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Host rating
85 %
Last replied
20 Apr 2025
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Details
Description
We are a joint venture of two very different farms. Sleepy Hollow is Paul, Sharon & Lottie’s home and has been established over the last 9 years. We are a Christian homeschooling family keen on self sufficiency and organic practices. Amongst a menagerie of different creatures, we run 2 milking cows and a small herd of British Alpine milking goats, 2 pigs, handful of sheep and 2 x alpacas. We also process the wool (Paul is a shearer)and enjoy spinning it and if interested you can learn that too. We have an ever growing productive vegetable garden including a range of summer berries and vegetables and we also breed our own livestock for meat. This is all for our own consumption and to share with family/friends.
The kitchen, centred around the slow combustion stove, is always busy with the baking of organic home made bread and the making of cheeses. Through the summer it really ramps up as we process and can as much extra produce as possible, with a fair bit of experimentation and fun.
Over the road is Kylie’s recently purchased 8 acre block of The Meadow, more than half of which is native regrowth. There are 2 acres that in future will become an organic sanctuary for people looking to soak up some rainforest love & care. We are doing some conservative clearing to get ready for fencing and the construction of a shed.
We are 25 minutes to the beach and have some beautiful rivers and water falls accessible within 5km.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Interests
DIY & crafts
Gardening
Cooking & food
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Share our experiences as we attempt to be as self sufficient as possible. We love to encourage a barter/trade/gift economy within our local community. learning possibilities including cheese making, bread making, wool processing and spinning, shearing, butchering, harvesting honey, making soap and more.
Help
We are most keen for some extra hands to manage the large veggie garden(weeding, mowing, picking the produce, then preserving the produce, mulching, digging, pruning) and help with the care for the animals.(feeding them, moving them to a new paddock ) If you are interested in helping/learning with the sourdough bread and cheese making (every 2 to 3 days making either camembert or a hard cheese).
Also, Kylie has some conservation projects on the go.
....So we are looking for people keen to work alongside us as well as being able to do tasks independently once being shown what & how to do it. At this stage it is volunteer exchange for food/accom. We are not a business earning money from our produce.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
Accomodation is at the Meadow in a bush hut or caravan, with everything required, (each can sleep 2 people). There is a composting toilet and we are working on a camp shower and kitchen. Until that is set up you can shower at the house. There is also a single room at the house available.
You can join us for all your meals or prepare your own with food provided or a mix of both. We grow, make, bake and butcher nearly all our own organic food.
What else ...
We are close to the beautiful seaside village of Wynyard where you can grab a coffee in one of the many cafes (not better than Sharons coffee though), here are also the main supermarkets and transport links for the area.
We are totally surrounded by forestry full of beautiful trails to explore as well as the rivers and waterfalls. Explore the forested areas of the Meadow to find the perfect relaxation location or to birdwatch.
We are happy to help out with a bit of sight seeing & town trips locally if you don't have transport.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
At the house there is wifi but up at the caravan site it would be mobile only. Reception is pretty good there.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
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