Family farm

Alberta

8 • Updated 2 months ago

I am planning some tasks this summer which will take a lot of time by myself and not sure if I can complete, one of which is to transform an old grain bin into a cabin which I will locate beside a man made dam which already has a floating dock for swimming, hoping to make it into a place to get away from everything and relax. I know I live further in the country from the cities, so I’m always available to drive to one of the cities to pick up people, it’s something I always do for my international helpers, most do not have a vehicle and unfortunately there is no public transportation out my way.. I also have a pickup that my helpers can drive to town occasionally when they need something. I have a farm just 8 km. from town, consisting of 2 farm yards, with 2 horses running around here, during the summer I have around 350 acres of hay to make each year which keeps me busy, some of the WWOOFers that have been here have helped drive one of the tractors or machines to put up the hay and loved the experience. One year I had a Japanese man stay for 3 weeks because he enjoyed driving the tractor with a cab and stereo so much. We try to have 2 bar-b-ques each week and the evenings can end with a campfire, or time in the recreation room which which has many table games for everyone to enjoy. I also provide wireless broadband internet for everyone to use. In the future we're planning on stocking a pond with fish for everyone. Most of the help I require around here is to help with the farm yard maintenance, and if people are interested I will teach them how to drive the tractors. I like to ask everyone what they do at home, and what they would like to do while they are here, and I try my best to show them everything and give them the experience that they are looking forward to doing in Canada, one of the biggest things I do here on weekends is take the holiday trailer to rodeos and enjoy our Alberta heritage sport. I welcome everyone here any time of the year, I just ask that let me know when you are planning to visit.Thank you again to all our volunteers over the years as I have enjoyed your company and help. Certifications: A lot of it is 10 years old rented hay land, the owner doesn’t want to have it certified Internet access available

Learning opportunities

Grain farming

Seed saving or production

Mechanics / tools / technology

Methods or systems

No-till farming

Host type

Self-sufficiency property

600 Hectares | 1,482.6 Acres

Accommodation

4+ WWOOFers

Bedroom

Camper / RV

Children accepted

Pets accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Length of stay

1-2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Feedback

Olivier

Canada • September 2024

Darren is a great host with lots of life experience and good stories. I learned lots about grain farming and how the farm life works! thanks for everything:)

Marie Luise

Germany • September 2024

Daren made me feel very welcome. He taught me how to drive a tractor and we emptied some grain bins for the harvesting. I helped fixing the fences for the horses and mowing the grass in the yard. I really enjoyed staying at his place and sometimes we ate German food and drank German beer. We also visited a Chuckwagon race. I can highly recommend this place and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Jonas

Switzerland • June 2023

Daren is very uncomplicated. He answers immediately when I write to him and also reports what is going on with him on the farm. He also helps me very well with the organization of the journey, since I currently have not yet visited his farm.

Reply from Daren

I really enjoyed having Jonas at my farm, we joked around and had fun, and also got into some serious work, one of the hayfields we done was just as big as his parents entire farm back home, I think he was surprised. I have had many people here from the military, but Jonas I was very impressed with, he is a member of the Swiss army band, the first person here ever to be, we shared lots of music together, and I also could recommend many country music songs to him to enjoy, I was very proud to have him here on my farm, he is always welcome back, with a steak and beer ready for him.

Nick

Canada • September 2019

Daren is a nice guy and i had a great time at his farm. Maybe we didn't communicate much, since i arrived couple of weeks before to Canada and my english was pretty limited, but we watched movies together and it was also sort of communication :D Daren teached me how to drive a small traktor and i enjoyed it very much. It was interesting to learn little bit about hay fields. I would definitely do it again! P.S. I would recommend Daren's farm first of all to people, who are flexible in eating or ready to cook on their own, because Daren usually doesn't spend much time cooking, sometimes we ate canned meals or fastfood, which was totally fine for me, because i also don't like to spend much time for cooking :D

Lennart

Germany • June 2019

The profile was not accurate he does not have horses and we were not able to drive the Quad. Besides that the communication was really bad we were left alone with tasks and when we did something wrong then "it was our fault" we had to cock most of our food by our self I was there with two other woofers that I met there we left earlier than planed. BUT, we were provided with a lot food and he tried to show us a lot around on the weekend. I don't know it just did not feel that welcoming as the farms that I visited afterwards.

Reply from Daren

Well there are horses, but they were put out to pasture before you got there, there are ex rodeo horses and I don’t think you might have what it takes to ride them. A couple years ago the quad was wrecked by some past helpers, and there is only one new one that my father bought so he could use it when he comes to visit, I don’t think he would appreciate if his was also trashed by helpers. A few days earlier there were the two other wwoofers that come here, they said they were vegetarians and I said that I have a hard time to make those type of meals, and they offered to make the main meals, I said to make a grocery list and I would be happy to buy all the food. After you left I had some other helpers show up help, I gave them a list of jobs to do, explained how to do them and everything went just right, after we all went to rodeos and mud racing events, everyone had fun. I always believe you get out of something what you put into it, hard work earns good rewards, just what farming is all about.

Kilian

Germany • April 2019

Family farm

Daren

My past WWOOFers