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30 May 2025
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Description
This simple off-grid home sits on beautiful land on top of a hill with great views.
It was once a simple one-room cabin. I added on an addition when my son was young, but then we left for over 10 years, with only short visits. Therefore it is in a state of neglect, though still so lovely!! The photos are from a few years back. Currently, the sheathing has become more weathered, so in need of being redone, and the grasses have been left to grow and bushes left untrimmed. It looks more wild right now, but the photos give you an idea of what we will be bringing it back to.
This year my son, now grown, and I are back to reclaim the place, finish the house, and make it a year-round home again.
Our property has a beautiful spring fed pond for swimming and fishing, fruit trees and herb and veggie gardens (once brought back to life). The house is in process, but cozy and welcoming. We heat with a woodstove, cook with propane (or woodstove in winter), draw water from a spring fed well (once again, after digging it out deeper), and have an indoor composting toilet. We carry our gray water out to the gardens, and bathe either down at the pond, or with rainwater near the house, or with a solar-heated shower bag strung from a tree (or by the woodstove in winter).
I am an herbalist, plant student and teacher, mother (of grown son), yoga practitioner and teacher, counselor, lover of expressive writing and painting, and woman passionate about enjoying life and being present. I welcome help around the house and gardens and am thrilled to share my space, great food, and my knowledge in return.
If I could say one goal of life here it would be to live luxuriously and simply at the same time -- Luxury in the form of great friends, good nourishing foods, warmth, fresh air, lots of sunlight, and sparkling water. Simple in our intimate relationship with the resources we use for food, water, bathing, cooking, heating, etc.
There is room for several people in the house, with simple partitions for privacy. And of course there is lots of room to camp on the land, for those who prefer, while sharing the common areas of the house during the day.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Self development
Movies & TV
Farming
Culture
Sustainability
Events & social
Drawing & painting
Writing
Languages
Gardening
Cooking & food
Architecture
Books
Art & design
History
DIY & crafts
Plant care
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Fitness
Camping
Dancing
Outdoor activities
Hiking
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
I love meeting new people, learning about you and your cultures and your life experiences. Here, you can enjoy a lovely mountaintop retreat with great views. You can also experience life lived in a simple close to the earth way, either to see if it is to your liking or learn more about how to do it yourself. I have lived this way for decades so have lots to share about the ups and downs of it. You will learn lots about gardening and plants, and herbs and foods if you wish. I have been teaching and writing on these topics for over 30 years, as well as teaching yoga and somatic awareness and creative expression through art and writing.
Help
This year our focus is on:
* grooming the acre that is being "landscaped" with mowing and pruning and tending to early plantings
* reclaiming the abandoned gardens by cleaning out unwanted plants, spreading compost, and laying down a mulch and/or cover crop
* dividing and transplanting some prolific plants
* sorting through construction supplies piled in the shed, to clear away excess and make a neat home for those things to keep
* rebuilding the outdoor compost bins
* upgrading our simple one-panel solar system with more panels and better battery bank
If there is time this year, or starting next year, we will also:
-- Reclaim our neglected land further - get gardens back into production, and add to the productivity of the land with fruit trees, perennial plants, fruit arbors, and trees and bushes for coppicing, herbal medicine, basket making, and plant-cloth dying.
-- Re-do the sheathing on the house, put on flashing, then put on the cedar siding - perhaps re-do some of the window and door framing
-- Remove the temporarily placed interior insulation and sheetrock
-- Build a more luxurious composting toilet setup inside
-- Re-frame the initial cabin
--Finish up our home by redoing the shell, then fleshing out the interior with earthen walls and plaster, earthen floors, wood and granite kitchen, earthen build around woodstove, cold box for food storage, and indoor and outdoor wood-fired cooking.
-- Add: 2 stone patios and 1 wooden covered porch with solar powered clothes washing machine and freezer; Outdoor wood-fired tub; Arbors; Upstairs small porch
-- Clean out our shed and then add windows and doors, earthen plaster, earthen floor, woodstove - to serve as guest space and workshop space
-- Re-work an outdoor structure, partly built, into an outdoor compost toilet and/or shower room
-- Patch up holes in the stone driveway, and walkway, and expand them
-- Rebuild our pond's dock
-- Cutting down our Ash trees that have succumbed to the borer, then cut them up into firewood
AND if you have experience with any of the following and feel up to taking on the project yourself you would also be very welcome!:
* inipi/earthen sauna &/or Eastern European type bathhouse
* cob hot tub
* outdoor solar heated shower
* arbors for grape, kiwi, and/or wisteria
* greenhouse
* outdoor wood-fired oven and/or stove top
* earthen plaster
* pruning of old wild apple and pear trees
* setting up coppice crops
* brush clearing with scythe or machete to create walking trails through the 14 acres
As an herbalist too I welcome help with harvests, on the land and in the nearby hills and valleys. No experience is necessary - I love to teach plants!!
I ask only about 25 hours a week. In addition I expect you to care for your share of the household chores, such as dishes, sweeping, waters, and compost, and any shared meals.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Beginner
Hebrew: Beginner
Swahili (Kiswahili): BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
I have joyfully and patiently helped people from around the world improve their English. I am currently studying Swahili and Hebrew, refreshing my school-learned French, and starting with a bit of Spanish.
Accommodation
You are welcome to stay in the house with areas curtained off for privacy if that is wanted. You are also welcome to camp outside at night and use the house during the day. I have one 2-room tent available for that, and 14 acres on which to find an ideal spot.
Food is included with your stay. We get our food from the property, from nearby farms or from the nearest store or food co-op. I do not have food restrictions. It is nice to eat together, especially in the evening, though you are welcome to eat on your own if you prefer. You are responsible for preparing your meals and cleaning up after yourself.
What else ...
In addition to the beauty of the land here, a simple walk on the adjacent roads will offer great sights of valleys and mountains. Nearby is a large nature preserve with miles of hiking trails and nature walks. For a day trip you can drive down to the train and venture into New York City, only a 3-hour drive away.
I have great passions about how I choose to live but am not fanatical about them for myself or those who visit. I can't consider all the possible "don't"s on the property but, from past experience, I can say no animals, smoke, or heavy drinking. Open communication is very helpful. Also, I prefer that most nights, if you travel away, you return to the property by sunset since we tend to settle down then.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Yes, I can host you, since it is a wonderfully peaceful place to work. I do have Starlink internet, however we usually only turn it on during specific times and sometimes need to be sparing with our electricity usage. If you have a hotspot, our mountain top location gives decent, though not always guaranteed, reception.
Space for parking camper vans
There is a parking area (not paved) where people have parked their rvs well in the past, with small help of their levelers. It is dry camping though, no septic or plumbed water, or electricity. Eventually, one of my desired projects for the property is to create a few, even more level, parking spots, with their own small yards, perhaps even in reach of the power lines, if desired.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
