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Learn about animal, house, and hobby farm upkeep in midwest USA!

5.0
(7 reviews)7

The experience

Looking for volunteers to help on our small hobby farm! Volunteers have done everything from cooking meals/housework to helping with animals in rehab, training, and conditioning. Common tasks include gardening (shrubs and flowers), mowing, small building projects, maintenance, animal chores & training, cleaning house, cooking. Volunteers help with us or alone depending on the day, and we can teach available tasks to meet their interest/ability.

What you offer

25 hours of help per week

Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.

Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens

Animal Care: Help look after and take care of animals.

What you get

2 days off per week

Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.

Tent: You will sleep in a tent at a camping site.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.

Pick Up: We will pick you up when you arrive, and take you to our property.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Basic Internet Access: Basic speed internet for you to work remotely

Requirements

Intermediate English

Over 18 years old

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

United States Visa

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

We usually have 1 volunteer/group at a time (our max is 2 bedroo), and they help with general maintenance at our private home & farm. We have a range of animals from large to small, and do everything from animal rescue/rehab/rehome (large animals and exotics) to breeding (poultry). We both work full time away from our home, so we are very grateful when we can find volunteers to help with routine projects and just give the animals some extra attention! We do occasionally volunteer with our animals at home or in the community; they do some free events, participate in mounted search and rescue, and educate with kids or small groups. Although we occasionally sell animals (mostly poultry), we do this for fun/education and it is a financial loss, making our farm entirely non-profitable. Our animals are our extended family so we enjoy sharing them without the added stress of financial profit :)

Activities & Shift

-Work is self-paced, so some people work longer than others and different volunteers end up doing different tasks based on their own comfort levels and abilities. We rarely have more than 1 volunteer at a time. Work varies based on season and ability, for a current project list, please contact us.
-Breakfast and lunch are on your own (shared kitchen, groceries provided within reason) and dinners are shared, although you are welcome to cook your own food for dinner also (or take over household cooking if it's something you enjoy!). We have no special diet preferences, and our meals usually include meat and carbs. We raise ornamental chickens and eat farm fresh eggs and some produce.

Rules

-Must be able to work independently and make progress on basic tasks when we aren't home
-If taking days off, strongly prefer they be taken during the week on our work days. We can work with you to provide transportation once a week to the local (30min away) train station. We cannot provide free meals on days off.
-No previous animal experience required but must be tolerant of all types of animals inside and outside the house (including occasional wild visitors)
-Must be tolerant of living and working with young children
-Must be tolerant of living in remote areas with no public services, no public transportation, and limited connection internet
-No smoking inside the house or sheds