Share experiences and learn about organic gardening in tranquil Northland, New Zealand

Details

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  Description

  Kia ora 😀 We are located 5 hours north of Auckland and are looking for a couple of helpers. The east coast is 20 minutes away with amazing beaches, also basic supermarket and cafes. The Far North is definitely worth adding to your travel itinerary 😀
  The position is best suited to a couple as we are at work on weekdays, returning home around 4pm.
  
  This is our first year as empty nesters with our youngest child headed away to study. We like the idea of continuing hosting young people as we will certainly miss our teens and all the laughs and conversations.
  
  Our helpers usually assist with maintenance in the garden - weeding, collecting horse manure; general house work, collecting firewood, feeding animals and walking the dog. Accommodation is a king size bed in our home. We have good wifi available. We prefer it if our helpers stay for 10 days to a fortnight.
  We are passionate about preserving our environment and have covenanted most of the forested areas of our land under the QE2 Trust. We are members of the local landcare group which involves supporting recovery of our local ecosystem and bio diversity through pest and weed control and planting.
  
  We like to cook and would love it if you enjoy cooking or baking. Julien is a chilli fanatic and grows a variety of chilli plants. He makes fermented hot sauce which ranges in heat from a mild/medium to 15/10 (I'm not kidding haha). We also make kombucha using green tea and honey and Kimchi. We make our own bread and would like to try some different recipes if you have any. We are vegetarian /pescatarian and make a range of vegetarian/vegan meals including Thai curries, pasta, homemade pizza, Mexican, roasted vegetables, vege burgers, stir fries, soups and salads. We occasionally eat fish.
  
  Although this is flexible we prefer you to arrive on a Thursday or Friday so we can spend time with you on the weekend helping you to settle in as we work during the week :-) . Please note that we are at work/school during the week so you must be able to work independently on tasks and be self motivated.
  
  We are passionate about preserving our environment and have placed most of our land under a covenant to protect it for the future. This meant lots of hard work fencing which was achieved with lots of help from workawayers and wwoofers ;-) We belong to our local landcare group and our workawayers sometimes help with weed control/working bees if they want to.
  
  We grow a wide variety of organic fruit including apples, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, plums, peaches, blue berry, mulberry, Bananas, feijoa, pineapples, grapes, raspberries, avocado, cherimoya. We also have a hugelkultur vegetable garden which a wwoofer helped to build that grows tomatoes, brasicas, lettuce, chard, kale, asparagus, garlic, zucchini and cucumber depending on the season.
  
  Being good hosts is important to us and we value the extra help and having the "world come into our home" by hosting travellers.
  
  We appreciate it if you show motivation and become a part of our family by pitching in. Helpers who are able to use initiative are like Gods to hosts, kidding, sort of! We worship anyone that noticed something needed doing and does it particularly if they haven't had much work to do. Work is usually 4 hours a day and help tidying the kitchen in the evening with 2 days off a week.
  
  Gloves, sunhat, old clothes, sunblock and insect repellent are important as are gumboots in Autumn and Winter.
  
  We are situated 20 minutes drive from beautiful east coast beaches and 35 minutes from Kaitaia township where we shop. Workawayers without a car usually catch a bus to Taipa where we can pick them up. If you have a car we encourage you to take a day or two out and head up the coast and camp in one the many cheap beachside campgrounds on the way to Cape Reinga.
  
  We potter about alot at home, there is always something to do! There are lovely bush walks in this valley and a river to swim in beside the house (perfect for the summer!).
  
  Julien is a secondary school art teacher and enjoys sailing. I work at the local preschool as a teacher and enjoy pottering at home with the animals. Our teens are aged 17 and 19. Fynn is currently at Uni studying Marine science and Erin is starting design school.
  
  I recommend visitors shop for any extras (treats and toiletries) before coming as we are not walking distance to any shops and drive to town once a week.
  
  We do not mind if you are learning english but it is important that you are sociable rather than very quiet! We value a sense of humour and enjoy conversations with our guests. Our attitude is pretty relaxed but we appreciate commitment to complete chores to a reasonable standard. You will have plenty of opportunity to just chill out and will be treated like a member of the family. We have lots of pets so if you like animals you will enjoy your stay!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Sharing ideas and experiences. Seeing things from another perspective and reciprocal knowledge sharing. Learning about organic gardening practices. How to make hot sauce, kimchi and kombucha. Learning skills on land care and maintenance. Learning about animal care including horses and poultry. Feeding our huge pet eel in the river. Local treks.
  Fun, laughs, relaxation and not too hard work.

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  Help

  someone to help in the garden, stacking cut firewood, lawn mowing, collecting horse manure, general housework, house painting, spring cleaning, weeding, mulching, windows, animal care, walking Marley the dog, feeding animals.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Large bedroom with king-size bed in our home.

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  What else ...

  Northland is a beautiful place to visit with some of the best scenery in the country. Many parts of it are remote with beautiful forest and white sandy beaches. If you don't have a car we may be able to take you to local beaches or you could join Julien at the local sailing club on Saturday. We have a twin kayak available there too.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have space for a 4 birth or 6 meter camper with power accessible.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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