WORK TRADE WANTED: STUDENT SEARCHING FOR FARM LIVE/WORK EXCHANGE – VICTORIA, BC

Hello! My name is Shaunna, and I am in search of a unique opportunity while I’m living in Victoria for school during the fall and winter of 2019/2020. I’ve been living on Salt Spring Island for most of the last 8 years and I’ve grown accustomed to living a certain kind of way that I desperately don’t want to let go of when I move to Victoria. While on Salt Spring I was fortunate to live close to nature, amongst like-minded community members on large pieces of land. We were able to grow our own food and work together to achieve similar goals while enjoying a little bit more freedom than one can expect in the city! Overall I’ve had a pretty low cost of living all of those years, I lived rustically, frugally, close to nature, and it’s been wonderful.

I am in search of a farm stay, somewhere that I can enjoy all the things I’ve enjoyed back on Salt Spring, while putting in work trade hours in hopes of a more affordable way of living and to be able to maintain that close relationship to nature. While attending school part-time at Camosun I would like to invest my extra time in learning valuable food-growing skills and building relationships with you—the farmers!— all the while making a contribution to the land and working off my cost of living a bit. I have never done an extended farm stay before so I am very open to negotiating all kinds of ideas as far as hours worked and/or money contributed towards rent. I have two senior animals – a husky terrier cross named Benson and a kitty cat named Molly. Both used to live on a community farm on Salt Spring with me and many other humans, children, and other animals, they are very well behaved.

I enjoy physical, hands on work, and have years of experience in the garden through personal and  professional experience. I have picked a few varieties of fruit, and worked in vineyards as well. The majority of my professional gardening experience is ornamental; however, as you may know there are also many ornamental gardeners on Salt Spring! I am eager to learn much more about producing food, as most of those experiences are only through personal gardening on the farms I’ve lived. Having had the opportunity to grow my own food and nurture my own gardens for the last few years, I’ve come to realize the importance of growing healthy, nourishing food in a sustainable way and I would love to continue to extend the knowledge I do have.

I would love the opportunity to get to know the farming community of Victoria much more, so if you feel you may have something for me, or if you know of anyone else who would consider this idea, please get in touch! You can reach me at: inheryouth@hotmail.com