Canada
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We are a family of five living on a farm just north of Armstrong, BC. We are not a production farm, more so a homesteading family. We have two 5 year old boys (Xander and Griffin) and a 7 month old baby boy (Willis). Chris and Max (the parents) are working professionals.
Maxine is currently on maternity leave and is busy with little Willis and the twins. She is very knowledgeable with herbs and plants and is currently taking a course in becoming a master herbalist. Chris works full time and attempts to make sure dinner is on the table, gardens are watered, whatever breaks gets fixed and the farming schedules on time.
Our animals include sheep/lambs, 2 goats, chickens , ducks, a cat and 3 dogs. We raise lamb and chicken for meat ourselves and others. We also have chickens and ducks for eggs, which we also sell when we have capacity to.
Our farm backs on to a mountain in the beautiful Okanagan and has a variety of berry bushes and fruit trees. We follow permaculture practices as much as possible.
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
General Maintenance
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Farmstay help
Help with Eco Projects
Help around the house
Animal Care
Volunteers will get an idea of what homesteading is all about. There is an opportunity for volunteers to get more comfortable using power tools and building with wood. Volunteers could also learn to process harvested food and about plants that are usually under your feet that have healing/health benefits.
We are looking for help with the following below:
-building projects - including tearing down a deck and reusing the wood to rebuild a treehouse.
-building a hand scuplted bench
-Pending on what is ripe, harvesting fruit/vegetables
-processing food, which could include: canning, dehydrating, making cheese, making butter, making lactofermented food
-Daily chores such as feeding/watering animals, watering gardens and collecting eggs
-Possibly cleaning animal shelters, animal husbandry (hoof trimming, herbal deworming).
-Possibly milking a cow (we don’t have a cow, but Maxine milks a community cow)
-splitting firewood
-installing new fencing and maintaining existing fencing
-sheep herding
-Farmsitting
We are seeking help from June 24 to July 7 2019. We are looking for someone(s) to look after of our place and hang out with the animals while we are away. We are open to having volunteers staying longer than the time we have noted above as well.
English: Fluent
In house double bed or camping.
The Okanagan is surrounded by beautiful lakes, our place is a 30 minute drive to the nearest lake. We commute daily near some lakes and a larger city centre (Salmon Arm). Transit is available to the City of Vernon. There is also a good swimming river about a 10 minute drive away, and is a nice bike ride on quiet country roads. We have spare bicycles to ride.
We live on a beautiful mountain, there is a lot of amazing hikes year round right here where we live.
We have a 1.2m high half pipe for skateboarding in our barn.
We are pretty easy going people. Our lives revolve a lot around outer children right now. A good experience for us would entail having someone(s) who:
-is not just looking for a place to crash for a little while, but;
-give a fair level of effort with work around the farm
-is keen to learn what they can in the time they are with us
-not afraid to take initiative and work under minimum supervision
-Like to have good dinners and conversations
-not afraid to help out with cooking and cleaning up in the kitchen
-Like animals
-keep shared spaces clean and tidy
Our preference is to have volunteers who want to eat off our land. Vegans are welcome, but please come with an open mind.
We’ve made some great friendships over the years hosting and hope to make more!
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
