Sustainable homestead looking for creative helpers in Athens, Ohio, USA

Details

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  Description

  This is an educational nonprofit in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in Ohio. The mission is to teach skills for sustainable living and self-reliance. We have 16 acres of forest, a pond, and a 4-bedroom/2-bathroom house. We're developing gardens and sustainable energy sources so that we can offer off-grid semester-long courses in sustainable living for college students. Our residential students will grow their own food, maintain infrastructure to produce our own energy, and learn how sustainability relates to all academic disciplines. While we eventually plan to fill the house with lots of people, right now it's just the two of us and our cat, Romeo.
  
  We like to cook, bake, read, hike, travel, and play music. Travis plays the guitar and banjo, and Lindsey is learning the ukulele.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Events & social

  

  Culture

  

  Self development

  

  Sustainability

  

  LGBTQ

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Farming

  

  Carpentry

  

  Writing

  

  Plant care

  

  Photography

  

  Performing arts

  

  Music

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Water sports

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Hiking

  

  Nature

  

  Camping

  

  Cycling
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We love learning about diverse cultures and sharing our own through food. We cook with local organic ingredients that are in-season. Because of our organization's mission, we're constantly learning about and experimenting with plants that are native to the Appalachian region. We are happy to help visitors practice English skills, and we speak conversational Spanish. Our town has many music venues for hearing bluegrass and folk music which are traditional in Appalachia.

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  Help

  We need help with a great many things! Our first priority is building. We're building an outdoor classroom, camp sites, and our own cabin so that we can move out of the public house. We also need help with a few indoor remodeling projects. Aside from building, we'd love help with gardening, creating and/or installing artwork on our campus, developing videos for marketing, and cooking our shared meals.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  The first floor of the house has 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. Workawayers will stay in one of the bedrooms on the first floor in bunk style beds. There is a shared shower on the first floor and we'll share kitchen and living room space on the second floor. We cook most of our meals from scratch and welcome help in preparing them.

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  What else ...

  Our location near Athens, Ohio is great for outdoor enthusiasts, music lovers, and lovers of microbreweries. Hocking Hills State Park is a 20-minute drive away. It is Ohio's most famous park, full of waterfalls, caverns, and great hiking. We're also surrounded by Wayne National Forest and 3 additional state parks. We're located 5 miles from a bike path that connects our town to nearby Nelsonville, OH. We enjoy going to Nelsonville to see live music and theatre performances at Stuart Opera House. Our house is located in the country, but a short drive to town can get you to 3 local breweries, 2 wineries, a cidery, and many restaurants serving food from local farms. Athens is home to Ohio University, so the university offers access to musical performances, sporting events, touring entertainers, and public lectures. Athens is regionally famous for offering numerous festivals in summer and fall, including the annual Pawpaw Festival which celebrates a traditional fruit of our region. We don't have a designated vehicle for workaway participants, but we drive to town at least once a week and can share our vehicles with licensed drivers. Athens is a small town of 30,000 people, and is very walkable. For an urban experience, visitors can take an inexpensive bus to Columbus, Ohio's capital city. The bus ride takes 1.5 hours.

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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

  The work needed to stay here will amount to about 6 hours a day for 5 days a week. The rest of your time is for you. Our internet is very stable and fast provided by spectrum.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Miss Bee-Havin'

  We keep bees for the pollination and honey. It's too hard to name them all.

  Chicken one, chicken two

  These are egg laying chickens we keep for the homestead. They don't have names, but they still receive lots of treats.

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