India
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Namaste,greetings
We have a beautiful 128 acre organic orchard next to a dam. We have over 4000 lime trees and grow many other vegetables,grains,cotton depending on the season.We live with 35 workers 11 cows including 2 baby cows born just a few weeks ago and the other is a month old,few dogs,puppies and a horse. Almost everything we eat is organic and grown on our farm and fresh fish from the dam just all we need. The dam will amaze anyone when you go for fishing and kayaking.
I am a backpacker at heart and need help to built a hostel on our farm. I am using rocks and rammed earth method to built everything and if you enjoy building things and learning different ways of construction this should be a lot of fun. We always have work to do on the farm and everyone is welcome to be part of our lives and have a good time.
We have started construction to make a eco friendly retreat to offer Yoga,Ayurvedic(massages) treatment and Vedic diet detox that most backpackers can afford and during off season/summer months we plan to conduct workshops, host Artist-in-residence programs and organize other residency opportunities to invite artist of all kinds academicians, curators, and all manner of creative people from all over the world. Our farm is located next to a huge water body which adds to the beauty of the already amazing landscapes which are accented in red rocks and the air so pure and clean that it purifies every part of the person in no time along with fresh farm grown organic food and all meals cooked with wood fire oven on clay pots.
Food/Diet-
Breakfast- We eat Pearl millet bread called "rotla with cow butter and milk with banana most of the time... We also have organic chicken eggs in different ways.
Lunch- Wheat bread called "rotli" with vegetables cooked with spices and not too oily,white rice and "dal" which is boiled lentils garnished with spices,garlic,ginger and other amazing stuff. We also have a lot of butter milk with lunch and dinner and milk,yogurt is a staple with all foods. sandwiches,pasta,bbq,burgers,pizza and all that happen a lot too depending on work
Dinner- "khichdi" which is a dish of rice and legumes with steamed vegetables and fish or whatever meat has been caught and butter milk,milk,butter yogurt is always on the table for lunch and dinner and snacks . we dont have very glamourous dinners unless if its easy the next day or during summers when we have less work and many time i just ask the cooks to make whatever they want so its more fun and less boring. also on a farm whatever we grow we eat so we sometimes eat the same vegetable for a few days as they are very fresh and picked just before we cook them... some people dont like this and when they complain we get stuff from the market...
We also have a chef from France who is doing a project with us making cheese and other dairy products and its been a delight to enjoy french food on a regular basics ....
ps- have phases during which i become 100% Vegan and have lots of options for all vegan only folks
Gardening
Building
Babysitting / child care
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Language practice
Art project
Help with Computers / internet
Teaching
India is a very large country. Life in india changes every few kilometers regardless of the direction you travel into. We have a very big/different pallet of lifestyle in every way... at our farm we have slowly come to live a organic life with yoga and embrace nature as much as possible and we offer you to be part of that experience and make happy memories...Along with that i want to built a home for the international community of backpackers,artist,musicians that pass by....
Learn how to cook local dishes, learn how to do organic farming with indian crops, learn about indian/gujarati tribal culture which is very hard to find as all my workers are tribal workers from various tribes.
Learn how to catch fish,hunt rabbits,built homes from rocks and mud and have a good time
I am warmly welcoming any volunteers who can help me in any way possible...
Building/Construction- We are building a large spacious dormitory to house 40 + backpackers. we are building this using traditional method of construction using rocks and mud . You will learn how to make hut/dorms with rocks and rammed earth which has been used for many hundred years. Homes built this way are perfect as it keeps the inside temperature cool during summers and cosy in winters. This was we also are able to be as eco friendly as possible and have a lesser carbon footprint. We welcome anyone who wants to help us and all of those who help us will always be able to stay with us for free whenever they visit us forever, this will be our way of thanking you back for the help. You can work for as many hours as you feel like and we never tell you to do anything. if u feel like working 4 hours one day and the next day u feel like working 2 hours we are fine. As long as the work you do is from your heart and you do well whatever you do we will be pleased.
Gardening/farming- We have over 4000 lime trees and they need a lot care and watering every day. If you like gardening you can help us out with lime trees or other vegetable gardens we have on the farm. You will be picking lime, watering them and learn how to maintain them.We dont use any chemicals so we need lots of help to add organic compost all the time and water everyday.We have started growing organic vegetables for us this year and if you we welcome everyone to help us out and learn with us.
We also farm cotton,castor,cumin,wheat and many other crops depending on market conditions and climate conditions so you can learn a lot about the real farming life and understand how many factors go into farming and its not as easy as it looks. We want you to enjoy the life on a farm and we have no rules on the farm. You can work whenever you want to as many hours as you feel like and if you just want to visit us and chill with us and not work we have no problems with that either. One of the best things about farm life is that people who do this have a choice and they choose to live and work on the farm as they love it and so we never have to ask anyone to do any particular task,if i forget someone does it without me asking its funny sometimes people work with team spirit and just do it and everything just gets done and the the flow we have on our farm is very cool.
Language practice- i am trying very hard to learn french and if you can teach me french for two hours a day or even one hour a day is great,am super fast learner i think... so it will be fun for you to watch me learn french and help me get ready to travel to france and french colonies next summer. You can also teach english to the children who live on the farm. we have about 9 kids from 7 months old to 14 year old teenagers .I teach them english and other skills that they ask me. they love to learn and they love people from other countries and they learn much better from them,specially girls...
Teaching- If you want to help teach the kids that live with us on the farm we want you to help us out. We have 9 kids total and they love to learn they are all very sweet and happy kids and ready to learn whatever new they can learn. However the real learning comes from getting them to know enough to be re enrolled in school again. So if someone really wants to help they must be able to pick one or two out of the nine children and get them to re enroll and that will motivate the others and it will be a start. Its very hard to ask the parents to help out as the parents are not educated enough and they see little value in education due to the quality of education being very poor quality in schools. Home schooling is only alternative and give exams by mail in the national school so we would welcome anyone who can help in any way possible. I have been getting toys,colors,paper to color on and lots of food stuff like chips,cookies whenever i go to the city and its over whelming to take on too much on my own so i have not been able to do more.
Animal care-We have 11 cows total and only two are producing milk and twice a day we milk them and i am not a big fan of milking cows so i don't engage with it unless i really have to. If you want to learn how to pick up hay(cow food) and bring it to the cows and from time to time pick up cow poop and dump it in one spot to make manure and twice a day milk cows we have a job for you and you are welcome to provide the mentioned Animal care. The cows need lots of loving and we have two baby cows they are super cute and they take amazing selfies. You can also take baby cows for a walk like talking a dog on a walk which they love.To complete all animal care needs everyday for all the cows it takes collectively about 3 to 5 hours and you can help as much as u can and learn slowly but its a easy job and always available and we can use one person for this job.
We are also adopting horses and looking for people who can help us take care of them and love them...
Art project-If you are a artist and want to do make installations from rocks and materials that we have naturally we want to collaborate with you . I am open to making ponds,gardens, or something delicate like painting or open for all ideas . stay with us for free as long as you like and help us do something green and artistic that is like functional art that grows which has water,trees and elements of nature . I do not play any musical instruments but always have room for musicians or artist of all walks(no metal) and are all warmly welcome
We have plenty of food as we grow it and its almost free as we grow so much and we welcome all peaceful people regardless of color,nationality,religion,etc to come check us out
gujarati,hindi,sindhi,english,spanish
You will be staying in a beautiful old fashion farm house which has two bedrooms with own bathrooms. One bedroom is used by my manager his wife and three daughters that are children and the other bedroom is the guest room which has a closet,fan,AC, bed and everything basic and private bathroom in the room which has hot water,regular american toilet,...We have three more houses on the farm and they have almost the same layout but a bit smaller in size.
fishing,horse ridding, go for a swim, watch birds ,boating ,volleyball, watch the sunsets
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 1-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
