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Heartfelt Homesteading, Garden Life, and Animal Care on the beautiful Island of Manitoulin, Canada

Availability

  2025 

 Min stay requested: at least 2 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    🌿 Welcome to Our Magical Homestead on Manitoulin Island! 🌿

    Hi friends!
    We’re Tala and Dávid, and we warmly invite you to join us on our 100-acre organic farm and forest sanctuary on the beautiful and spacious Manitoulin Island.

    Our land is alive with abundance—fruit trees, a tranquil pond, vibrant wildlife, and a no-dig heirloom garden full of herbs, veggies, and flowers. We share our home with a gentle livestock guardian dog, 20 Easter-egg-laying chickens, a magical pair of peafowl, five hilarious Nigerian dwarf goats (who we milk), and recently, a herd of seven horses who pasture our 25-acre field.

    We’re on a journey toward self-sufficiency and holistic living—starting everything from seed, making our own compost, preserving food, saving seeds, and living in harmony with the land. Creativity, mindfulness, and connection are central to our daily rhythm.

    🌸 About Us

    Tala is passionate about dance, music, and sewing. She is currently studying Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and Mayan Abdominal Massage, sees clients part-time, and runs a small Etsy shop.

    Dávid is a carpenter and builder who loves neuroscience, meditation, quantum physics, and creative design.

    We value balance—work, rest, and play—and we begin each day with meditation or movement. While you're not expected to follow a daily practice, you're encouraged to take time for reflection and self-connection.

    🌱 What You Can Learn Here

    Depending on the season and your stay, you might take part in:

    Seed starting, planting, weeding, harvesting
    No-dig gardening and permaculture principles
    Trellising, row-covering, seed saving, composting
    Canning and preserving food
    Chicken and goat care (including milking)
    Homesteading systems and eco-building
    Cooking nourishing meals
    Creative projects, art, and music
    Land stewardship and learning about local Indigenous culture

    There are lakes, beaches, and trails nearby to explore. Life here is peaceful, slow-paced, and deeply connected to nature.

    ✨ 2025 Update: Who We're Looking For

    This season, we are welcoming three types of visitors:

    1. Short-Term Housesitters (for the dates below):
    Help with light daily chores (animal care, watering, weeding) while we are away. In exchange, you’ll have a quiet stay in our cozy cabin, homegrown organic food, and the chance to connect with nature.

    2. Short-Term Visitors/Helpers (min. 2-week stay):
    For travelers looking to learn and contribute. Help a few hours a day in exchange for lodging, food, and hands-on experience with homesteading.

    3. Long-Term Helpers (Summer–Fall, or Winter Stay):
    Ideal for someone (or a couple) looking to live simply and connect deeply with our land and lifestyle. Fewer hours required each week to allow you time to pursue your own part time passions on the side. This option doesn't include all your food (however we still do provide basic pantry staples and garden veggies) but offers more independence, collaboration, and creative opportunity.

    🐐 What We’re Looking For

    Ideally some experience with gardening or animals, but not necessary
    Open-hearted, communicative, and reliable
    Comfortable being self-directed
    Vehicle access is helpful due to our rural location
    Willingness to engage in both the fun and the messy parts of homestead life

    Daily animal chores take about 45 minutes, shared among all of us. Gardening and project hours vary from 2–4 hours a few days a week, depending on the season.

    🗓️ House/Farm Sitting Dates for 2025:

    July 31 – August 4

    September 15 – 23

    December 14, 2025 – January 31, 2026

    We’re excited to connect with kindred spirits who are eager to learn, share, and enjoy this magical land with us.
    Thank you for reading, and we look forward to hearing from you!

    With warmth,
    Tala & Dávid 🌿

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Farmstay help
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
    House sitting
  • Interests

    Interests

    Culture
    Events & social
    Pets
    Sustainability
    Self development
    Farming
    Animals
    Carpentry
    Drawing & painting
    Photography
    Plant care
    Music
    DIY & crafts
    Gardening
    Cooking & food
    Books
    Outdoor activities
    Fitness
    Mountain
    Nature
    Dancing
    Yoga / Wellness
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    An opportunity to slow down and experience a way of living that is connected to the land, nature and wholeistic living.

  • Projects involving children

    Projects involving children

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

  • Help

    Help

    Helpers will experience and participate in all the steps of growing a garden: seeding and caring for seedlings in spring, bed preparation, transplanting, weeding, water, harvesting, etc.

    As well as food transformation: sourdough, fermentation, preserving, freezing... making sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, tomato sauce, goat cheese, yogurt and soaps..

    Daily tasks include collecting eggs and milking goats.

    Depending on the skill set, we could use help with some building projects and general maintenance of the property.

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent
    French: Intermediate
    Hungarian: Intermediate

    This host offers a language exchange
    We are actively studing Spanish but would also love to maintain our French :)

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    A private room in the house with a queen bed, or optional tenting anywhere on the property. We share a kitchen, and meals together while we are working.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    It would be best if you have your own vehicle to explore the area as we are quite rural. There is lots to enjoy - beaches, waterfalls, canoeing, swimming, hiking trails and local markets.

    We have a solid two bars of cell service outside of the house, one solid bar with the phone in the window, but no reception inside of the house. The house itself does not have wifi, but we use hotspot to access the internet and it works just fine for our needs. If you dont have a data plan, ours is shareable. In summary, quite workable, but gives an opportunity to be mindful about technology and instead lean into grounding with nature. :)

  • 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

    We've got lots of room for parking, many options/ special spots, as well as various locations and platforms for tents.

  • Can possibly accept pets

    Can possibly accept pets

    Possible if they get along with our dog and are gentle with chickens and goats.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • My animals / pets

    My animals / pets

Host ref number: 225114416111

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