Be nurtured and appreciated, help with gardening and food preservation in southern Indiana, USA

Details

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  Description

  We are a wife and husband who grow vegetables for personal consumption, and we freeze, dehydrate, sun dry and can for our own use and donate the excess. We do mapling during the season and manage our forest without timbering. For 8 years we have been planting crops specifically to feed the wildlife, with a mindset as a wildlife sanctuary for all who want to come and partake. There are no fences, cages, pens or chains/ropes for the creatures, except fences around the small vegetable gardens to keep hungry critters out.  A 3.5 acre plot along the river is becoming a pollinator plot with more than 16 different types of native wildflowers. 
  
  "There's always something to do on the farm." That's what my parents were frequently heard saying, when I was a boy. And that is true today here. The summer crops of vegetables are just beginning to ripen and be harvested. Been eating beets for a couple of weeks, lots left and on 6/17 planted a second 90' row. Green beans are coming to the table now. We are thinning the fingerling-sized carrots and loving their tender freshness. Soon we'll be eating new potatoes and cucumbers, some chilies and then tomatoes, honeydew and cantaloupe, okra, more beets and carrots and kale. On July 9, 4500 garlics will be harvested and hung from the trusses to cure, then we'll gather with the friends and neighbors who have come to help with the harvest, and have a feast, this year featuring pozole with chicken and hominy. So come and enjoy those, along with all the other good food that is provided, during your days and weeks here.
  
  Mamie's Garden, the 80' x 30' high tunnel, is in transition now to a few summer crops and prep for fall plantings beginning in August with carrots. Daily tending, plus the irrigation and maintenance there keep us busy. Firewood gathering is a current and regular activity, as is general maintenance and picking up sticks around the place. We make chips from sticks and branches for building garden soil and compost and for covering walkways and areas populated with wine cap stropharia mushroom spawn. This is a user active life style and there's never more to do than in the summer, which fits well with the long days. That's when your pitching in for some hours each day means so much and for which we will be so grateful.
  
  So, there's a lot of good things going on and we are waiting for your help and enthusiasm to keep things flourishing here. We love creating and enjoying abundance. The more experience with gardening, both vegetable and flower, the more satisfaction you will enjoy. But, if you are new to these practices and want to learn and gain experience, that's great, too! So, really hopeful of finding some farming and project help right away and for the coming seasons. Eager to hear from you. Larry and Helen
  
  The place is set in a beautiful wooded valley in southern Indiana,surrounded by the Hoosier National forest; so our place is a magical place, with lots of trees, birds, wildlife and natural beauty.  We cherish nature here and give gratitude every day to Mother Earth. It is remote and isolated, with the nearest neighbor about a mile away. The closest small town with a convenience/gas store is 7 miles. To enter the property, a ford across a small stream, the Patoka River, must be crossed, or, if the water is up, a footbridge is available. It is extremely quiet, tranquil and peaceful here. We are located 48 miles west of Louisville, KY. Wi-Fi is available and the feed is via unlimited optic fiber.
  
  
  Currently, the skills most needed are gardening and food processing and preservation, house work and organizing, handyman skills, cooking, equipment operation and lots of various activities for living with the land, like cutting, gathering and stacking firewood.  There is an 80'x30' heated hoop house (high tunnel) that always needs attention.  General farm, equipment and facilities maintenance also keep us very busy. A stay of 3 weeks seems about right for us, with the longest stay yet of about a year.
  
  We like to gather some evenings for a meal together, where we can learn and share with each other.  You will be encouraged to help in the meal preparation, including harvesting and preparing veggies from the hoop house.
  
  The local area is rich in culture: old-time country music, 2 strict Amish farming communities, karst landscape with both commercial and private caves, kayaking and canoeing, hiking, camping, horseback riding and hunting in the Hoosier National Forest, a large recreational/fishing reservoir, a few small lakes. There is a growing permaculture community with deep roots. The county seat is Paoli and a dynamic food coop was started there about 10 years ago. 

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  The description above includes much. In addition, we are deeply involved with several folks and organizations on reservations in South Dakota. In September, we will make our 11th Annual giveaway - we take donations folks in our community give, like sewing machines, fabric and notions, plus blankets and winter clothing and gardening tools, to people we have gotten to know at Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations. We have been very supportive of the Indigenous ways and our brothers and sisters who are maintaining the old ways. Check out our FaceBook page: ask us for the link

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  Help

  Around Halloween, we need help hosting our community garlic project. See the photo from last year. The chimneys and wood stoves need prepped for winter. Sweet potatoes will need harvested during the late summer. Summer crops in the hoop house need to be cleaned up and the new crops always need weeded, harvested, prepared and eaten. We eat a lot of our own more-than-organic veggies.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Lodging is on the second floor of a passive solar, 70'x20' building. There is a complete kitchen (separate from that of our own residence), a basic bathroom that is clean and tidy, a sleeping room with 2 twin beds, and a community area with a futon and another twin bed. The kitchen is included in a large open community area for dining and relaxing. The is a large deck outside with clotheslines. A washing machine is in the rooms/shop below. There is a beautiful swimming pond, with a deck, located a few hundred feet up the hill.

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  What else ...

  Great if you have your own transportation. But, we have picked people up who travel by other modes. We love seeing the wildlife up close, so pets are discouraged.

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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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  Can host digital nomads

  All have access to the large and comfy community area. There are two private rooms in the same building with the community area. The entire building has unlimited optic fiber with 50 mb up and down. There's a house phone available using VOIP through the optic fiber. Extended calls require scheduling in advance. If your personal communication devices allow, you may VOIP via WiFi.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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