Orchard and market garden with chickens, pigs, sheep, bees
British Columbia
Hey everyone, we are a family owned and operated homestead on the Sunshine Coast in Gibsons, BC, Canada.
We mainly work on our market garden and orchard which we sell from weekly at our farm stand in the summer/fall season. There are cherries, blueberries, raspberries, apples and plums. Lots of fun fruit for your visit depending on the season! We also raise pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and bees. This includes harvesting pigs and chickens on our property and milking our sheep. At our place it's Dan and Mari and our 3 young kids as well as Mari's senior mom. We also have visitors at our airbnb tiny house. We have 2 cats and 2 livestock guardian dogs which protect our property. All of our animals live outdoors and the pets are well socialized and love attention from visitors!
Everyday starts with the "basic life support" of the animals, which includes feeding and watering our animals. That is usually followed by breakfast and then onto work in the garden! This can include seeding, orchard pruning, weeding, planting, harvesting, etc as well as the less glamorous jobs of fixing fences, cleaning animal quarters, splitting and stacking firewood, general equipment/vehicle maintenance. We like to finish the days off by sauna and/or cold plunging, jumping in the ocean and beach barbecues or going for a bike ride up the road for live music. We also love to have pizza parties in the backyard with the wood fired oven, which is great for baking our market sourdough in as well!
For accommodations, we have a camper with a queen sized bed, a full propane kitchen set up (fridge and stove/oven) and there is an outhouse bathroom on the property and an indoor shower in the main house.
We eat dinner together most nights and provide food for breakfast and lunch, which we also eat together sometimes, depends on the day and the work that needs to be done! This is all typically food that we grow. Lots of eggs, fruit, and veggies available here :)
Homesteading is our hobby, ha ha.... We like to go to the beautiful nearby beaches, go camping up the coast, hiking the lookout, canoeing the inlet or over to Keats island, cider making, baking, puzzles, listening to music, reading, and most importantly playing with the kids!
Some things to note about our farm:
-it can be messy! It’s a working farm with just us as the crew and lots of extra things happening. The farmhouse is also very busy and always looks like it needs a sweep- even if you do it twice a day. So if mess bothers you, this might not be the best place for you!
-there is a bus stop outside of the front gate which is convenient for going into town or catching the ferry. We also have easy access by bicycle.
-we have a couple of young children, so they have to be at the front of our days. Which means when they need us, we stop the tasks we are doing to help them and then we get back to it, or we involve them in what we are doing. It’s a bonus if you love little kids because they will always be around! :)
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Pig farming
Sheep or goat farming
Beekeeping
Flower farming
Meat processing
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Beer, cider, wine, or juice making
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Biodynamic agriculture
Holistic management
Regenerative agriculture
Rotational grazing
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
2
Hectares
|
4.9
Acres
Mari
Member since 2025
Languages spoken:
English, French
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 67%
Response time: typically within 9 days
British Columbia
Langdale Ferry Terminal
Reviews
Evelyn
Germany
•
September 2025
It was such a pleasure to wwoof on the Hideaway Homestead! I always felt welcomed and part of the farm and family. Mari and Dan are really warmly and friendly hosts. I just stayed for one week but I wished I could stay longer. The food is mainly own grown and soo delicious. My tasks were various and always flexible. In my free time I went to few hikes, beaches and cute little spots around the area.
Thank you for everything:)
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Meitje
Germany
•
September 2025
We had a wonderful week with Dan, Mari and their children. We received a very warm welcome and immediately felt at home. We slept in a camper and had breakfast and lunch there. In the evenings, we had dinner with the family and cooked together. We could start the day whenever we wanted and then asked Mari and Dan for tasks for the day, which consisted of planting beds, weeding, picking berries, or stacking wood. In the afternoon, we had free time and went hiking or rode the bikes to the beach or into town. On our day off, Mari took us to the next town and we had a lovely time in the café and on the beach. Our highlight was the family day at the beach, where we had a barbecue and later enjoyed ice cream. We had a wonderful time on the farm with the family and can only recommend it.
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Chiara
Canada
•
August 2025
Mari and Dan’s family makes me feel at home. The week with them went by so quickly! ☀️
The camper where I stayed was super functional and comfortable.
I usually started my day by helping Mari milk a sheep, and after a short coffee break, I spent time in the garden weeding, harvesting various vegetables (cabbage, garlic, broccoli), and planting 🌱 We also had to feed the animals (pigs, chickens, dogs), and collect eggs from the chickens and ducks 🥚I had the opportunity to help Dan by the harvest of roosters and a pig!
Dan and Mari are very grateful and make sure we spent a friendly and fun time together ☺️
There's no fixed schedule; it's based on the needs of each situation. I ate most meals with them; Mari and her mother cook so well!
After lunch, I finished the chores I had started, and in the afternoon, we usually went to the sea for a swim! 🌊There are also some great hikes around their home, which can be reached on foot at Soames Hill or Sprockids. 🥾
And of course, the icing on the cake (la cerise sur le gâteau) are the children. Wolfie, Samson, and little Jovian accompany us everywhere with such joy and curiosity.🥰
I'm so happy to have met you all and learned so much. Thank you all. It was really hard to leave 🥹
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Hoda
Canada
•
July 2025
I had a great time with this amazing family on their farm. They are genuinely kind, welcoming, and lovely to hang out with after a long day. They like to show you how things run on the farm and let you join as much as you like. The food is next level. The most import part is you feel as part of the family and the community.
