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Permaculture prep, homesteading, digital detox, cat caretaking

5.0
(11 reviews)11

The experience

Seeking people who can stay for three months at a time to help clear land for future permaculture projects, do path maintenance, and feed a colony of 15 to 20 cats twice daily. You must love camping, hiking and the outdoors. In winter, you'll sleep in a cozy tiny house, and in summer, you can sleep in a tent in a nearby shady grove if the tiny house gets too hot.

NO DOGS, not even nice ones, sorry. My land is a cat sanctuary.

What you offer

18 hours of help per week

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

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.

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

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

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

I'm looking for people to stay for three months at a time to help clear pieces of my land for future permaculture projects. Ideally, I'd like to host couples (LGBTQ+ fam welcome!) or two friends traveling together, because off-grid rural solitude can be daunting. Will consider solo travelers if I think you'd be a good fit. Ideal candidates would be geeky nature and cat lovers, independent, and mentally stable.

The dream is to find people who love this land as much as I do and who would enjoy becoming part of a community of long-term land and cat caretakers.

By community, I do NOT mean a big group of people living together: I don't have the resources for that, and besides, that's my idea of absolute hell.

I mean people who would enjoy staying for a season, and returning every year – in the same season or a different one – to ensure a continuous presence on the land. I'm no longer able to do this work myself, much as I'd love to.

I define the seasons according to local weather:

WINTER -- December, January, February -- the coldest, darkest months
SPRING -- March, April, May -- a mix of weather, mostly enjoyable
SUMMER -- June, July, August -- extreme heat, plus tourists
FALL -- September, October, November -- a mix of weather, mostly enjoyable

I'm on the land during the summer, so during other seasons I'll show you what to do and provide anything you need to do the work.

The island gets pretty empty in winter, but I have a network of people I can connect you with for various activities, if you need something to do other than enjoying land and cats.

The island is teeming with tourists in summer, and my neighbors on the land host big dinners for them during the season. In spite of this, the land is a nice refuge from summer tourist madness.

Activities & Shift

Land-clearing involves working in a designated area to remove bushes and their roots, trimming tall grass, and eventually working on tilling and improving the soil for planting. Occasionally a new space will be cleared for human activities (like a new spot to put a tent or a shady seating area).

Path maintenance involves trimming back the overgrowth on paths that are becoming too bushy or that have become impassable due to overgrowth and neglect.

I already have most of the tools you'll need: gloves, safety glasses, clippers, hand saws, a sabre saw, and a weedwacker. If anything else is needed, we can discuss, and I'll provide.

Cat colony caretaking is mostly just feeding the 15 to 20 cats twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. If you don't like cats cuddling with you at night, this opportunity isn't for you, because there are a few tiny house regulars who love to do just that. Occasionally one of the cats will show up with an injury: if that happens, just let me know and we'll figure out what to do from there.

Rules

NO DOGS - not even nice ones, sorry. My land is a cat sanctuary.

NO ROLLING SUITCASES - this is for backpackers only, as the land is walk-in only, along very rugged, rocky paths.