Country life living close to Calgary, the Rocky Mountains and foothills of Alberta, Canada

Details

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  Description

  Looking forward to hosting in the Spring and Summer of 2024.
  
  My wife Patti, and myself, are retired. We love our quiet rural country lifestyle living on 160 acres between Calgary and the Rocky Mountains. We are close, by vehicle, to amenities and attractions, but definitely rural, our closest neighbor is 1.6 kilometers away and the town of Cochrane is a 10 minute drive away. We would suggest, you have a vehicle so you can independently explore the area. However, when it fits into our schedule we may be able to do some transportation. When it fits our schedule we have driven workaways to Banff, Calgary and Kananaskis to help them explore. You can walk or run on our property or the quiet roadways and enjoy nature.
  
  We downhill ski, hike, mountain bike, fish, hunt, train hunting dogs, ride horses. Basically be in nature. We have five young grandchildren which we love to spend time with also. We visit them in Calgary and they come to the property to visit us. We have short walking trails in our little valley for them to explore and see the wildlife. They especially love the Buffalo rub rock and stories about the Old Banff Wagon Coach road that once went through our property.
  
  Our property is a lot of work but it is our passion. Our days are very active with maintaining the property and fitting in our recreational hobbies. We have planted many hundreds of evergreen trees and poplar trees to reduce our carbon footprint. We have regenerated much of the native prairie. We have over 200 birdhouses. Five horses which we ride, pack and use to pull a mountain wagon. We have mule and white-tailed deer on our property and occasionally moose and elk. We feel like we live in a Park! It is a very quiet lifestyle.
  
  On warm summer mornings we love to sit outside with our morning coffee hoping to see deer and coyotes or the occasional flock of geese or ducks fly by. Moose, deer, coyotes and many wild birds have entertained our workaways. They have loved to sit by the windows and wait for wildlife to occasionally stroll by early in the morning and at dusk.
  
  We try to spend a bit of time each day walking and training our bird hunting dogs (pudelpointers).
  
  In 2022 we hosted workaway couples from Czech , France, Hungary and one young lady from the USA.. In 2023 we hosted couples were from Czech, Spain, Argentina and Germany. We learned so much about the workaways countries, and foods and cannot wait to visit some of them in the future. Our guests have helped us tremendously with many inside and outside projects. Projects have included working with the horses, painting, cutting lawn, cleaning windows, construction projects, servicing machinery. Our second couple from Czech installed hardwood flooring and painted inside as it was winter and outside projects were on hold.
  
  It seems all our workaway visitors have enjoyed the horses and dogs!
  
  We have enjoyed many French, Czech, Hungarian, Spanish, Argentinian and American foods. We also shared many Canadian meals with our workaways including wild duck, deer, moose, pheasant, sourdough pancakes, sourdough bread and many others.
  
  Fun hikes in the mountains, horseback rides and road trips have all been shared.
  
  So far our experiences with these world travelers has been very positive and we look forward to some more experiences with this amazing generation of world travelers.
  
  
  
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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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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 an opportunity to experience a quiet Canadian rural culture 20 minutes west of Calgary and 30 minutes to the Rocky Mountains. Access to Cochrane, Calgary, Kananaskis Country, Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise is a close drive from our place. However, we are in the country and a bit isolated compared to being in a city or town. There are great opportunities to experience city, mountain, foothill and prairie environments. Hiking, mountain biking, fishing - basically all mountain sports are a close drive away. Calgary is an amazing city with many parks, riding and running paths.
  
  We would welcome teaching people how we work with our riding horses and our team and wagon. I am a retired biologist. We pride ourselves on having created a property which enhances the environment as much as possible by planting trees, using proper grazing practices, and using solar power as much as possible. We have created a large wetland on our property which is enrolled in a conservation program to promote clean water, and wildlife habitat especially for waterfowl. The opportunities for cultural exchange are as broad as a traveler wishes to make the effort to create.
  
  Our experiences so far have been outstanding. We have learned so much about different countries and lifestyles. Everyone has enjoyed our rural life and adventuring into Calgary and the mountains. We have really enjoyed the incredibly delicious meals prepared showing off special meals for each country.
  
  We hope workaways who visit are mature and can work independently on most tasks, with only a small amount of direction. We propose tasks that we would like done and workaways can pick which ones they would like to do. Sometimes we have to work together on the bigger tasks which can be fun and a good way to get to know each other.
  
  We look forward to meeting new people and sharing experiences.

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  Help

  For 2024, we are fully booked. We have tried to select people that can help with some interior construction projects such as framing and painting, helping with outside yard maintenance and assisting with the horses.
  
  We have horses, dogs, bees, pasture land and hay land. We require help with fencing, farm/yard maintenance, cutting grass, painting, brushing horses, mechanical work, organizing flower beds. Projects always pop up. It is good if workaways are good with tools and equipment. Equipment breaks, horses or wildlife damage fences so there is often work that is fairly mechanical. Although not always just mechanical or labor, we have had great fun eating meals created by the workaways that are special to their country.
  
  We think the best workaways for us may be couples, as many projects are much easier to do and more fun with two or more people.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Private bedroom with Queen bed in a walk-out basement, private full bathroom, private entrance. Shared kitchen upstairs. We have two well trained hunting dogs (Pudelpointers) which live in the house with us. They are very friendly, maybe too friendly? We are still pretty new to the experience of workaway but with our workaways we have been flexible on food arrangements and it has worked well. It is open access to the kitchen and workaways can prepare their own breakfasts, lunches, snacks. Sometimes we do this together. We do often cook together in preparing some evening meals but we are flexible to figure out how best to meet schedules/needs. We provide food. We do not eat much prepared foods as we try to eat a healthy lifestyle.
  
  We do include natural wild game in some meals as we harvest deer, and moose on our property and also ducks, geese and pheasant. However, this is not our main source of protein. We like lamb, fish, beef, chicken and big salads. We have occasional vegetarian meals.

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  What else ...

  It would probably be best to have your own transportation as we are 30 minutes to drive to Calgary, 10 minutes to drive to Cochrane, 30 to 60 minutes to the mountains. Our location is somewhat isolated if you do not have a vehicle as you can not walk to places like you can in a city or village. We help with driving to some of the sights in the area if it fits our schedule but the experience would maybe be best if the workaway had their own independent transportation. There is a ride share area a 5 minute drive away which we can take people to.
  
  From the house one can walk on the prairie and explore. The gravel roads around the house are quiet and good for walking or running. We see deer and coyotes frequently from the house. Occasionally moose and elk. Close by, Kananaskis Country is an amazing mountain area to explore for hiking, photography, mountaineering, wildlife viewing and mountain biking. Glenbow Provincial Park is only 15 minute drive away. There really are endless opportunities to connect with nature.

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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 a good wi-fi connection.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  Lots of room to park a vehicle.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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