Help with animals on our small homestead in Northern Alberta, Canada

Details

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  Description

  Update:
  This year, we are hoping to build a small cow barn, foundations are already in place, some lumber sawed, help with construction work would be great.
  Also, my husband is hoping to build his dream cabin by the beaver pond, at the other end of our property.
  And I am looking for help with cow and donkey pastures (fencing, clean up, possibly cutting and collecting grass, ideally even making hay with our exciting new mini equipment!)
  Gardens have been expanded - so there will likely be more weeds that need weeding as well.
  
  After a long break, I am back here looking for somebody who would like to join me for a while on our small homestead in the bush.
  We've lived on our land since 2006, and have slowly built and developed our home and surroundings. I am now in my late sixties and love my life here - and it is a lot of work. My husband works in town most days, while I take care of the many animals I have. The most important ones are my two milk cows with their calves, because they provide us with milk, which I turn into yoghurt, cheese, butter etc., and with meat. Taking care of them is quite a big part of my day. We also grow gardens, I have a tiny greenhouse, and my husband runs a very small beekeeping operation. Then there are donkeys, a lama, a variable number of chickens and turkeys, a very old little piggy, three cats and a dog that all want to be taken care of (lots of cuddles appreciated by most of them). My spot for a workawayer does not include any work for the micro-apiary - I am only looking for somebody who is interested in helping ma a little with the other animals and in the garden.
  It is a very quiet life as we are half an hour's drive away from the next small town and 1.5 hrs away from a bigger city where I go about once a month for my main shopping.
  We are off-grid and only installed running water a few years ago, so this has its own challenges and dynamic. Most of the cooking and heating happens on/by our trusty woodstove, even though we have some back up propane heat. We produce all of our own meat and eggs, quite a few of the veggies we need and all dairy except for some cheese (working on that!)
  I am an avid knitter and I also own a couple of spinning wheels and a few hand spindles, but rarely find the time to use those lately. There's a loom that's still waiting to be set up, and I dabble in willow basketry.
  Networking with other people who enjoy living close to nature, with a small-ish ecological footprint and making things/food from scratch is something I am very interested in and I would love to welcome preferably women (30+ yrs) to mutually share ideas and skills with.
  I'm offering the opportunity to learn or practice some traditional skills, take a break from tight schedules, deadlines, city noise, and find some peace and quiet among the trees. There are always things I could use some help with, and I enjoy working side by side with similarly minded people. Weeding is so much more fun, when you can chat with someone while you're working :)

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Sustainability

  

  Self development

  

  Farming

  

  Languages

  

  Gardening

  

  Books

  

  Animals

  

  Nature
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Travellers could get to know an entirely different, very simple lifestyle, very close to nature and the weather, with options for wildlife walks and watching. If someone is interested, my husband would also provide some insights into small-scale beekeeping. When the work is done, somebody could take it as a retreat and enjoy some personal solitude and lots of "me-time".

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  Help

  I could use help with some smaller fencing projects, cutting and hauling grass for the cows, cleaning out some animal sheds, gardening, re-arranging a pantry.

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  We have a very basic, but clean and bright room in an outbuilding, still covered by WiFi. Shower is available in the house. Our house is not big, but we can always make room at the table :-) We are not set up to host somebody in the cold season.

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  What else ...

  Since we have many animals, dogs and cats are in the house, and in the summer there is exposure to honeybees, any allergies (except possibly food-related) would be a problem. Also, volunteers should be aware that there are small (mosquitoes) and possibly larger (bears and other wildlife) challenges.
  Given the daily animal chores, we find it tricky to go on longer trips, but daytrips with guests can be arranged. Otherwise, interested workawayers should consider this to be something more of a nature retreat :)

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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

  We have satellite internet, not Starlink, but very decent, and there's always a quiet corner where somebody can do online work.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Since I have a rather territorial big dog, unfortunately no pets.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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