Canada
Favourited 59 times
Our family lives in the forest of northern Vancouver Island. Interesting projects our family is often working on involve our goats, forest trails, improvements to our house and outbuildings, a large vegetable garden, landscaping, small renewable energy projects, and teaching our kids all kinds of things. We work from home providing affordable amazing accommodation to travelers from all over the world and nearby while remaining grounded in nature and rooted in our family. We will not be expecting help with the business, just with daily family life.
Gardening
Building
Babysitting / child care
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Art project
Our place offers excellent opportunities for meeting people from lots of different places, as tourists come here from all over the world to enjoy the nature here. Many of these people are interested in chatting about their lives and experiences, so there is a wide variety of cultural experience here.
This is in addition to the cultural experience of our family - we are a fairly good example of a rural Canadian family, with the strong independence and understanding of interdependence that comes with that lifestyle. We have years of experience growing gardens and tending livestock, traditions which go back thousands of years, giving travelers an opportunity to experience part of human history.
We live in a small community, making us a good site for cultural learning even for other Canadians who have lived in cities. The culture of small towns is often quite different, and more obvious, than that in a city!
Additionally, there is a very long history of aboriginal people living here, and although there are not a lot of museums and such nearby to visit, there is certainly some opportunity to see and learn about their cultures.
In almost every season we could use help with cooking, cleaning, and doing dishes, playing with or educating our children (5 and 7 years old), interchange of ideas, photography, art for our walls, and light maintenance.
There are also seasonal jobs that we can use help with, like gathering firewood, mowing the lawn, harvesting the garden, tending baby goats, and other various duties.
This is not an employment opportunity.
English, some Spanish
There are a variety of places that are available for you to stay and sleep. In all cases you will have a room (or a trailer) to yourself, or you could choose to sleep in a tent if you would prefer. Some flexibility may be expected as we sometimes receive large groups of guests (we may ask you to move to a different private space), but in some time periods you would have your own private room for up to months at a time.
We will provide all food, though helping to cook meals can be part of your working hours. The adults in the family are game to try new foods, so if you have something special you would like to share we would love to try it!
This area is amazing for people who like to spend time outdoors. We try to go and do some kind of fun adventure at least once a week, from hiking up Mt H'Kusam to canoeing the Salmon River, from exploring Little Huson Caves Park to jumping off the rocks at the local swimming hole. We would definitely take you along with us on any of these adventures that you are interested in, and you could help us choose what sounds most fun to you.
From our door you can walk to the Salmon River through varied forest, with some amazing ancient trees festooned with moss and lichen. There is a waterfall on site (much more impressive from September through May, but still soothing in the summer) so just hanging out on the property is usually quite enjoyable.
If you want to go farther afield without us, the options are borrowing a vehicle from us (assuming you have a valid driver's licence) or bringing your own. We do need our vehicles a fair bit, but we can arrange for you to use them occasionally. To get here you can take the bus to the Sayward stop and we will come and pick you up.
We are pretty friendly people, we like chatting and enjoy others' company. Being able to work beside someone while learning about who they are and what is important to them is one of the greatest joys for me personally.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.7)
