Help in a Small Permaculture Garden on an Island off Honduras. (Utila)

Honduras

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16
Last activity
01/04/2020
Reply rate
100.0 %
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Availability

2020

Min stay requested: at least 3 weeks

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Description
Small starting-up Permaculture garden in Utila, Honduras.

Kristina is a web designer who got tired of the rat race and moved to Honduras to live off-grid and grow her on food.
special interest in those who have knowledge: in gardening, permaculture, and can talk to plants

I work online and expect you to work with limited direction. The Bay Islands are former British Colonies and therefore the majority of people here speak English. If you are looking to learn Spanish, this might not be your best island to learn on. This is a party/diving/beach island, I live 3 km out of town. Days off can be spent snorkeling, diving, beach lying, kayaking - there isn't a whole lot more.

*️️️️️️️*️️️️️️️cannot be allergic to cats*️️️️️️️*️️️️️️️
Type of help
Gardening
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Currently producing for consumption: okra, taro, yuca, bananas, pineapple, sweet potato greens, pumpkin & squash, white beans
Help
help required: 4 hours per day, 5 days per week - i work online and expect you to work with limited direction

special interest in those who have knowledge: in gardening, permaculture, and can talk to plants

up at 7am (latest)
breakfast 7-8 - coffee/tea/water, oatmeal/eggs & toast/seasonal fruit
8am start work - 2 hours weeding/watering/planting
10am - leaf collecting/toilet/sand collecting, help with misc projects
11am - daily/weekly household tasks/dog training
12pm - lunch, rice/pasta with veggies

rest of day off

days off: tuesday & friday

every tuesday i spend the day at the beach, you are welcome to join
fridays i work at the library/bookstore/movie theater in town

breakfast & lunch provided, you are own your own for dinner, kitchen is open for your use

Volunteer help required consists of planting, weeding, daily maintenance

Minimum stay 3 weeks.

I have many food bearing trees planted for 6 years, but they are not yet producing food.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Accommodation
Housing is provided in the house in a guest bedroom - limited privacy.
There are always bugs on the island - mosquitoes, sand flies, etc. The house is very open - there is a sandfly net on the guest bed. I do occasionally have scorpions and tarantulas inside the house.
I have 2 cats and 2 dogs.
I do not currently have running water and limited electricity (small solar panel), composting toilet.
3km (1.5 miles) outside of town, bicycles available.
What else ...
Volunteers should bring work clothes - lightweight pants, lightweight long sleeved shirt, boots/closed toe shoes, bug repellent (the sand flies can get really bad).
Utila offers many tourist activities to enjoy on your days off including diving, snorkeling, mini golf, kayaking etc.

A tourist visa for Honduras is given when you enter the country - it is good for 90 days. - Unless you are coming in from one of the CA4 countries (Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua), a visa is only good for 90 days for all 3 countries, a legal 1 month visa for the mentioned countries can be obtained legally in La Ceiba for about 450 Lempiras (contact me for additional visa questions.

For meals not provided: if you have a chance to get groceries in La Ceiba - do - food is 1/2 the cost on the mainland. I do not have a refrigerator.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Hours expected
4 hours/day, 5 days per week

Photos

collecting leaves for the compost toliet

Volunteers taking the trailer to town (canadian and australian)

volunteers finishing the outside shower wall with upcycled glass bottles

pineapples

Feedback left by and about host (16)

18/09/2018

Left by Workawayer (stephen) for host

Kjrsten is a great person and will immediately treat you like a welcome friend. I've never had an experience like working with her before and made for a great place to start my journey in.

(Excellent )

11/09/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (stephen)

Stephen came and helped me out for about a month here in Utila. For 2 weeks of this I was in the USA, so he took care of the dogs and cats and plants. He was a huge help and followed directions and asked questions. He would be a great volunteer for any project.

(Excellent )

02/08/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (YING-CHING)

Jing was amazing. Super helpful and always ready to lend a hand or walk the dogs. I would highly recommend jing to any workaway hosts. We had a lot of fun together, even if my western culture was maybe a bit strange for her :) I am thrilled that she went from being afraid of water to snorkeling in 20 feet of water with me in only 4 weeks! You are… read more

(Excellent )

01/08/2018

Left by Workawayer (YING-CHING) for host

I love so much Kirstin and stayed for a month. We have had a lot of good experiences, like how to plant, how to live by herself, how to live with pets, etc. I love so much stayed with the pets, they're so sweet and smart even though the dogs always disappeared, but I love them so much.
Kirstin so nice, she knew I can't able to swim and she… read more

(Excellent )

08/07/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Dror & kfir)

kfir was great. hardworking, followed directions, enjoyed learning new things. he would be an asset to any project. have fun in your travels.

(Excellent )

19/08/2017

Left by Workawayer (Zuri ) for host

This was my very first official workaway experience and an unforgettable one at that! If this is how all of them turn out to be, I am going to be one incredibly lucky woman!

Kirstin (the gracious host) is an incredibly kind, generous, funny, playful and all-around, beautiful person She has been on island for years and knows quite a lot of people… read more here- as well as a lot of the interesting stories/history/secrets that the island holds. She introduced me to many of the island's local residents and hotspots and was also a very supportive and caring host (introduced me to people who share a lot of my same interests in hopes of helping me develop myself and find gigs to support myself abroad as well as encouraged me to enter my very first cooking contest ever). I would highly recommend spending time with her. In fact, I wish we had had more time together and under conditions that weren't as stressful for her (she was trying to get things ready to leave the island for 2 months). After spending three weeks with her, I feel grateful to have made a new life-long friend and I will surely be back to stay with her anytime I am in this part of the world (which I have a feeling will now be more frequently, since I have found a gem of a person living on Utila). And, I hope that she will also come and visit me whenever she happens to be in my part of the world.

What I did: I spent A LOT of time weeding and listening to my podcasts while doing it. Being a tropical island, weeds sprout up like crazy, so I had my work cut out for me. I do need to warn you that if you are deathly afraid of spiders (especially tarantulas) or scorpions, this workaway will either constantly scare the sh:asterisk_symbol:t out of you or help you conquer your fears. I can proudly say that it did the latter for me and I am now much less afraid of scorpions (but still do not want them to sting me) and I now hold a genuinely loving place in my heart for tarantulas (they are mellow and eat scorpions). I also taught private yoga lessons, painted, cooked a lot of vegetarian meals, took care of/loved Coco and SheRa (two, adorably sweet, adopted dogs), ran little errands and enjoyed great conversation with Kirstin anytime we were together.

I cannot recommend this workaway experience in the Utilian jungle enough. It's mellow (its outside of town and will not be that conducive to partying) and was exactly what I needed to get away and spend a bit of time thinking about life and reconnecting with myself.

Thank you so much Kirstin for the experience. I will be back!!!

(Excellent )

25/06/2017

Left by Workawayer (Preston) for host

I had a lovely time at Kirstens place! It is a really fair exchange in terms of what's expected of you. She lives on a beautiful property with many plants, animals and humans. There is much the plants have to teach if we listen. THANK YOU Kirsten for everything!

(Excellent )

26/04/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Jaroslav)

hard worker, limited direction needed with gardening, already knows a lot about gardening and permaculture, would highly recommend jaroslav for any workaway position! would invite him back to volunteer anytime

(Excellent )

01/02/2017

Left by Workawayer (James & Rachel) for host

We came for a week and ended up staying 3 months and gained a friend in the process. Kristina's house is a 20-30 minute walk from the centre of town on the beautiful island of Utila. I fell in love with her animals, you should definitely be an animal lover if you want to come and volunteer here. Its nice to be in the bush with nature and the town… read more

(Excellent )

26/08/2016

Left by Workawayer (Russell & Lauren) for host

We couldn´t have wished for a better first time workaway host. Kristina made our stay in Utila one of our favourite parts of our 6 month trip, she´s a great host, very organised, relaxed, knowledgable and fun. Kristina has a great library of books on permaculture, raw food diets, planting/sowing seeds and much, much more which was great for… read more

(Excellent )

17/08/2016

Left by host for Workawayer (Russell & Lauren)

Lauren & Russell were great WA volunteers to have. We weeded, planted, explored the island.. then I went to Cuba for a week and they house sat & animal sat for me. Came back to a clean house and the plants and animals all doing great and happy. I would have them back anytime or suggest them to any WA host.
Let me know if you guys are headed this… read more

(Excellent )

17/08/2016

Left by host for Workawayer (Kenna )

Kenna was great, we got along very well. It was a massive help to have her finish the screens, the biting fly season had just started, and thankfully we got them up before getting bitten too bad. sowing seeds, watering plants, was a pleasure with kenna around. i would definitely have her back or recommend her to another host.
Let me know if your… read more

(Excellent )

26/05/2016

Left by Workawayer (Kenna ) for host

Kirsten made my experience on utila very memorable. From the minute I arrived I was welcomed with a smile. I spent almost two weeks here and got to explore alot of the surrounding area.... She even took me to snorkel for my first time! This was an amazing experience for me. In my time there I was able to get some newspaper planters ready for… read more

(Excellent )

22/05/2016

Left by host for Workawayer (Chris)

Chris workawayed with me for a few weeks. We had a great time getting in the compost and doing some planting. He also had some excellent suggestions for fixing the door on the compost (and did it) and also some hanging bookshelves and fixed the platform for the gravity water system. He was a great asset to have here for a few weeks! I hope on his… read more

(Excellent )

03/05/2016

Left by Workawayer (Chris) for host

I stayed with Kirsten for a couple of weeks and felt comfortable and welcome from the moment she picked me up from the jetty.
I felt lucky to be able to experience a different side of Utila and it was great to be getting my hands dirty again. Kirsten and I enjoyed plenty of interesting conversation and some delicious food also. Her dog Sheera is… read more

(Excellent )

11/04/2014

Left by Workawayer (Kale & David) for host

I stayed with Shane and Kirstin for two beautiful weeks. I felt at home instantly and spent a lot of my free time just hanging out at the house or casually working. Work days are relaxed with lots of shade breaks. I personally really liked the style of working at a slower pace, breaking whenever you want but working pretty much all day. I learned… read more

(Excellent )

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Host ref number: 671479338419

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