Mixed Farm

Yukon

34 reviews • Updated 9 months ago

IMPORTANT NOTICE : DUE TO A NEW WWOOF CANADA FEATURE, THE CALENDAR SHOWS ORANGE WHEN A WWOOFER IS ACCEPTED, BUT SINCE WE WELCOME MORE THAN ONE PERSON, DO NOT HESITATE TO INQUIRE ABOUT ANY DATES YOU ARE INTERESTED IN. Welcome to the Yukon! We have a large ranch/farm in the Takhini valley 30km outside Whitehorse, where we pasture cows and elk, have a large haskap berry orchard, a large organic garden and greenhouse, and raise pigs in the summer months. We have two Labrador puppies who will be one year old on July 4, 2025. Experiences we offer are helping with organic gardening, greenhouse maintenance, haskap field maintenance and harvesting and participating with farm market goods preparation, helping with packaging of meat products and making different types of sausage, fencing, carpentry projects, wood cutting, and other seasonal tasks. Recreational activities that can be easily accessed are canoeing, wilderness trails, northern lights in the fall, mountains and climbing of same, berry picking and wild mushroom harvesting. Our accommodation we offer cabins which are heated with wood stoves, and a RV for your own little kitchen for breakfasts and suppers. We provide all food, and have one shared meal a day, five days a week for lunch. We offer organic food, all meat is raised on our farm, and vegetables in season . There is a wash house with a shower and washing machine for your use. It is preferred that you have your own vehicle, but if you need a car for some reason we have one that can be rented for a reasonable fee. People who will fit in with our farms needs are those with a positive attitude, and enjoy working with others in an outside environment. If you have previous skills such as gardening, berry picking, carpentry, mechanical knowhow, animal husbandry, this is all appreciated, but you can also learn here. Our haskap berries are a big part of our farm, especially in July and August, when they are ripe and we are picking them. They are a delicious northern hardy berry, sort of like a cross between a wild blueberry and raspberry in flavour, and like a wild blueberry in colour and size. Filled with anthocyanins and flavonoids, they are poised to become the new 'superfood', putting acai and others in the backseat. The main haskap picking time is from mid July to mid August. We do U-Pick for the public during the peak harvest time. U-Pick is a supervised pick where the public comes and picks for themselves and for the farm. It is a good activity for families in particular, and we meet lots of people in a fun and friendly setting. We would like to offer prospective homestay helpers the opportunity to experience the exhilaration of working in this beautiful setting...we are on the Takhini river in the middle of a wide valley, encircled by majestic mountains...eating delicious meals of produce from the greenhouse or garden and our elk or beef. We welcome Canadian interns and homestay helpers as well as international. All are welcome! Organic methods: composting, mulching, crop rotation, practice organic methods Certifications: We practice organic methods but we are not certified. Current projects: We have a number of new and ongoing projects which include all types of help. Internet access available

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Cattle farming

Wild foraging

Flower farming

Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas

Meat processing

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Bakery

Food justice / sovereignty

Methods or systems

Biological pest control

Holistic management

No-till farming

Regenerative agriculture

Host type

Production farm

404.7 Hectares | 1,000 Acres

Accommodation

4+ WWOOFers

Bedroom

Campsite

Cabin / Mobile-home

Children not accepted

Pets accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Length of stay

1 day (local)

1-2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Barbara

Member since 2010

Languages spoken: English, French Response rate: 100% Response time: typically within 2 days

December 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Yukon

We are located on the Alaska Highway 30 kms west of Whitehorse (on the way to Haines Junction NOT Dawson City!) We are at km. 1459.5 (there is a small hand painted green and white sign on the side of the highway). Turn right and there you are!

Reviews

Akira

Japan • November 2025

I stayed there 2 weeks in October. It was my first wwoofing experience and thanks to great host Barbara and Bill, I really enjoyed it. All the tasks I did in the farm was easy but something new to me who live in an urban area in my country. Making sausages, packing granola with homemade ingredients, helping to pack some meats which was from their own farm, sorting out their shop, weeding and taking care of the garden, transferring firewood. Enough foods were provided but delicious lunches and desserts were offered on days I worked. The Kitchen RV for wwoofers worked well, just needed to be careful about not to use too much electricity, otherwise sometimes the electricity was gone, but basically everything was going well. And also getting some water from a small river for the shower cabin was really nice experience for me. A Sleeping cabin I stayed has no running water and electricity but it's wonderful enough to relax and sleep. Sleeping with warm light from a fire stove was amazing. In their farm, in the middle of beautiful Yukon nature, I have had a wonderful rural experience which I wanted to have. I strongly recommend!

Reply from Barbara

Dear Akira What a great review! So glad that you had a good time and enjoyed the simple pleasures of the country life! We are still busy here with making jam and so on for the Christmas market. We have a new project now making face and hand cream out of our beef tallow! This is a big new learning curve for us. Have a wonderful Christmas, Barbara and Bill

David

Romania • October 2025

My stay at Circle D Ranch was wonderful from start to finish. I was warmly picked up from the airport and treated to a delicious lunch and dessert—Barbara is an amazing cook who uses high-quality, farm-grown or locally sourced ingredients. I stayed in the “Elk Cabin,” located about five minutes away by four-wheeler from the main farm, surrounded by elk and an amazing view. Hearing them bugling in the mornings and evenings was a special experience. My cabin was spacious and comfortable, with a kitchen, living room, and cozy bed. While there was no electricity or running water in the cabin, the farm had all modern amenities nearby. I WWOOFed from September to early October, the perfect time to see the golden fall colors of the Yukon. Bill and Barbara were fantastic hosts—knowledgeable, respectful, and full of stories. The farm is set against breathtaking views of the Takhini River and surrounding mountains. My tasks included weeding, picking carrots, potatoes, and greenhouse tomatoes and zucchini, light moving, washing dishes, cleaning, picking raspberries, helping with cooking, and assisting in making haskap jam, organic granola, kimchi, pickled carrots, processing ground meat, making elk sausages, witnessing Bill humanely shoot a cow and an elk for butchering and then transporting it myself, pumping water from the creek to the bath house reservoir, and many more fun activities that I really enjoyed. Overall it was an amazing experience! Shoutout to Dave, Tina, Ugo and Jimmy!

Sabine

France • October 2025

Premier woofing (13j) et quel woofing !! Barbara et Bill sont des gens passionnés , engagés, respectueux et acueillants .Ils partagent avec plaisir leur passion pour la bonne nourriture ( good food for good people!) et leur amour pour leurs animaux et la nature. Je rentre avec quelques unes des délicieuses recettes de Barbara ( et quelques conserves !) . Elle est le Mozart de la cuisine en créant ses recettes elle même. Tous les midis ont été un regal ! ...et l’occasion d’avoir des discussions intelligentes avec toujours la possibilité d’echanger des idées. Bill fait le tour des immenses enclos des wapitis tous les matins et c’est une expérience à ne surtout pas manquer. Leur domaine est immense et sublime, l’hébergement chaleureux. Je le recommande à 2000%. J’y reviendrais avec plaisir. Merci Barbara et Bill

Rachel

United States • September 2025

I spent three weeks at Circle D and, for the most part, had a fantastic time. The views were gorgeous. I stayed in a cozy cabin with a wood stove. Barbara cooked truly out of this world lunches (and desserts!) every weekday and provided fresh ingredients for other meals. I definitely plan on trying some of her recipes when I get home! We worked 6 hours a day 5 days a week (10am-1pm, 2pm-5pm), and work was varied, including picking berries, preparing and maintaining fields, helping in the kitchen, digging potatoes, and more. It was hard work but never too hard, and we had plenty of free time in evenings and weekends. There is internet on a small patch of the ranch, enough to check texts a couple times a day but remain mostly unplugged - an ideal balance. On weekends we could hike, canoe, or visit town. Barbara and Bill are very kind and made lovely hosts, but I will say to be aware that they have very strong (conservative) political opinions that they share very openly, and that sometimes made me a bit uncomfortable. Overall I did have a great three weeks and I am glad to have had a taste of the Yukon!

Max

Canada • September 2025

I'm very grateful for my time at Circle D Ranch! Our cabin was beautiful and cozy, Barbara and Bill were very welcoming, and the close proximity to Whitehorse was very convenient for seeing the city on weekends or after work. We stayed during August which is haskap picking season, so most of our volunteer work was picking and bagging haskaps, but sometimes we also watered and weeded the garden and greenhouses. I asked Barbara to teach me how to make jam, and even though she usually does that after haskap season she and I made haskap and black current jam together! If you are planning to work at the ranch during September and October we learned that the tasks might be more varied and include things like butchering. They no longer raise pigs, but we were able to meet the cows and see the elk from afar. They have a canoe they offered for us to use on the Takini River, but unfortunately we didn't have the time. We were able to use produce straight from the garden and food in the kitchen to cook breakfast and dinner, and Barbara made us a shared lunch with the other WWOOFers and Bill. There were not many options for vegetarians, so if you don't eat meat, canned beans stored in the kitchen were my main protein source. We pumped our water from a stream to bring up to the bathroom for showers and the sink, and there were two outhouses. We also learned how to ride quads! Thank you Bill and Barbara, I loved the Yukon!

Valentin

France • September 2025

Nous avons eu une belle expérience à Circle D Ranch ! On a surtout travaillé dans les champs d'haskaps (cueillette, apport de compost/paille). Les horaires étaient de 6h/jour 5 jours/7. Nous avons partagé de très bons repas le midi avec Bill et Barbara, et pour les repas du matin et du soir nous avions des produits de qualité en quantité (très bons légumes et viande du ranch!). Nous étions logés dans une très belle cabane au milieu de l'enclôt des wapitis. Nous n'avions pas d'eau courante et d'électricité dans la cabane mais nous pouvions l'avoir au trailer partagé avec les autres wwoofeurs au ranch. Nous avons vraiment apprécié notre séjour et remercions Barbara et Bill pour ces moments partagés.