New Zealand
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26/03/2020
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Hi, Our property is located just out of the small town of Geraldine. We have been living on our 10 acre block for about 3 years.With a collection of animals to attend to - sheep, lambs, chickens, bees and fallow deer (and 2 young children) - there is always something to be done around here. We have about 3 acres of woodlot, a small stream and pond and a small orchard.Our property is totally off grid with only solar power and rain water. This means if you like to shower a lot then our place might not be for you :-) We are mid build for our strawbale house. In the meantime we are living in a very (very!!) small shed/garage with our kids. We have a sleepout on site which has a queen size bed to offer. We don't have wifi here but the local library does have free wifi to use (about 10 min drive away). The sleepout has limited solar power to run some LED lights and if its sunny enough to charge phones/tablets etc.Our toilet is a composting toilet. Our shower is also outside although enclosed. Because we are only able to use rain water for everything we only use the washing machine about once a week and showers are limited to couple of times a week - unless you want to fill up the camp/solar shower :-) Our kids are pretty young, Tilly is 6 and Jascha is 4 so it means we eat dinner around 5pm and then get them into bed around 7pm - after a day with the kids/at work we often head to bed early as well.We eat our own animals and are establishing a good size veggie patch. Jobs on the property range from playing with the kids, fixing fences, cutting down trees/cutting up firewood, tending to the veggie patch, feeding the animals and collecting pinecones - plus heaps more. Now that we have started our strawbale house there will be some jobs on the house. Matt is at working during the week and I'm at home with the kids, (we homeschool) pottering and doing jobs around the place. We dont expect a full days work from those that come to stay, about 5 hours a day in return for food and accommodation. But we do work hard and hope that helpers that come will be hard workers as well. Sundays are pancake breakfasts so its always good to come for a sunday :-) We generally dont have helpers come stay over winter as the sleepout isnt heated. The bed is cozy but the room would be cold. Cheers Rachel, Matt, Tilly and Jascha
Gardening
Building
Babysitting / child care
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Help in the house
Animal care
We love to share what we are doing with others so they can pursue their own sustainable goal. We also love to learn from those that stay with us, be it about their culture, language or skills they may have. Matt study horticulture and is happy to share his skills. Learn about composting, fruit tree pruning, grafting, veggie planting/harvesting/preserving and cooking. Learn about how strawbale houses are built and natural building materials. See how we homeschool and what its like for us to homeschool. Learn about how to keep chickens, bees, fellow deer and sheep. And depending on when you come you may be able to learn how to process a homekill animal. And just generally learn how to run a very small farm/lifestyle block.
If you have an interest in sustainable/off grid living/strawbale builds you'd be welcome at ours :-) Tasks will depend on the weather, time of year and each persons skill set. Some of the jobs are helping with the strawbale house, tending to the chickens and sheep, collecting pine cones, weeding, helping in the veggie garden, helping with the kids, cooking dinner, mowing the lawns, stacking wood plus many other different types of jobs.
English
We have a very small sleepout to offer. It has space for a queen size bed and not much else. We are currently living in a very small shed whilst our strawbale house is being built. We eat dinner early as we have 2 young children. We are meat eaters but are open to having those with different dietary requirements (just let us know ahead of time).
Our property is about 10km south of geraldine. There is no public transport, we do have a push bike otherwise I head into town a couple of times a week.
Two
5 hours a day, 5 days a week (max 25/hours/week)
