Kirsty & Josh

From: United States

Account Type
Couple account
Travelling to
France, Italy, Portugal, Spain
Travel dates
01/07/2017 - 31/01/2018
Badges

Our status
Travelling
Description
2019 /2020 onwards - life changes ... Josh now currently lives in Panama where he is doing amazing fishing things and vegetable growing systems (and he may well be looking for workaway help in the near future). Meanwhile, Kirsty, Esmé (10) and Sasha (8) are now based in the UK, but travelling as much as possible (sometimes to Panama but mostly to Europe). We have just got ourselves a camper van so have our own accommodation and are able to enjoy adventures that might not be open to us otherwise! Kirsty is finishing her degree in Speech and Language Therapy and can help with any childcare, hospitality, language learning type of things and the girls are both pretty handy - with supervision! (Esmé loves looking after younger kids and she's a wonderful baker; Sasha loves construction work and animal care)

2017: We are a British-American family currently living in the Colorado Rocky Mountains where we own and operate an all-natural, outdoor pig farm. Josh is a modern permaculturally-leaning old school cowboy - a whizz with plants and animals. Kirsty is a speech language pathology assistant and children's librarian, who dabbles in writing for pleasure. We have two beautiful girls Esmé (7.5) and Sasha (5). We have hosted a dozen workaways ourselves over the last year and have loved the experience and gained so much from it. Now it is time for us to try the experience from the other perspective. We are busy handing our farm over to friends and relocating to the UK. En route to the UK we want to experience as much of Europe as possible. Josh is an incredibly capable man (having previously been in the building trade - he can fix anything!), gardening is a mad passion for him and he has a wonderful way with animals (especially big ones!). Kirsty has previously lived in France and can help with most things big or small, but, traveling as a family, can perhaps be of most use offering childcare or language learning (she previously worked teaching English as a Foreign Language). Esmé and Sasha love dog walks, snuggling with cats and feeding chickens and generally making themselves as useful as possible. We all love to dabble in the kitchen and we all love books and beaches.
Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Being an elderly companion
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Life at a Farmstay
Eco Projects
Helping around the house
Animal Care
Hospitality/Tourism
Charity Work
Language practice
Art Projects
Teaching
More details about your skills
Josh - agriculture, husbandry, gardening (biodynamics and permaculture); building (carpentry, plumbing, tiling, electrics)
Kirsty - language teaching, childcare, elderly care, cooking, shopping etc.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Age
45 & 47
Nationality
British / American
What else ...
Having previously been workaway hosts ourselves we are very excited to have the opportunity to experience being workaways. We are very respectful of peoples' ways, spaces and projects and will be very grateful to be as much help as possible to those willing to host a family!
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements
  Kirsty is currently vegetarian

Photos

Feedback

26/06/2020

Left by host (Babysitting for a family in ...) for Workawayer (Kirsty & Josh)

Kirsty, Esme and Sasha stand out from the crowd. As a family unit, they come with abundant energy, creativity, resourcefulness, generosity, oodles of fun and can-do attitude! (We have hosted over 100 volunteers over the past few years - Workaway and WWOOF).

Kirsty is an inspiration. Her work is self-directed, we always felt completely at ease… read more with asking her to undertake a task in the knowledge that she would do it with finesse and a smile! Kirsty is fantastic at implementing developmental activities for children, particularly with speech and language - using singing, actions and games, as well as art based projects. The transformation in Otto’s development after two weeks with her was clear - he loved being with Kirsty and was always keen to take part in whatever activities were on offer - returning to us feeling super proud and wanting to share whatever he had just made, learnt to sing or dance move that he had perfected!

Esme and Sasha are non-stop entertainment. Their love of life, curiosity, abundant energy, sense of adventure and contagious laughter is a joy to be around. There were numerous performance events that took place during their stay, that brought a fantastic dynamic to our communal living that no adult has ever come close to offering! Esme and Sasha are very responsible, confident and interested young people. Otto was in his element, with two playmates that were full of care, cuddles and companionship.

Travelling in their van means that the family unit is self-reliant, having their own space as well as sharing the communal living areas. They were also able to go away for the weekend, providing a great balance between work/family/community/travel etc.

Kirsty and Josh have hosted Workawyers before - making the whole introduction, expectation element of inviting strangers into your home the easiest yet! Kirsty and the girls absolutely understood the detail and importance of keeping to work hours, maintaining personal space and communal living, as well as being self-directed during their own time, undertaking their own adventures and by no means making demands of us.

Kirsty is a great cook, providing delicious food for us all. They all were clean, tidy and were able to clear up after themselves, taking responsibility - not creating more work for us. Esme and Sasha were always happy to help with tasks, taking initiative and suggesting fantastic projects that kept us all engaged, bringing a true sense of community sprit to our extended family during their stay.

The ease and happy nature of Kirsty and the girls made life here at Trahili simple, effective and memorable. We can not wait until they return to stay with us - and in the meanwhile, cannot recommend them enough to all and every host out there - you will certainly not regret this fantastic family who will arrive as volunteers and be sure to leave you as dear friends!

Thank you guys for everything and making our Summer memories - come back soon, please!

(Excellent )

17/01/2018

Left by Workawayer (Kirsty & Josh) for host for (Help us change the world, one ...)

These guys were so accommodating - they went above and beyond to host us very last minute! The kids were a true delight to spend time with; super interesting, respectful and full of fun and laughter. We were made to feel extremely comfortable in their family life and were able to join in / muck in as much as we wanted beyond our work time but… read more

(Excellent )

07/01/2018

Left by host (Help us change the world, one ...) for Workawayer (Kirsty & Josh)

Kirsty, josh and the girls were fantastic. Hard working, very interesting, great to be with and fun. They were only here 10 days which was already 3 days more than we agreed, but we would have happily had them here for the whole year. Kirsty, being a mum of two is great with kids, a good cook and can see what needs doing before it needs to be… read more

(Excellent )

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