Company description

We are honored to own roughly one-third of the oldest homestead in our little valley. The homesteaders picked this place over all the others because of the flat land, rich soil, sunny skies, abundance of water, and stunning views.

We are a retired couple that have been striving to live a simpler, more sustainable life for over 40 years. It is a journey without an end, but with many wonderful stops along the way. Our home reflects numerous sustainable elements, and we grow a substantial portion of our food right here.

The "back 40" are mostly in wetlands which we enjoy sharing with the abundant wildlife. The "front 10" are about equally divided between forestland and open land. We use a very small portion of the open land for a vegetable garden and orchard. We actively manage the forestland for forest health, "fire-wising" (minimize risk of wild fire), firewood, lumber (we have a small chainsaw mill), and maintaining the solarization of our home.

There are visible reminders of the rich history of this place, including an old chicken coop converted to a garden shed, and a recently restored 130-year-old log cabin, a delightful place to stay for those that enjoy a more rustic lifestyle.

Ours is a glacier-cut valley with a dead-flat bottom yet flanked by two mountain ranges that soar an additional 4500 feet above us. Despite this, the sun never dips below the ridge to our south so it is a very sunny site.

We are about half an hour from the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth, Washington, a similar distance to Stevens Pass ski and snow board area, an hour from Wenatchee, and about two hours to the numerous cities in the Puget Sound area.

Job description

This is a busy place from early spring to late fall. We love doing all that this entails, but age necessitates getting some help. Here is a partial list of what we would like help with. We recognize that not many will be able to do ALL of these things, so someone that can do most of them would probably work out. Within reason, we are willing to offer on-the-job training, but we hope to find someone that needs a minimum of supervision.

• Trimming limbs from trees
• Bucking up trees
• Using a hydraulic log splitter to split the rounds into firewood
• Moving and stacking firewood
• Garden preparation, planting, weeding and harvesting
• Fruit tree pruning and harvesting
• Weed-wacking
• Helping take care of our 13 chickens including cleaning the coop, giving feed and water, etc.
• Occasionally taking care of our two dogs
• Manage a large compost pile

If the right individual wanted to have a garden of their own, this likely would work out as well. There are other job opportunities in our community as well to complement the work here.

We might have housing options as well, and we can discuss this.

This is not an opportunity for someone looking to discover whether this is the life for them, or someone new to hard work and living with nature. We are not looking to spend too much time training or educating newbies.

In other words, we look for someone(s) that can do many or all of these tasks, hitting the ground running.

Integrity is the number one qualification. Trust is extremely important, not only to us but to the whole valley. There is a strong sense of community, we look out for each other and help meet each other's needs. It is a wonderful blend of live-and-let-live and mutual support.

The spring brings with it mosquitos. This can range from bad to horrid, for a period of a couple of weeks to a couple of months. Spring and fall can be cool (and beautiful), and summer can find temperatures into the 90's, or maybe into the low 100's for a few days.

For the right person(s), this would be a delightful opportunity. We look forward to discussing it with you!

Compensation

this position is: hourly, $20/hr +

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline