Help us maintain our organic garden in a beautiful part of British Columbia, Canada

Infos

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  Description

  We are Maggie and Bruce, a couple in our seventies. We have a 2 acre property in Procter,BC, comprised of a large garden, orchard, woodlot, house and several outbuildings, and situated a block from the West Arm of Kootenay Lake.
  
  Procter is 32 km drive from Nelson, with a regular bus service that runs 6 days a week to Harrop. You then take the short cable ferry across the lake to get to Procter (we can collect you from there!). We also take weekly trips to Nelson and can coordinate days off with these trips. We have bicycles available for use as well as kayaks for those who have water experience. The West Kootenays are a beautiful part of BC with many recreational opportunities and Nelson is a vibrant cultural hub, full of young people, micro -breweries, and artists.
  
  We have been gardening organically on this property since 2005.  We use crop rotation, composting, mulching, and organic soil amendments. We grow many vegetables mainly for our own self sufficiency, and have many seasonal flowers as well. We also have strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, saskatoon berries, black and red currants, apples, pears, and quince.
  
  We feel lucky to have the ability to grow our own food and live in this beautiful area. Both my husband and myself are retired teachers, so we are inspired to both share and learn with others. You do not have to have gardening experience to be here, just a desire to learn some new skills, a good work ethic, an open and curious mind, and an appreciation of the healing aspects of nature.
  
  We will be needing extra hands in April 2025 for help in the garden, along with preparing and stacking firewood.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We have yet to meet anyone who does not fall in love with this area of BC. As well as Nelson being a vibrant , small city, there is an abundance of hiking, mountain biking, or just plain sight seeing in this area of mountains, valleys and lakes.
  
  There is a thriving organic food growing industry in the West Kootenays. Many growers use help from WOOF Canada and WORKAWAY and the local host families make a practice of including their helpers in local cultural activities, such as the local farmers market every Sunday. Come and experience our welcoming Procter community!
  
  We are happy to share our gardening knowledge and experience. As well, this is musical household and artistic household. I play piano, autoharp, and sing, and my husband plays mandolin. I also am an amateur water colour and acrylic artist; there are always lots of art materials around with which to experiment! I teach piano during the winter months, but certainly could make that part of an exchange if you come in the summer. I am also bilingual, French being my 2nd language and we enthusiastically welcome French speaking people here.

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  Aide

  During the summer heat, we tend to start early and finish by 12pm. This is flexible, but we do advise to not work during the peak heat hours, and on smokey days tasks will be inside.
  
  A seasonal description of daily activites would be as follows.:
  Early spring (late March, April, early May)

  - Seeding trays to be put under lights
  - Pruning of perennials
  - Garden cleanup
  - Bed preparation
  - Planting
  - Woodlot and yard cleanup
  - Splitting and storing firewood
  - Fence repair
  
  Late Spring (late May, June)
  - 
Planting
  - Weeding
  - Care of seedlings
  - Woodlot clean up
  - Lawn mowing
  - Firewood splitting and storing
  - Fence repair
  
  Summer (late June, July, August)
  - Harvesting vegetables and berries and processing for storage.
   - August brings ripening tomatoes (we have many varieties of heirloom tomatoes), and is the time to make pickles, sauces, relish, etc. 
  - Other maintenance activities
  
  Fall (September, October, early November)

  - Harvesting (pears, apples, and quince)
  - Firewood 
  - Late fall is time to put the garden to bed by clearing beds and mulching as much as possible, and cutting back perennials.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Français: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  I speak fluent French and English and was a French immersion teacher.
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  Hébergement

  We live on the last street of the eastern side of the village which means we have country on one side and houses on the other and we are 2 blocks away from the West Arm of Kootenay Lake.
  
  Accommodation is a studio room above a storage building. It is one large room and could accommodate a single, 2 friends travelling together, or a couple. The room has a fabulous mountain and lake view through one side, the other shows the woods. It is cozy and quiet, perfect to listen into the sounds of nature.
  
  Bathroom and kitchen facilities are in the main house. There is also a flat tent space just inside the wooded portion of the property if you'd prefer to be even closer to nature!
  
  We eat organically, lots of fresh produce in the summer and locally sourced meat and poultry. We are open to various dietary regimes being followed, would just ask that you do your cooking if you are on an extremely restricted diet. We of course supply all the food for the days you are here. Breakfast and lunch is usually self- serve, and dinner is generally prepared from scratch each evening. Some help with food preparation and kitchen clean up would be expected.

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  Autres infos...

  Procter is a small town in a beautiful area. With most workdays finishing by 12pm, you will have plenty of time to slow down, read, create, swim, hike, and enjoy some time to yourself.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  The studio where you would stay has weak wifi. However, there are plenty of places to work in the house and on our deck that overlooks the garden.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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