Learn about homesteading by the Appalachian Trail in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, USA

Detalhes

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  Descrição

  Hello! We are a small organic berry farm & hiker rest stop in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. We love to grow berries and vegetables while also helping backpackers who visit us off the Appalachian Trail.
  
  For the past several decades, this small farm has been popular with locals (who pick our berries - blueberries, raspberries, currants, elderberries, gooseberries, cranberries, etc.) and Appalachian Trail thru-hikers looking for a place to relax and replenish. We provide freshly baked cookies and cold homemade drinks for free to the hikers who stop by. With permission, we allow backpackers to tent on our spacious lawn or sleep on our beds (especially when the weather is bad) in the airplane hangar if we have space. AT hikers know us and seem eager to stop at our farm since we have been long time “trail angels” in our area going all the way back to the first Cookie Lady (Marilyn and Roy Wiley) in 1985. We also sell blueberries and other berries at local farmers' markets and make preserves, both with blueberries and other berries we grow. Our vegetables are grown in our Hugelkultur garden beds in a sustainable no-till style.
  
  There's always a lot to do, and we welcome people who want to pitch in, especially those who are enthusiastic about gardening.

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  Tipos de ajuda e oportunidades de aprendizado

  Projetos artísticos

  Ajuda em projetos ambientais

  Jardinagem

  Construção/faça você mesmo

  Ajuda em fazenda

  Criar/cozinhar refeições caseiras

  Ajuda a cuidar da casa

  Manutenção geral

  House sitting
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  Interesses

  

  Eventos e social

  

  Sustentabilidade

  

  Mascotes

  

  Cultura

  

  Vida na estrada

  

  Filmes e TV

  

  Fazenda

  

  Fotografia

  

  Música

  

  Livros

  

  Faça você mesmo

  

  História

  

  Cuidar de plantas

  

  Arte e design

  

  Jardinagem

  

  Culinária e comida

  

  Desenho e pintura

  

  Animais

  

  Caminhada

  

  Atividades ao ar livre

  

  Montanhas

  

  Camping

  

  Naturaleza

  

  Yoga/bem-estar
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  Objetivos de sustentabilidade da ONU que este anfitrião quer atingir

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  O que é isso?
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  Oportunidades de intercâmbio cultural e aprendizado

  Each day during the summer, you'll meet many new people as they make the small detour from their Appalachian Trail hiking to visit our property. They come from all over the country and world & appreciate our hospitality. We are known as “Cookie Lady 2.0” to these backpackers. It's easy to strike up a conversation and make a new friend who you would otherwise never have met. During blueberry season (mid-July to early September), there are also plenty of locals and travelers who come to pick our berries. With our expanding five-person family and two dogs on top of all of this, it's really never lonely here. The Berkshires are also full of artistic and cultural events.
  
  You'll also learn about our small-scale, homesteading-style operation. We grow our berries and vegetables organically and love sharing the practices that we have found effective. We could teach you about the wild edible plants in the October Mountain State Forest surrounding our property and show you our favorite spots in the nearby mountain towns, whether you're looking to hike, swim, dine, or enjoy arts & culture.

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  Projetos que envolvem crianças

  Este projeto pode envolver crianças. Para mais informações, veja aqui nossas diretrizes e dicas.

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  Ajuda

  Regular tasks include watering/weeding the gardens, greeting hikers, preparing and providing cold drinks/cookies, mowing, weed-whacking, splitting/stacking firewood, and doing the dishes generated by the hikers. There are also plenty of larger projects around our farm, like stonewalls that we are building and putting together a new cabin/shop that was recently constructed. And we're always thinking of landscaping & art projects (like sign making) to make our property more beautiful & welcoming.
  
  We do earn an humble income from our berry operation, so we do not expect help with picking berries or maintaining the patches.

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  Idiomas

  Inglês: Fluente

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  Acomodação

  We have a mini-bus with two built-in beds. The bus has been decorated with colorful fabric and lots of decoupaged birds on the ceiling and walls (see photos). It's not anything fancy, but it's relatively private and the beds have memory foam mattresses and also loads of blankets, pillows, and curtains. We have a few cubicle bedrooms set up in our airplane hangar that could also be used. You could also camp on our property. We'd provide meals, which we often share with hikers who complete chores for us, and give you access to our house's shower/kitchen/laundry, but we primarily expect our helpers to use the Porta-Potty which is cleaned once per week.
  
  There is no WiFi, but there is strong LTE reception with T-Mobile & Verizon (we use our smartphone's hotspot to stream Netflix on our laptops regularly, for instance).

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  Algo mais...

  We're located in Berkshire County, which is a popular tourist destination with an abundance of arts, culture, and outdoor recreation attractions a short drive away. While our farm is surrounded by state forest (October Mountain’s 16K acres) and at an elevation of 2,000 feet, we're a 15-30 minute drive from attractions like Mass MoCA, Tanglewood, Waconah Falls, Kripalu, The Clark, Mount Greylock, Herman Melville’s and Edith Wharton's home, and the Norman Rockwell Museum.
  
  We're also located right on the Appalachian Trail for those who want to hike, and there are pristine lakes and streams surrounding our secluded property.

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  Mais alguns detalhes

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    Acesso à internet

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    Acesso à internet limitado

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    Temos mascotes

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    Somos fumantes

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    Pode hospedar famílias

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  Espaço para estacionar campervans

  Este anfitrião pode fornecer espaço para vans.

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  Pode aceitar animais

  Dogs are okay if they are low-key and don't mind some slightly territorial but ultimately friendly golden retrievers.

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  Quantos Workawayers pode acomodar?

  2

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  Meus animais / animais de estimação

  Three Dogs: Brick, Huggie Bear, and Daphne

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Converse com Workawayers que já visitaram este anfitrião

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