United States
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We're a family in the early stages of researching land for a collaborative community living experiment.
At this point, our household is made up of our family of 5 (our kids are ages 4, 6, and 6) and generally 2-3 workaway/wwoofing guests.
The best way to think about living with us is to consider yourself to be part of the "village/community" that surrounds us and our three kids ages 4, 6, and 6. You'll want to be sure you are into children because there is a lot of kid energy and parenting going on.
Guests are not responsible for the kids and we are not looking for "au pairs." Our guests primarily help us with logistics (especially food prep and clean up) and various special projects (solar heater for pool, educational research, tiny house build). After logistics are covered, sharing your passions (eg. chess, improv, dance, making music) with us and the kids are encouraged, but always voluntary.
We have just moved to the quiet and woodsy town of Woodside, CA, 40 minutes drive south of San Francisco and close to Stanford University and Silicon Valley. It is a beautiful area with access to the city by public transportation that is 5 minutes from our house.
We have spent four of the last 6 years abroad - 2.5 in Thailand, and 1.5 in Madrid Spain, where we hosted many guests for generally 1-3 months at a time in a large house we converted to 5 smaller units.
We now live in a 3 bedroom rental house with some land for a real garden and a swimming pool. We keep 2 of the bedrooms open for guests with stays a minimum of two weeks though averaging a month or two.
Based on your interest and skills, the main tasks would be:
– Food preparation, cleanup, and various logistics.
– Sharing time, and passions if relevant, with us and our children.
– Assisting with various special projects - depending on your interest and what is going on.
If this sounds like something you'd like, please tell us more about yourself.
All the best!
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Charity work
Language practice
Art project
Help with Computers / internet
Teaching
We're unusual in that we feel so strongly about living in a more communal way. In our last home in Madrid we regularly had 8 to 10 people eating meals with us every day - with 5 languages between us. Here the kitchen table seats 7 or 8. Our family is an unusual mix of Irish American and Northern Thai.
We look for interesting people and think it important to fit the tasks to the person and their skills. We try to have two or three people living with us at all times, which we've found is also enjoyable for the guests. We have a wide range of tasks you can help with ranging from:
Food preparation to helping in the garden to start up research to helping (as an assistant) with afterschool programs for our kids and others.
We are most appreciative of people who love to lead and teach.
English, Thai, Spanish,
It really depends on who is staying with us at the time, with a first come first choice policy. Most people stay in either of our two guest rooms, both with big windows, though the living room sometimes has a guest extending their stay. We are considering parking a nice camper/caravan/tiny house next to the house that some people may enjoy. We work together to prepare and share meals, often rotating days depending on how many adults are in the house.
You will be in the San Francisco Bay Area with access to San Francisco 40 minutes by car and public transportation. We're in a good location in the country, but close to the city, for those looking for part-time work outside of spending time with us.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Max of 5 hours a day and 5 days a week.
