Live a sustainable lifestyle with our family in the beautiful mountains of Santa Barbara, California, USA

Details

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  Description

  Hello,
  Please make sure you have read the whole post before emailing, thanks!
  
  We have recently had a last minute cancellation, and another person who never showed up with no communication at all.
  
  ASAP
  I’m looking for a long term (3-6 months) easy going yet responsible person who has interesting experience to talk about. Someone who would like to help me with my daily activities and is social. Must know how to relate with children and like dogs. As well as tolerate ( or love 😉) local wildlife, including the occasional spider, snake, or mouse.
  There is potentially a car available for use if needed, as well as an occasional side task from grandparents who might need help with something.
  Please inquire with any questions.
  
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  🤗 We are located in the mountains of Santa Barbara, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The drive to the beach and town is about 12-20 minutes. We have fruit trees you can pick from depending on the season. The weather is especially great in April thru October . We have three small dogs. Four children ages: Baby 1-1/2, Toddler 2-1/2, girl 11 years and boy 15 years. We have musicians and artists In the family and love to have musicians, artists and woodworkers come! We can also teach you American Sign language 🤟🏼 We are easy to get along with, are very environmental minded, and are looking for likeminded people to share our rustic beautiful place with.
  
  If you think you are a really good fit for us and you, please feel free to contact to see if it is a good time. We’ve noticed that people who don’t mark that they are vegetarian or vegan sometimes don’t tend to stick around as long, so we generally are more inclined to accept folks that eat similarly to how we do, a nutritious whole foods plant based diet, or who are happy to do so for the time they are here. We’ve had over 70 people from Workaway come! It's been such a great experience! And we are accustomed to all types of people 😉
  
  * Vegan/vegetarian dinner cook would be AWESOME 😊 General healthy food, basic is fine 🙃🍐🍊🥑🥦🥗🥔🌮🍓
  Kitchen and dishes help 🙃
  
  Driver a plus! Watering trees ! Fun & good organizational skills :-) Playing games & Art making 💜 Building experience 👍🏼, Good conversationalist 🙂
  
  ** We would prefer a minimum stay of at least 2 weeks, 3+ weeks ideal.
  No car necessary. Online students fine.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  House sitting
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  Interests

  

  Camping

  

  Plant care

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Sustainability

  

  Pets

  

  Photography

  

  Cooking & food

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Carpentry

  

  Animals

  

  Mountain

  

  Nature

  

  Beach
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are located in the mountains overlooking Santa Barbara, we try our best to live a sustainable and conservational lifestyle, including a mostly plant based diet. Our land has fruit trees, privacy. My husband teaches environmental science and horticulture. We’ve foster/adopted our four children, and try to share the land those who appreciate it. This is a great opportunity if you want to experience and learn how to live this lifestyle.

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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

  * I could really use help with : Amusing the kids, Cooking, Washing dishes, Sweeping, General house cleaning, Watering outside. Property beautification. House sitting.
  
  * We have an 11 year old and a 15 year old, and a toddler and a baby. So people who are good with kids is really important! Also we like artists! And musicians!
  
  *Other outside help depending on the season: landscaping, carpentry, rock wall building, brush clearing, cutting wood, fruit tree care, property beautification, grey water, drainage.
  
  *We are always happy to have someone with good creative carpentry skills!!!

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Sign language (American): Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Sanskrit: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  If you communicate in ASL (American Sign Language) or would want to learn some, my daughter and I sign. My husband studies spiritual text from India and has some knowledge in the Sanskrit language.
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  Accommodation

  Food - You will be sharing my kitchen. I will supply mostly organic vegan/vegetarian food. I can do some cooking of meals (usually dinner) and have some food made food in the refrigerator as well. But you would need to do some of your own food prep also (especially breakfast and lunch), depending on what you feel like eating. We eat vegetarian and vegan, so please embrace that while you are here.
  
  Bathroom - You will be sharing one of the bathrooms in my house as well as an outhouse. We try not to use too much water. We have a clothing washer and dryer you can use. We try to hang clothes on the line in good weather to save on electricity.
  
  Sleeping - If you don't have your own car sleeping arrangement, a tent can be set up. We can supply a tent and bedding if needed. Occasionally there might be indoor accommodations.
  
  
  I would describe our place as rustic and you should be okay with wildlife, including an occasional snake and spiders 😉 Also, we are remodeling part of the house, so don’t expect a perfectly clean city house.
  
  There are no drugs, alcohol, or smoking on the property! We try to be respectful, pleasant, and good communicators, we expect the same from you. FIRE is a big concern in our area: NO FIRES!!! We are in high fire zone during the driest time of the year. That also means NO candles, smoking, incense, propane cooking, or anything that requires a flame!

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  What else ...

  Many Workawayers that have stayed with us have enjoyed hiking the local mountains, going to the beach, participating in outdoor dance/yoga/skating gatherings, rock climbing. We are 15 minutes from town, there is no public transportation near our house as we are in the mountains. If you do not have a car, you can get rides into town when we go, which is generally daily. Additionally I prefer small cars or even more, if you were to come without a car, parking is limited on mountains. I can easily and happily pick you up from and drop you off at the bus, train or airport in Santa Barbara or Goleta.
  
  * We’ve had a lot of people in the last couple of months shift arrival dates, change/shorten length of stay when here, and all together cancel. The hardest thing is when people cancel entirely, especially last minute. I understand we all have things come up in life. It’s been very hard for me to schedule with frequent changes. Please if we discuss and you give me dates, be pretty sure you will be able to keep them. Thanks 😉

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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 have internet and have had online students come for a stay.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  It’s possible we might have room for a smaller van for the dates you wish to come, so check with us. At this time we cannot accommodate a large bus or motorhome.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We already have 3 small dogs. So a dog would have to be well behaved and social.And may or may not work, depending on the situation.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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