Permaculture farm and homestead family life in Kota, Malaysia

Details

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  Description

  We are a permaculture farm and family homestead with 3 young children. We have been tending to this land since 2019 and have been trying to make her healthy and beautiful. Animals on the farm: goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, humans. We harvest rainwater and use a compost toilet. Other than permaculture, we draw inspiration from natural farming, syntropic agroforestry, and regenerative agriculture. We are trying to root ourselves to the land and rely less on the global industrial system for our needs.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
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  Interests

  

  Hiking

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Nature

  

  Team sports

  

  Sustainability

  

  Farming

  

  Animals

  

  Plant care

  

  Carpentry
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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

  We are a Chinese family with 3 kids (3, 6, and 9 years old). I grew up in Singapore and have spent years in the US and Hong Kong. My wife Su Yi is from nearby Malacca.
  
  We live in a village (called kampung here) with the majority being Malays and some indigenous people (orang asli). You can meet them. Please dress modestly when outside: for women the minimum is t-shirt and shorts covering the knees.
  
  We are interested in meeting people from different backgrounds who want to learn about our life here.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  Garden tasks: Volunteers will help with farm work like pruning trees, weeding, spreading manure, herding goats, feeding animals. The climate here is warm and humid. There are also many types of biting insects that you might encounter like mosquitoes, bees, wasps, leeches, and ticks. Our garden is a food forest, very different from straight rows of annual crops. We plant mostly perennial plants (eg fruit trees, long cycle plants) and barely water them.
  
  Household help: Equally important is household work like cooking, cleaning, taking care of young children, etc. Enjoying being with noisy and naughty kids is a must.
  
  Please note that we do slaughter animals on the farm to eat. You do not have to participate in slaughtering but meals might include them.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Chinese (Mandarin): Fluent
  Malay: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  Volunteers have their own house made from old wood. There are fans but no air-conditioner. You will sleep on a thin mat on the floor with mosquito netting. Harvested rainwater is used for cleaning and showering; if it runs out we hand-draw water from our nearby well. There is no hot water for showering (weather is so warm anyway). There is electricity but no WIFI.
  
  There is no separate kitchen for volunteers. Meals will be prepared and eaten at our house. At the moment we cannot cater to specific diets (eg vegetarian, vegan, halal, raw food). At times we eat wild meat if we get them, like wild boar, python, monitor lizard. We do keep leftovers to be eaten the next day. Sometimes we buy cooked food from outside, or friends and relatives might give us some too. If you are picky about food, this is not the place for you.
  
  We handwash our laundry by the well. There is a semi-automatic washing machine that we only use to spin dry the washed clothes since it is a lot of effort to carry water from the well to use the wash function.

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  What else ...

  We have bicycles for you to explore the village.
  
  There is a nearby mountain Guning Datuk for a day-trip climb. The views up at the summit is beautiful.
  There are also cool rivers to soak in on hot days and hot springs for cold days.
  It is a 45-minute drive to a nearby beach that we visit often.

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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 do not have WIFI here but we get decent mobile data.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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