Come and experience the peace of the valley and help with our non-profit project in Pennsylvania, USA

Details

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  Description

  We are a space for reconnecting. Located in the scenic valley of central Pennsylvania, we are cultivating awareness and helping people raise their consciousness, connect with their inner self through meditation, healthy cooking, herbs and nature walks. Over the past two decades we have presented educational workshops and classes, mostly offered by self-guided donation that encourage people to heal their bodies, expand their minds and feed their spirits. A few of the projects we are working on include expanding our vegetable garden, as well as creating pollinator gardens and an educational herb area/ meditative space. We are basically an hour from two major cities in rural Pennsylvania resulting in very little traffic and noise. In other words a great place to calm down withdraw from the mayhem of city life and find that lost sense of peace within. If you enjoy getting your hands dirty, having a quiet place to reflect, and meeting people from all walks of life, this is the place for you. Please note we have very poor cell phone reception ("can you hear me now?") and slow WiFi (the bane of rural life). Those staying a month or longer, have the option and are encouraged to join our 'ashram immersion programme' with daily sessions in mantra meditation and reading from the yoga Sutra's, including the Bhagavad-Gita and other more contemporary yoga philosophy books. The daily reading and discussions give you the opportunity to dive deep into the core of the spiritual community here and to bring up and answer esoteric questions you may have asked yourself and others.

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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

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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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

  This is a space dedicated to helping people connect to nature and re-connect to themselves. It is a small 5+ acre area where medicinal herbs are grown and wild-crafted, a vegetable garden and a culinary herb garden is grown that provides for the house and whose products are used to produce value added products for the farmer's market, as well as herbs grown on a large scale to produce herbal botanicals, and medicinals for health and wellness in the wise woman tradition. As a trained therapeutic herbalist you would have the opportunity to learn about plants and their abilities, as well as how to prepare basic herbal medicines for your own use. I am a master tofu maker, offering you the chance to learn how to make delicious vegan bean curd in the traditional Japanese style. As a bhakti-yoga practitioner who has been teaching mantra meditation for over thirty years you would get the opportunity to dive deeper into your own spirituality and learn different techniques for stress relief and conscious raising. We offer an immersion programme for those staying a month or longer, with the opportunity to learn and practice mantra meditation as well as learn about Sanantan-dharma. I have an extensive library on Vedic literature (think Bhagavad-Gita), and we run workshops and classes off and on throughout the year, as well as work with another local organic farm and retreat centre to offer programmes to the youth that attend the summer retreats there. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet interesting people from all around the country and world who are part of it's larger spiritual community.

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  Help

  Help will be needed in the completion of an educational herb garden/ meditation garden and pollinator gardens. We also need help creating tall raised beds for vegetables, fencing around the vegetable garden, (possible electric), and clearing space for larger herbal planting, including weed whacking and pulling out deep roots. Working with and on the Earth is hard labour. You need to be physically fit and able to carry heavy items and push heavy wheel barrows. In the Summer it can get quite hot and uncomfortable working outside. In the Spring and Autumn, it can be cold. Help is also needed propagating seeds and young plants, transplanting, putting in drip irrigation and laying stone/ brick paths a patio and other areas of decorative stone work to create areas of peaceful reflection and meditation. Carpentry/ wood working would be very useful to help create garden benches and tables to place in different spots as well as repair work on the sheds. An adobe/ outside brick oven is also in the plans, so some expertise in building and brick work would be welcomed as well as laying cement pads. Help fixing things around the house if they need fixing would also be useful. For people staying longer than 2 weeks, we are open to supporting your own personal project, if it addresses an issue or improves the beauty of the property. This is a brief overview of some of the things that will need to be done and when:
  
  Late March-Early May Starting seedlings, de-winterizing and prepping the ground, building raised beds, starting the early projects, i.e. planting trees and shrubs.
  
  Late May-July Getting plants into the ground: Herb garden and vegetable garden, clearing land for bulk herb planting, weeding.
  
  July-October Summer building projects, harvesting, canning and preserving the harvest. Helping with kid creative camps.
  
  Late September-October/November Canning and preserving late harvests. Planting cover crops, getting the Farm ready for winter.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  I am always happy to stretch my mind and push my language capabilities. I have a rudimentary grasp of French and German and understand Ibo.
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  Accommodation

  We can provide a guest room with two single twin beds, linen and towels. Access to a full bathroom on the same level. Washer and dryer, access to a fully stocked kitchen. A party of two will share the same room. If you are traveling alone you may be sharing the guest room with a member of the same gender.
  
  Breakfast you will need to make your own, (a selection of cereals, milks, bread, shakes, etc. will be made available) and lunch is offered usually soup or pasta. The kitchen is available to make your own dinner. Oftentimes we will cook dinner together and/ or provide fresh vegetables, grains and other produce that you can use.
  
  No meat, fish or eggs are allowed in the house. Smoking is tolerated away from the house and gardens. No illicit drug use or alcoholic consumption is allowed any where on the property. The nearest grocery store is 15 minutes away by car, but regular trips are made into town.

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  What else ...

  Our place lies in a valley between two mountain ranges in central Pennsylvania. The county has its own unique culture and some interesting tourist attractions including a beautifully restored covered bridge which is just a few miles from us which is, along with the local creek, a popular swimming and wadding venue in the summer. We are an hour from Harrisburg, the capitol of Pennsylvania, an hour from State College the main campus of Pennsylvania State University with a number of small rural towns and villages in between. There is NO public transportation between the small towns and villages here, but there are buses and trains that run in State College and Harrisburg. There are plenty of state parks and opportunities to go on nature walks and hikes, check out the local wineries, breweries, and other local businesses including the number of Amish folk that live in the area. We are five minutes from An Eco Farm and Sanctuary that runs the only "Ahimsa" USDA grade A dairy, in the country. There is also a prominent spiritual community which hosts a number of festivals throughout the year which are open to the public. There are beautiful paths for creek walks and 250 acres of forest all of which we will have access to.

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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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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  25 hours per week. Start and end times to be decided.

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