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Description
My roommate and I are both white, middle-aged, trans and neuro-divergent. We live in Vegreville, a small, conservative rural town that serves the farming and oil and gas industry, located just over an hour from the city of Edmonton, Alberta. I moved here in 2023 to look after my mother, who had returned to her homeplace after 50 years away. Having spent my adult life in several cities in the US, Canada and western Europe, I now find myself in the midst of the biggest cross-cultural challenges of my life.
Politically, Alberta is pretty conservative, and the folks who live around my town are no exception. Nevertheless, there's an undercurrent of progressivism that I am tapping into. A couple of my iitiatives include joining with other local residents to create a human rights-oriented organization promoting foraging to the local garden club.
I've become fascinated with foraging and exploring recipes for baked goods, main dishes and fermented foods using the weeds that come up in my yard, which had been quite neglected until I took possession last year. I've piqued some curiosity amongst my contacts, and have aspirations of helping my neighbors with foraging, or foraging in their yards once mine is more under control. I'm looking for a partner who can help jumpstart this activity in all its aspects: physical labor, research, food prep and advocacy. If you're looking for a project involving sustainability, social justice, and fun experimentation in a chill environment, please consider this one!
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Interests
Sustainability
Vegetarian or vegan
Politics / Social justice
LGBTQ
Events & social
Culture
Charity work
Writing
Books
Languages
Gardening
Cooking & food
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Hiking
Cycling
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
My roommate and I helped create a local human rights advocacy and education organization. We host meetings at the house and spend a lot of time planning and hosting events in our efforts to create a more inclusive, safe and respectful community. Workawayers would be more than welcome to participate in these activities, but there is no requirement to do so.
My roommate and I have very different lifestyles. My roommate is into video games, tattoos, drumming and taekwondo. I'm into reading, gardening (obviously), doing yoga, biking and hiking. I've travelled and lived in several countries and speak Spanish and French.
Help
Like any agricultural activity, foraging takes more work than I have time to do on my own. So, I'm looking for workawayers who share my passion for promoting sustainable living to help out with tasks like harvesting, processing, preparing, recipe research, improving the garden in general, and sharing knowledge with community members. The work week would consist of about 15-18 hours per week, some indoors doing recipe research (going through cookbooks and online), processing (washing, storing) and preparing, and some outdoors, foraging, watering, mulching etc. I'd also like to attend local farmer's markets and fairs to give away small bags of foraged items and perhaps start a blog. We can work together and independently. We can be set the schedule at a weekly meeting, based on what garden needs and events are happening that week, and modify it as conditions evolve. Workawayees can choose what days off they would like.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: 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
We share a 4 bed, 2 bath house that has a spacious living room and huge rec room, as well as front and back yards that include a bunch of native pollinator-friendly plants, a few kitchen-garden crops, and amazing fields of weeks haha.
There are a variety of accommodations available. There are 2 bedrooms with twin beds, plus plenty of floor space in the rec room. Bathrooms and an office space are shared.
Regarding board, I can provide all the ingredients for meals and we can share meal preparation when convenient. I eat mostly vegan and my roommate eats mostly meat, but we can meet in the middle with salads and chili haha.
What else ...
Vegreville is a small, quiet town without a lot going on, except for a Ukrainian festival and an agricultural fair in July and August. We're located 1 block away from the library and 3 blocks away from a municipal pool. There are several gyms in town. And pretty good spots for bird-watching. Everything is walkable, and I have bikes to lend. I also take trips to Edmonton , a little over an hour away, about once a week for errands and cultural events, and to hiking areas that are about 40 minutes away.
Here are a few other things to know:
* Please be up-to-date with Covid and other relevant Vaccines, Wash Your Hands often with soap, wear Masks when spending significant amounts of time in crowded, confined spaces such as airplanes, and postpone your visit if you're coughing, sniffling, etc.
* I'm sensitive to strong Odors, particularly Perfume, Tobacco smoke, and Fast Food, and request that these items Not be consumed inside the house.
* I have adhd and that can cause me to confuse dates and times and to forget appointments, so it's a good idea to double-check with me about schedules and to circle back whenever something isn't making sense.
* I use cannabis outside and occasionally drink alcohol.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
The wifi connection is good and can be upgraded if necessary. I'm fine with reorganizing the indoor spaces in ways that accommodate everyone.
Space for parking camper vans
I can provide parking for a small motorhome or van
Can possibly accept pets
Dogs that do not bark a lot are fine. There are feral cats in the neighborhood so I would not recommend bringing an outdoor cat.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
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