Help with animals on our small homestead in Northern Alberta, Canada

Infos

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  Description

  Update:
  This year, we are hoping to build a small cow barn, foundations are already in place, some lumber sawed, help with construction work would be great.
  Also, my husband is hoping to build his dream cabin by the beaver pond, at the other end of our property.
  And I am looking for help with cow and donkey pastures (fencing, clean up, possibly cutting and collecting grass, ideally even making hay with our exciting new mini equipment!)
  Gardens have been expanded - so there will likely be more weeds that need weeding as well.
  
  After a long break, I am back here looking for somebody who would like to join me for a while on our small homestead in the bush.
  We've lived on our land since 2006, and have slowly built and developed our home and surroundings. I am now in my late sixties and love my life here - and it is a lot of work. My husband works in town most days, while I take care of the many animals I have. The most important ones are my two milk cows with their calves, because they provide us with milk, which I turn into yoghurt, cheese, butter etc., and with meat. Taking care of them is quite a big part of my day. We also grow gardens, I have a tiny greenhouse, and my husband runs a very small beekeeping operation. Then there are donkeys, a lama, a variable number of chickens and turkeys, a very old little piggy, three cats and a dog that all want to be taken care of (lots of cuddles appreciated by most of them). My spot for a workawayer does not include any work for the micro-apiary - I am only looking for somebody who is interested in helping ma a little with the other animals and in the garden.
  It is a very quiet life as we are half an hour's drive away from the next small town and 1.5 hrs away from a bigger city where I go about once a month for my main shopping.
  We are off-grid and only installed running water a few years ago, so this has its own challenges and dynamic. Most of the cooking and heating happens on/by our trusty woodstove, even though we have some back up propane heat. We produce all of our own meat and eggs, quite a few of the veggies we need and all dairy except for some cheese (working on that!)
  I am an avid knitter and I also own a couple of spinning wheels and a few hand spindles, but rarely find the time to use those lately. There's a loom that's still waiting to be set up, and I dabble in willow basketry.
  Networking with other people who enjoy living close to nature, with a small-ish ecological footprint and making things/food from scratch is something I am very interested in and I would love to welcome preferably women (30+ yrs) to mutually share ideas and skills with.
  I'm offering the opportunity to learn or practice some traditional skills, take a break from tight schedules, deadlines, city noise, and find some peace and quiet among the trees. There are always things I could use some help with, and I enjoy working side by side with similarly minded people. Weeding is so much more fun, when you can chat with someone while you're working :)

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Dev. personnel

  

  Ferme

  

  Langues

  

  Jardinage

  

  Livres

  

  Animaux

  

  Nature
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Travellers could get to know an entirely different, very simple lifestyle, very close to nature and the weather, with options for wildlife walks and watching. If someone is interested, my husband would also provide some insights into small-scale beekeeping. When the work is done, somebody could take it as a retreat and enjoy some personal solitude and lots of "me-time".

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  Aide

  I could use help with some smaller fencing projects, cutting and hauling grass for the cows, cleaning out some animal sheds, gardening, re-arranging a pantry.

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  Langues parlées

  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant

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  Hébergement

  We have a very basic, but clean and bright room in an outbuilding, still covered by WiFi. Shower is available in the house. Our house is not big, but we can always make room at the table :-) We are not set up to host somebody in the cold season.

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  Autres infos...

  Since we have many animals, dogs and cats are in the house, and in the summer there is exposure to honeybees, any allergies (except possibly food-related) would be a problem. Also, volunteers should be aware that there are small (mosquitoes) and possibly larger (bears and other wildlife) challenges.
  Given the daily animal chores, we find it tricky to go on longer trips, but daytrips with guests can be arranged. Otherwise, interested workawayers should consider this to be something more of a nature retreat :)

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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

  We have satellite internet, not Starlink, but very decent, and there's always a quiet corner where somebody can do online work.

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  Since I have a rather territorial big dog, unfortunately no pets.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Un

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