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Learn about self-sufficiency and gardening in a community

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The experience

We are a small community of six people living in Rawdon, Quebec. We make a living by producing fruit and nut trees (nursery), specializing in fruit trees adapted for northern climates. Along with this, we have many projects on our lands (and are constantly starting more!) - fruit orchards, keeping chickens, bees, growing our own vegetables, herbs, grains and mushrooms.

What you offer

32 hours of help per week

Farming: Plant crops, sow seeds and help in outside tasks.

Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens

What you get

1 day off per week

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

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

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.

Free Hiking Tours: We’ll take you on excursions and hikes around town. For free!

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

Requirements

Fluent French or Fluent English

Over 18 years old

Only hosts solo volunteers (doesn’t accept couples or partners)

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

Learning here is through doing; and the more you show interest, are energetic in your work and ask questions, the more you will learn. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained in many areas (orchards, fruit trees, soil management, organic farming, as well as other general self-sufficiency skills). If you happen to have any special interests or knowledge, we will also be interested in learning from you.

We are looking for people who are interested in some of what we do - whether organic agriculture, fruit trees, self-sufficiency, or community lifestyle.

You will be most welcome if you have at least some of the following characteristics:
-like to work hard and push yourself a bit
-are kind and considerate towards others
-are eager to learn,
-respect and see some value in our way of living,
-are flexible and reasonably adaptable
-Not easily bothered or bored by slightly monotonous tasks.

Activities & Shift

While there is a ton of work outside to do, we also need workawayers to take part in cooking. We are currently searching for a workawayer who would enjoy cooking 1 meal a day for the group.

Apart from that, here is an overview of the different tasks there is to do:

In spring and early summer, we have several different projects to do at once: grafting, planting trees, preparing a garden, starting to weed, planting orchards on our new land.

Later in summer there will be more weeding, harvesting and food preservation, along with our family orchard care and maintenance, caring for hens, some construction projects, and more.

In fall the help involves mainly: collecting fruit and nuts, processing seeds, planting and mulching trees, canning fruit and vegetables, sometimes some weeding, construction projects.

Rules

-no alcohol or drug
-no sexual activity (including no touching, no kissing and even no flirting - you are here to learn, you have all the rest of your life for that.)
-no lying
-no stealing
-no killing (insects and animals included).