Welcome to our home and farm experience in a rural setting near Mazomanie, Wisconsin, USA

Detalles

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  Descripción

  Greetings, Workawayers!
  
  My husband and I, both companion animal veterinarians, reside in a tranquil rural forest setting, conveniently just a half-hour drive from the vibrant university community of Madison. This area offers a rich tapestry of both natural wonders and cultural experiences.
  
  Inspired by the incredible workaway experiences our 3 young adult children had in India, Taiwan and Japan, we are eager to extend the opportunity for others to join us, sharing their skills while forging new friendships and exploring new horizons.
  
  A few years ago, I acquired a modest parcel of overworked farmland and forest, which I am passionately restoring. Employing managed intensive grazing techniques with goats and sheep, my primary objectives are to cultivate a permaculture lifestyle by raising farm and fiber animals for personal enjoyment. I hope to contribute to the restoration of the degraded landscape, playing a part in the fight against climate change for future generations.
  
  My projects and passions include spending quality time with our dairy goats, mini donkey, and sheep, as well as undertaking the construction of essential infrastructure such as barns, hay storage, and fences. Additionally, I am in the process of establishing an orchard and permaculture food forest. We love hosting occasional events such as spring Maple syrup boils, 4th of July moonlight floats, frisbee on the sandbars and especially wood fired pizza in our outdoor mud oven - this is a perfect setting for gatherings with friends. To unwind, we often find solace canoeing or floating on hammocks along the picturesque Wisconsin River in our backyard.
  
  We are politically progressive, science-based, earth-minded, ethnically diverse, gender-identity and sexual-identity affirming. It's important to us that all women, men, LGBTQ people feel welcome, supported and safe. While we believe it is important to learn other perspectives and engage in healthy, constructive debate, we find it can be too mentally and emotionally taxing in this small setting of working and living.
  
  We don't expect to agree on everything, but we have found these guidelines to be really helpful in making a space where all can thrive. Safety and lifestyle expectations: We respect your lifestyle choices within these limitations for the comfort and safety of all: We are fully vaccinated against Covid and expect our guests to be as well as to take reasonable precautions for the health of others (e.g. masking and covid testing when you have a cough or fever). There is no cigarette smoking allowed anywhere on the property, including the living spaces, fields or outdoor areas. We encourage mentally healthy lifestyles and workspaces - non-violent communication, mental health self-awareness, meditation and stress balance are active practices we engage here. Emotional maturity is an appreciated skill. Making other's intentionally uncomfortable through speech or actions is not allowed.
  
  Please be aware that we share our home with cats and a dog. We look forward to welcoming fellow Workawayers to join us in this fulfilling journey of sustainable living and environmental restoration.

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  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos

  Jardinería

  Construcción y bricolaje

  Cuidado de animales

  Ayuda en una granja
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  Objetivos de sostenibilidad de las NU que intenta conseguir este anfitrión

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  ¿Que es esto?
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  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Our family enjoys meeting people of all ages and from all walks of life. We had the opportunity to homeschool our children and do a lot of traveling in many parts of the world, and love to learn about other people's cultures and traditions. Whether your background is urban or rural, from America or anywhere else in the world, we would love to welcome you into our home!

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  Ayuda

  I'm always building something or experimenting with new farming, planting, and permaculture techniques.
  Currently John and I attend to our projects Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8am to about 3pm, with lunch and reset . We move at a steady but reasonable pace to get things done safely and enjoyably. We quit at 3 because we find that going longer doesn't accomplish anything more and it's nice to enjoy a relaxed afternoon and evening. Please plan to be available during those days and hours so we can spend that time together. If you have a conflict such as remote school or work, please let me know and we see about ways to rearrange. Groups or pairs at similar times help the projects move along. These are the days and times we have available outside of our regular jobs, but we can also have some flexibility.
  
  Feb-March-April 2024: Moderate physical activity: We will be installing a "pasture paradise" track system to increase environmental enrichment for our farm creatures. This will involve installing fence posts (tractor drilled holes), stringing fence line and connectors along 7000' of fencing. We will be spreading gravel in areas for hoof care and setting up natural obstacle courses for the animals. We will be preparing ground and planting hedgerows of several hundred trees and shrubs for our food forest, windbreaks and beautification. We will be constructing an additional animal shelter fromreclaimed products and wood we will harvest and mill on our property. We are continuing to thin crowded trees and clear brush and (inherited) garbage from our silvopasture areas. We have a small tractor to help with all these projects that anyone can learn to use and drive. We will be shearing 20 sheep and angora goats in groups of 3-5 a day. Please let me know if that's something you are particularly interested in helping with. We will also be working with our bees in the spring and starting our own garden seedlings.
  
  We are happy to teach skills to those who haven't had an opportunity to try light construction equipment. Come with an open heart and ready to learn. This farm is very different from most - we focus on the welfare of the animals with positive reinforcement training techniques, the welfare of the land with restorative practices and the welfare of the people with balanced and healthy living.
  
  Past projects
  Spring through fall 2023 - cleared brush, crowded and downed trees from our silvopasture area. Used the downed pine and oak to construct a new implement and storage shed. Continued planting apple trees, blueberries, fruit and nut trees in the orchard. Removed several trailer loads of inherited garbage from woods.
  Spring through fall 2022 - put in well and water infrastructure - digging and trenching by machine, laying pipe and setting up automatic water stations for the animals in field. Built solar shed and water pump housing. Built new barn and goat sheds from wood we make on our sawmill. Putting up new fencing.
  Spring through fall 2021 - grafted several hundred apple trees with new varieties, planned orchard, acquired angora goats
  Spring through fall 2020 - built water troughs, hay storage, animal shelter, gates, yards and fencing, acquired cows and sheep

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  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  Este anfitrión ha indicado que está interesado en compartir su idioma o aprender otro.
  Ponte en contacto con él para obtener más información.
  
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  Alojamiento

  Your primary housing option would be living in our 1 bedroom (Queen bed and additional queen pull-out couch) apartment with a full kitchen space and bath. This is great for families, couples or 2 adults who have adapted to co-housing. Good WiFi everywhere. Alternatively, in our house we have several spare bedrooms in the finished basement where we can accommodate individuals who want more private sleeping space. In that location, there is also a small pleasant and quiet work and study area, full bathroom and kitchenette with microwave, toaster oven and kettle, couch, computer and electric fireplace.
  
  You can expect ample grocery store allowance for purchase of whatever groceries you wish for your own cooking or shared meals with each other. We don't expect anyone to be obligated to cook for each other unless they choose to do so. There is a shared vehicle available for your responsible use with valid driver's license. As any mature person expects in community living, you must plan to keep the common areas clean for the enjoyment of all. You will be expected to clean the dishes and kitchen, sweep, mop and clean the bathrooms on a regular basis in all workaway living spaces. Prior to leaving, plan time to return the space to a great state for the next workawayers. We encourage that at the start of each new arrival, an agreement is reached about sharing community responsibilities such as cooking, car use or cleaning.
  
  The upstairs area of our personal house, including the kitchen, living room and screen porch we generally like to reserve for our own family use, except for times of invited community gathering. We have found that while we enjoy visiting and socializing, everyone needs to feel that they can have space for reading, working and reflection without feeling the need to be in constant conversation. We also do some work from home, where a quiet, interruption free area is important. There is a beautiful river area for solitude and nature observation right in our backyard for community enjoyment.
  
  Our family is vegetarian, but we enjoy eggs and dairy products and we love cooking delicious food with others. We will not be providing meat, but you can cook your own, although we do not allow cooking meat in the house.

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  Algo más...

  We can help to arrange transportation from Chicago, or Madison Wisconsin airports. Our area is well known for beautiful natural sightseeing on the Wisconsin River, which you can enter from the dock in our backyard and paddle or swim to many islands, bluffs, and beaches in our area. There are also many towns and communities of interest nearby, such as Salk City un the river (~5-minute drive), Spring Green down the river (15-minutes), Mazomanie (5-minutes), and Madison (30-minutes), which is also a great multicultural university community; we are happy to transport you there on occasion for events as well. Canoeing, biking, hiking, and cross country skiing are some of our favorite activities and we have equipment on-site for your use.

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  Un poco más de información

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    Acceso a Internet

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    Acceso a Internet limitado

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    Tenemos animales

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    Somos fumadores

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    Puede alojar familias

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  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  Any size vehicle can be accommodated. Water and electric hookups depending on whether you choose to be near the house or in a quiet location on the farm field or forest.

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  Podría aceptar mascotas

  Generally no, but rarely we can consider well-behaved pets on a case by case basis, depending on the exact circumstances.

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  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Más de dos

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  Horas esperadas

  20 hours per week.

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