Help our family with a variety of projects at our homestead in Little Current, Canada

Details

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  Description

  Hello!
  We are a young family looking for help building our small homestead, assistance caring for our baby, and enjoying daily life together on beautiful Manitoulin Island.
  We live on a waterfront property close to swimming spots, a local town, and hiking trails.
  Before settling down, we travelled around the world (Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, United States, Canada) and participated in Workaway as volunteers. It was a great way to meet locals and travel frugally. Now we offer our home as a destination. We value peacefulness and aim to live an enjoyable life filled with hard work, laughter, and relaxation.
  We love living here as there is both the peacefulness of the country and lots of fun things to do. Festivals, gourmet restaurants, hiking, swimming, art tours, cycling, farmers markets, kayaking & canoeing: there is something for everyone! We live next door to Manitoulin Permaculture. We are good friends with Justin, and often go over for potluck, saunas, and socializing.
  If this sounds appealing, please send us a message! We love getting to know new people and we are happy to create a schedule and tasks that suit each individual.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We live a wholesome life, filled with healthy food, hands in the dirt, fresh air, and sunshine. We love to talk philosophy and challenge each other to think critically about the world we are creating together. We are trained in Permaculture and endeavor to apply these principles to our relationship with the land. We are learning how to raise a child and empower this new life to blossom. We also both have university degrees and degrees in the Skilled Trades (carpentry and mechanics). We love to teach what we know and also to learn from others!

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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

  This coming year, in 2024, we have many projects we would love help with.
  - Gardens: We have a hugel garden where we will grow food. We will need to plant, water, weed, and harvest from this garden. We have hopes of installing another garden as well.
  - Landscaping: There are regular chores to be done such as cutting the grass (we have a lawn tractor, we can train you), watering trees and berry bushes, maintaining pathways through our forest. We may dig a pong this year with a back hoe.
  - Child care: We have a small child (under 1 year old) and we would love help to care for her. She is well-tempered and a joy to be around. Help to feed her meals, play with her, and teach her about the world would be very helpful.
  - Household: We eat dinners all together and often go to our neighbors for potluck dinners. Help with cooking would be great. We love to cook and we eat everything. We are happy to accommodate dietary restrictions (vegan, Gluten free, allergies, etc). We aim to eat what we grow and to make much of our food (e.g. baking our own bread). We will also participate in cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom, vaccuuming, etc.
  - Building/Renovations: We are in the process of renovating our house. This coming season we will be repairing some of our exterior walls, re-framing for new windows, re-sheathing, and re-insulating. We own a lot of hand tools and power tools. We are happy to teach/train how to use those and would love help with our renovations. There are tasks for experienced people and in-experienced. We will also be building a 50' boardwalk this year, to bridge our land and our neighbors.
  - Auto-mechanics: We do the majority of our own vehicle maintenance. With a truck, SUV, ATV, and motorcycle, there is plenty to do. Help or learn!

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  French: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  Visitors will stay in our canvas tent.
  Here is a link for what the tent looks like:
  In the spring, we will build a wood platform and set the tent up with a queen mattress, chairs, table, etc. We can run electrical cords so there will be electricity for lamps, and charging cellphones/laptops. There is a nice outhouse close to the tent.
  For cooking and bathing, visitors are welcome to use the kitchen and bathroom in the house. We have a large bathtub for soaking and taking rainfall showers. We have a good kitchen, set up with everything needed. We also have a BBQ and a nice outdoor gazebo with bug netting for eating and hanging outside. We also have laundry (washing machine, dryer, and laundry line) for washing clothes.
  We also have access to an awesome wood-fired sauna and outdoor shower within walking distance.

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  What else ...

  Our local town has most things: a library with computer and internet, grocery stores, hardware stores, gift shops, cafe, farmers market, drug store, dentist, hospital, LCBO/Beer store, etc.
  We go to town often and we are happy to give you a lift.
  If you are coming with your own vehicle, we have plenty of parking too.
  We have a pretty awesome sound system, vinyl record collection, and smart TV. We enjoy these things during the day, and tend to have quiet evenings and nights so that our wee baby can sleep well.
  We enjoying having a drink with dinner but don't drink in excess. We are fairly tolerant of others and also work together to create systems that work for everyone. We aim to live and let live as long as peoples choices do not harm or limit the freedoms of others.
  We hope to go to a few festivals in the summer and would be happy for you to come along!

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a large driveway and a few areas where a campervan could be parked. We have lots of trees to provide shade. If needed we could run power (electricity) to the camper as well.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We are willing to accept workawayers with pets as long as they are good with kids and cats. We are also close to a busy road.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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