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Host rating
100 %
Last replied
16 Apr 2024
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95.8 %
Usually responds within 20 days
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Details
Description
US AND THE LAND:
Our little family is on 50 acres in the Comox Valley of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Black Creek is tucked between crystal clear streams, mountain lakes, wildflower meadows and beautiful white sand beaches - it's a quiet little paradise in the North end of the Comox Valley.
Here we, Christina (38) and John (37), live with our family, Julianna (6) and our son Finn (18 months). We also share the land with dear friends Hartley (28) and Emily (29)
We have a small retreat centre here and occasionally host groups but also have a cut flower farm, 10 acres of pasture, 40 acres of forrest, a few farm animals like chickens, ducks and goats and 3 dogs.
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR AREA:
Saratoga Beach - epic white soft sand beach (5 mins), Oyster River - many spots for walks and plunges (5-10 mins), Salmon Point - a gorgeous Ocean-side 5km well maintained path (5 min), Nymph Falls - epic waterfalls and swimming holes (20 mins), Comox Lake - beautiful for walking, hiking and swimming (30 mins), Cumberland - super fun little town with great restaurants, the best ice cream and right beside epic mountain biking and hiking (25 mins), Mount Washington - alpine meadow hiking and camping (25 mins), and so much more!
LENGTH OF STAY:
We'd like a minimum of a 3 week commitment and would welcome a longer stay. There's a lot to do in this valley and we'll gladly try and help you make the most of your stay.
FOOD:
We will provide kitchen staples as well as a weekly allowance for groceries. Either you can take a car and hit the local grocery which is a 5 minute drive or you can give a list to us and we can do the shop. When time allows we'd love to share meals together.
TRANSPORT:
You can take the ferries and arrive at a bus stop that is a 5 minute drive from our house. There is infrequent public transit that can take you to town that is about a 10 minute bike ride away. We have a couple of bikes and a car available for occasional use. You can tag along for grocery shop runs into town and borrow a vehicle once in a while to go to the mountain, beaches etc and you're welcome to tag along with us when we go.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Getting back to the land!
Connecting with nature.
Connection with the wisdom of traditional cultures; we sometimes play host to sweats and ceremony.
We have a network of very cool folks in this neighbourhood that you can connect with.
We have a great outdoor gym and do workouts all together a couple times a week.
We love to cook together and share meals outside.
We have access to amazing outdoor activities: Stand Up paddle boarding, mountain biking, fishing, hiking. Stunning beach 5 minutes away, a beautiful riverside park that you can walk to, alpine meadows, lakes and hiking are a 25 minute drive. 4 funky little towns with lots to explore a 25 min drive away.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
This would be a 5 hrs/day position. You would be living either in the barn described below or in a beautiful tent with mattress and hammock that is near the geo dome described below and the outdoor kitchen and shower.
Chores:
We've got a number of daily and weekly tasks that we'd like support with such as caring for animals, watering gardens and lawn care
Projects:
We have an abundance of garden and landscaping maintenance each year that doesn't require skill so much as willingness to learn and move quickly and efficiently.
We're thrilled anytime we can play host to a builder.
Next up? a sauna, swing set, ropes course, pizza oven and outdoor gathering area.
Meal Prep:
We've hosted a chef before and loved it. Cooking for big groups to eat all together, filling up the freezer and processing foods from the gardens are all super valuable for us.
Childminding:
We'd be very grateful for daily playtime with our kids, age 6 and 18 months.
So what does this look like?
Creating some structured activities whether it's play, art, language or learning for our daughter. Any Spanish language experience would be great as our daughter is learning Spanish as we live in Mexico half of the year.
Julianna loves to be physical, adores active playtime and creativity whether with art, imagination games or exploring outdoors. J is in day care 2 days a week so help for us here would look like excited and enthusiastic engagement, following her lead with make believe and imagination, getting on the bikes and going for a bike ride, playing on the trampoline, making forts, learning basic math, abc's, Spanish practice, art time etc.
With our son, the big help would be attentive and engaged babysitting. Stroller rides around the farm, safe playtime and engagement via books, new sensory experiences
A few things we've learned from hosting the last couple years:
- We love duos or couples!
- We happily match efforts you make in trying to make your stay with us meaningful, meaning that we notice when you show up on time, and work hard.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
We are actively working on Spanish!
Accommodation
We have 3 areas available for work aways to stay.
1. The Barn: is a fully furnished and newly renovated gathering space with living room, bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. This is a space we use for hosting retreat groups but when there are no groups occupying the space we want to open it up to Work-Away.
2. The Sleeping Dome and glamping bell tent: We recently constructed a new 22 foot diameter geodesic dome and adjacent bell tent that are set up for retreat guests and Workaways. Adjacent is a (beautiful) composting toilet (made by a french furniture making workaway!), outdoor shower and camp kitchen (complete with stove, oven, fridge and coffee set up)
3. RV site: If you have a trailer, camper-van or small RV we have a fully serviced, 30 amp site with septic hookup adjacent to the flower farm.
What else ...
We share the land with another young couple. Between us there's a lot of fun things we can connect you with – we've got a good bit of experience on the island and can direct you towards many sorts of adventures.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We installed StarLink internet so our uptime and speed is looking good!
Space for parking camper vans
We have a beautiful, fully serviced 30amp RV plug and sani connection site that is perfect for campervans and small rvs
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
MAXIMUM 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (4)
My accommodations were in a spacious dome separate from the main house and facing the beautiful forest. I had access to my own kitchen space and was provided… read more
Feedback
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Cultural exchange:
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My accommodations were in a spacious dome separate from the main house and facing the beautiful forest. I had access to my own kitchen space and was provided… read more
