Animal lovers, carpenters / renovators / woodworkers wanted to help with some projects in this lovely old home! Come enjoy the beauty of Nova Scotia, Canada!

Canada

Favourited 99 times

Host rating
Feedback
13
Last activity
18/11/2019
Nº of Facebook friends
760
Reply rate
54.6 %
Average reply time:
within 43 days
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2019

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Description
Hi! I'm Jen..a fun and friendly female living in a rustic and almost 200yr old gold miner's cottage in the gorgeous village of Waverley, about 20 minutes outside Halifax. I work about 20hrs / week for an awesome craft brewery in Halifax. Both my children live in Halifax and are in university. I have two cats, and two alpacas. This old house is aging faster than I can keep up with it so I am hoping to find someone with interest and/skills in carpentry, woodworking, renovation or construction...or at least a willingness to watch how-to YouTube videos with me as I need help with some long outstanding projects in this lovely old home.
I lead a wonderful and interesting life.. I travel a lot, which is why I have so many outstanding projects! Each August I head to Nevada for 3 weeks for Burning Man. I am the regional contact for the Burning Man organization here in the Maritimes and love telling stories of adventures in the desert!

I offer a very warm and welcoming environment and will ensure you are comfortable and well fed! I head into Halifax several times a week so you will have plenty of opportunity to see the city and surrounding area. I have been a Couchsurfing host for over 10 years and have hosted people from all over the world. I heat predominately with wood in the winter, although I do have a furnace to take the chill out of the air in the mornings.

I have high speed internet even in the guest cottage!

If we get along well, there are often opportunity to for you to stay here while I am off adventuring.

Looking forward to meeting you!
Type of help
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Help in the house
Animal care
Language practice
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
I am happy to help you with your English language skills, and teach you all about Burning Man. Also, even if you have only basic renovation skills, let's learn how to do things together! 😆
Help
I have many projects for us to tackle! If you have experience with home renovations, carpentry skills, woodworking, or even a really strong drive to learn how to do these things, I think you'd enjoy hanging out here!
Languages spoken
English
Accommodation
Private room with queen bed and heated mattress pad! Shared bathroom with claw foot tub and separate shower. I also have a guest cottage that can accommodate a single or couple in a double bed, although it is better to stay in April-October as it is a little expensive for me to heat until I can get my wood stove installed.
What else ...
There are gorgeous walking trails close to my home. I have a couple of kayaks you can use in the lakes that surround where I live. Plus, there is Halifax only 25 minutes away, which is a fantastic city to explore.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Photos

My house

Guest cottage

Living room in my house and my cat

Guest room in my house

Guest cottage

Five minute walk from my house!

Five minute walk from my house

Show all photos

50' tides, twice a day about an hour from my house!

Reno airport, on my way to Burning Man

Sometimes we get a LOT of snow!

Carl and Black Jack

Wintertime

Duncan's Cove

Duncan's Cove, great hiking

At Burning Man

Feedback left by and about host (13)

31/10/2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Nick)

Nick is a stellar human being! He was easy to communicate with both prior to his stay and during. He was my hero as the day after he arrived..so did 3 cords of knarly firewood and he chopped, stacked, tarped it all and even cleaned up all the bits! I was working a contract out of town so he did all this alone while taking care of my animals. He… read more

(Excellent )

03/11/2018

Left by Workawayer (Steffi) for host

Jen was my very first workaway host and I it was amazing!! I felt so welcomed from the very first minute onward. She took me to a festival in Halifax, where I got the chance to volunteer, she showed me how to make a fire in a wood stove and soooo many other things.

Jen can tell you a thousand stories about traveling, burning man, life… read more

(Excellent )

03/11/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Steffi)

Sob..very sad to see Steffi leave today. She is a truly wonderful human being bravely adventuring her way across Canada. Steffi is fun, friendly, takes initiative, and works hard. She has promised to come back and I will hold her to it! :hugging:

(Excellent )

11/10/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Alice & Lukas)

It was lovely having Alice and Lukas here. They were very patient with my sweet old dog who was at the near end of her life at the time of their visit. They were friendly, helpful and hard-working and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them as great examples of wonderful workawayers.

(Excellent )

05/08/2018

Left by Workawayer (Alice & Lukas) for host

We stayed just one week with Jen. At this time it was Halifax Pride so Jen had to work a lot at the brewery and she was really busy. Our jobs involved repairing the cardboard Robotheads for the parade, taking care of her dog Ceili (she's sweet, but no longer fully house-trained due to her old age), feeding the Alpacas and cleaning out their… read more

(Very good )

14/08/2018

Left by Workawayer (Eilish) for host

I had the most amazing time at Jen's. I was there with the other workaways in early Spring and we all had the most fun pottering about doing projects. Getting to learn new skills and hear cool stories, feeding alpaca and walking Ceili, the dog are just a sample of what we got up to. It was hands down my favourite workaway so far. Plus you will be… read more

(Excellent )

01/10/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Sinead & Harry)

Sinead and Harry were an absolute joy to have live with me! After knowing them for literally 24 hours I felt extremely safe leaving my home, animals and vehicle in their care while I was away travelling for 3 weeks. They both got to work immediately on my to do list and finished it very quickly! In addition, they excelled at taking over my farmers… read more

(Excellent )

28/09/2017

Left by Workawayer (Sinead & Harry) for host

What a wonderful time we had staying with Jen in Nova Scotia.

We house sat for 3 weeks whilst she was at Burning Man, and then enjoyed 2 further weeks of her company getting involved in various projects around the house. She is a goldmine of information and we learnt a lot both in regards to DIY and life itself.

We leave having made a new friend… read more

(Excellent )

20/07/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Bonny & Keiran)

Wow! Bonny and Keiran are the Workaway dynamic duo! They are a hard-working, loving and hilarious couple that are so much fun to be around. They each bring a valuable set of skills and were able to start and complete countless jobs during their two week stay with me. I'm sure they would have done even more if I hadn't dragged them away on a hike… read more

(Excellent )

19/07/2017

Left by Workawayer (Bonny & Keiran) for host

We are so glad to have met Jen. She is a truly wonderful person and any WorkAway volunteer is lucky to have the opportunity to stay with her.

She really strives to ensure you experience the cultural exchange that WorkAway is about. Here you can work hard, but you will play hard too!

She generously welcomes you into her beautiful home, you'll… read more

(Excellent )

22/06/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Holly)

04/04/2017

Holly is absolutely amazing!! She arrived in Halifax with a smile and a can-do attitude! Every moment we spent together was enjoyable. Holly takes direction well but is also very capable of being thrown a task and just getting it done well. Welcome her into your home with open arms and enjoy her charm and hard work given.

(Excellent )

11/05/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Lukas)

Lukas is a poster child for Workaway! I could not ask for a more perfect experience. Lukas is a charming, intelligent, hard-working, fun-loving and respectful man who has a very strong work ethic. Lukas excelled at every project I handed him and he demonstrated great initiative in tackling jobs he saw needing done before I even asked him to do it.… read more

(Excellent )

11/05/2017

Left by Workawayer (Lukas) for host

I honestly could not have imagined a better place to be for the last 2 weeks in Canada. Jen is a super fun to be around and you will immediately feel like home. Especially with the heated matress ;)
She showed me around the most beautiful places in Novia Scotia (although she kept repeating that I havent even seen half of it) and I could live out… read more

(Excellent )

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Host ref number: 762528123812

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