Salt Spring Island Family and Hobby Farm

British Columbia

27 reviews • Updated 4 months ago

Welcome! Our family of six has a small, organic family hobby farm on 5 acres on beautiful Saltspring Island. Our 4 children, aged 10 years to 15 years, are very active and excited to care for our animals (goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, cats, dogs, guinea pigs) and grow/develop more gardens. This year we are expecting lots of baby animals, and we just had baby goats. We also have a chocolate lab that is completing her final level as therapy dog, and woofers assist with training. We are looking for wwoofers who love children and want to be part of a big, loud family! This is a great way to practice English and be part of a Canadian family. Wwoofers live in our home and are included in family life. We ask for a mix of indoor and outdoor work and we have a couple different work schedules. Sometimes wwoofers help from 8:30am-12noon and then again from 4-5:30pm. Other times, wwoofers help in the afternoon instead of the morning. We have various projects depending on the time of year, including gardening, small construction projects, chopping wood, weeding, cleaning, and walking/training the dog. Dinner is around 6:30pm, and wwoofers help with clean-up after meals. We eat local meat/fish but can accomodate vegetarians. We eat a lot of our own dairy and eggs, which we get from our animals, as well as our meat birds. We are looking for non-smoking woofers, and it is very important to us that you can positively interact with the children while working/ living in our home. We host one woofer at a time, who has her own bedroom in our house. We go on lots of fun adventures with the children and would love you to join our family. We prefer wwoofers to 3-5 weeks, and we host wwoofers year round. In winte,r there is still outdoor work (animal care), but also more indoor work (cleaning, baking etc). We are a short walk to Fulford village where there are some shops and public transportation to town (Ganges). Fulford Village (10 minute walk) is also where you can catch a 35 minute ferry to Victoria. From our house you can walk to the beach, ocean, hiking trails, and a swimming lake. We homeschool, and we go on various trips that you are welcome to join with us. *Note about COVID: Everyone in our home is fully vaccinated, including our children. High speed internet available.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Poultry farming

Sheep or goat farming

Raising of other farm animals

Dairy farming

Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas

Seed saving or production

Meat processing

Bakery

Mentoring opportunities

LGBTQ+-operated

Woman-operated

Host type

Self-sufficiency property

Former WWOOFer

2 Hectares | 5 Acres

Accommodation

1 WWOOFer

Bedroom

Children not accepted

Pets not accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Length of stay

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Tara

Member since 2017

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

December 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

British Columbia

Fulford Ferry Terminal - we will give you instructions how to get there!

Reviews

Rebekka

Germany • August 2025

Thank you for a wonderful stay! I felt so welcomed by your lovely family. The walks with Eliot to the beautiful beach and the time with the adorable goats were real highlights. I truly appreciated the warm atmosphere and everything I learned during my time here. All the best, Rebekka

Lara

Switzerland • October 2024

I stayed with the Watters for about 4 weeks and I really enjoyed my stay. They are such a loving family and I felt welcomed from the first moment. I got to do a variety of work, and the working hours were spread throughout the day which was perfect. My favorite thing to do was definitely walking the dog, Elli. On weekends I often joined them at family activities which was always so much fun and I got the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving with them, which was amazing! Saltspring is a beautiful island which offers lots of outdoor activities, such as hiking or swimming. There are a few hikes in walking distance from the farm, or you can take the bus across the island. I would recommend this host for everyone who wants to experience live in a big, loving family. Thank you so much for everything!!

Laura

Germany • May 2024

Unfortunately, I was only with the Watters family for a short time. But the fact that they were able to accept me very spontaneously was great. I felt welcome from the first minute. Tara, Katie and the kids are absolutely lovely and warm hosts. It was my first woofing experience so I have no comparison, but the work was never too much or too difficult. It was a good balance between work and leisure. When I had time off, I spent a lot of time out in nature. Salt Spring is simply perfect for hiking and enjoying nature. The ocean, a lake, the harbor and hiking trails are in the immediate vicinity. But you can also take the bus across the island. Thank you for the time I was able to spend with you!

Nele

Germany • January 2024

I spent a whole month with the family and had the best Wwoofing experience so far! Katie, Tara and the children asked me to join their activities every time and let me spent Christmas as well as New Year’s with them. I felt so welcomed! The work was super fair and interesting even though I visited in winter. Working together with the kids was definitely one of my highlights. Also I really liked the way the hours were spread across the day. One of my favourite tasks was walking the very cute dog Elli in the morning. I wouldn’t have thought how much I could learn about walking a dog but I did! For me, the most difficult task was saying Good Bye. I definitely recommend staying with the Watters on beautiful Salt Spring Island. Especially, if you are family person. Thank you all so much for everything!

Chloe

Canada • October 2023

I had the best time with Katie, Tara, and the kids this September! They are such kind and welcoming people and the kids are lots of fun to be around. I always felt comfortable in their home, and they always invited me to any activities they were doing. I really enjoyed the work schedule of working in the mornings and then for 1.5 hours before dinner time. This broke up the work so it never felt like I was doing any one task for too long. I also got to try a wide variety of jobs so it never got boring! My favourite part was feeding the animals every morning and evening and walking the dog, so if you like animals I would highly recommend this farm. Another great thing about the Watters Farm is the location! It's walking distance to a ferry terminal, general store, swimming lake, ocean beach and two great hikes. Having so many things nearby made it easy to get around on foot. I would highly recommend this farm if you are looking to wwoof on Saltspring!!! Thank you Watters family!

Susanne

Austria • September 2023

I was really lucky to have spent my first wwoofing stay with the Watters Family, it could not have been a better experience! From all the amazing food, all the trips to the lake and every puzzle we made, they really made me feel like part of their family. The work ranged from feeding and taking care of the goats, chickens, guinea pigs, ducks, turkeys and bunnies, gardening and milking the goats. I learned a lot from Tara and Katie about all the animals and I really appreciate all your patience and help :) Thank you Bella for telling me so much about "How to train your dragons" and playing Polytopia with me, I really enjoyed your company on all my walks with Elliot :) Thank you Emma for the most amazing birthday cake I ever had! Thank you all so, so much, I really miss you a lot already!