation

  RV motorhome has queen bed, shower kitchen etc. is 24ft long

• 

  What else ...

  We live in beautiful wine country with lots of vineyards. We have great hiking and biking areas. Santa Barbara and the ocean are approximately 30 minutes away. Some guests have just enjoyed relaxing and reading in the hammock on their days off.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

• 

  Hours expected

  Maximum 5hours a day excluding lunch 5 days a week

Feedback (7)