Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
16 Jan 2026
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
26
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Badges (3)
Details
Description
–“You teach me, I forget. You show me, I remember. You involve me, I understand.” – E.O. Wilson
My wife, Maria, are continuing to rejuvenate our farm/homestead in the eastern Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Your stay will be in a lovely house along a quiet, rural road in Marcellus, on 23 acres with ponds, meadows, forest, and a trout stream. We host guests for two to three weeks, depending on the season, with spring and fall our busiest times.
Our chief project for the past six years has been clearing invasive shrubs and planting 3,000 young trees. It's a big, decades-long experiment: Building a diverse habitat that’s surrounded by an ocean of invasives and overun with deer. If successful, this tiny patch of vibrant acreage will help enrich the environment and offset climate change factors.
The next five-to-ten years will tell us a lot. We do a lot of young tree maintenance: repositioning tree cages, clearing weeds, vines and berry bushes, removing dead trees, and more. We've had volunteers from Japan, Hungary, Chile, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, India, Italy, France, Germany and the States. A New York State forester has overseen every step of the project.
Other planned tasks this year include building an outhouse for our cabin by the stream and gates for our fenced-in garden , painting some exterior walls and possibly some indoor rooms. Additional jobs always pop up.
Our gardening involves flowers, vegetables and berries.We have a friendly cat.
I am an artist, yoga teacher, journalist and an author of two biographies. Maria is a massage therapist with a beautiful artistic side. I am a good cook, Maria is exceptional. We are both experienced travelers and have hosted for decades. We strive to see that our worker guests get to experience this beautiful part of the country in ways they enjoy, be it the local waterfalls, lakes, theaters and museums, thrift shops, whatever.
We are a five to six hour bus ride from New York City.
We're not welcoming pets or children.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Culture
Politics / Social justice
Self development
Farming
Charity work
Art & design
Books
History
Plant care
Photography
Gardening
Cooking & food
Architecture
Writing
Performing arts
Drawing & painting
Hiking
Outdoor activities
Water sports
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Fitness
Winter sports
Sailing / Boating
Beach
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Maria and I have been hosting travelers and international guests for years. We are kind, sensitive and curious, and well-traveled ourselves. We care deeply about the environment. We appreciate and are grateful for the beauty and preciousness of this life and where we are. Each stay experience with our guest workers evolves as we share our experiences and values with each other.
Help
We'll need help starting in March, clearing invasives, cutting/thinning trees in a more mature part of our forest, preparing for planting young trees. We'll also begin opening up our garden, manuring around fruit trees and bushes, getting raised beds started.
Forest rejuvenation is our biggest ongoing project, especially the invasive reduction, which involves cutting certain small trees and shrubs and spraying their stumps with herbicide. Tree planting is a short, intense period in early May that involves wedging open the soil with a tree spade to plant seedlings, putting weedbarrier fabric around each seedling along with a tree tube or small fence. Maintenance after planting includes watering, scything, uprighting tree tubes that have begun to lean, removing weeds from around the sapling trunk.
We're cutting and splitting firewood, improving trails with stone and gravel. We work garden beds with a broad fork, add manure and mulch, plant successively in raised beds.
Our cabin project involves assisting with carpentry and painting.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
French: Beginner
Accommodation
Workaway guests will stay in a well-appointed room with internet. Our house has one main bathroom upstairs with a tub and shower that we all share, and a smaller half-bathroom downstairs. Workaway guests are expected to keep themselves and their quarters clean and in order.
We have a big, covered porch outside that overlooks our pond, which is a beautiful place to spend time in the warm months.
Workaway guests will share meals prepared or provided by us. Dinner is the meal we most often share together as our schedules allow, but we occasionally indulge ourselves and guests with a nice breakfast or lunch.
What else ...
We can pick guests up in Syracuse at the bus or train station - a 35 minute drive from our house. We have bicycles to use on the beautiful and hilly country roads around us. There is lots of water around here—several Finger Lakes, waterfalls and rivers. We like to swim, sail and canoe on off-days.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Internet is solid.
Space for parking camper vans
Plenty of room to park, an outdoor shower with hot and cold water.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
My animals / pets
Gari
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback (14)
She was eager to learn and try anything, quick to pick up the full range of tasks we pursued and thorough in execution.
She was also a pleasure to be around, positive, curious, appreciative, self-reliant and a good cook to boot. We were sad to see her go.
Photos
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(5.0)
She was eager to learn and try anything, quick to pick up the full range of tasks we pursued and thorough in execution.
She was also a pleasure to be around, positive, curious, appreciative, self-reliant and a good cook to boot. We were sad to see her go.
People like Peter are why we do Workaway.
