Hello WWOOFers,
My name is J, I’m 27, and I live in the bush in the Bulkley-Nechako Valley, in a small off-grid cabin with my dog Aster and neighbors close by. I live on the territory of the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en, and adjacent to the Wet’suwet’en community, working in relationship with traditional governance and protocols.
The core of this project is to follow those protocols in two ways: first, to use Aboriginal Title land impacted by logging to develop a small farm that provides food for the local community and feast hall, and second, to restore traditional trails along the river and lake so our community can access foraging, medicine gathering, hunting, and trapping areas.
This is a very remote operation, 80 km from the nearest town. Our home site is on a river where the trail system starts and the farm is at a different site, 10 km away on a bush road. We have permission to develop a large clear cut next to a small lake into a farm. Last summer I used a skid steer to clear stumps, logs, and debris from 0.8 acres. This spring the plan is to plant that area with potatoes and kale (mid-end of May), and if I can get bees we’ll also plant lots of flowers. While things are growing, summer and fall work will involve clearing another acre intensively and about five acres more roughly. This looks like organizing small piles of brush and logs by hand so they can be picked up by the machine, and digging rocks out from under stumps in the intensively cleared area. By late summer we’ll be harvesting (end of August-September).
Back at home, there’s also a lot of trail work to do. I’ll be running the chainsaw, and WWOOFers help with hand clearing and hand tools as we try to push the trail as far as we can, making something solid and pleasant that we’ll be walking all winter. The further we go, the longer we will have to hike and pack in our tools-- so be prepared for a substantial hike (little to no elevation gain) and carrying medium weight pack. Goal is at least 5km trail building this summer/fall. Long term plan is to plant native food plants along trail for us and to attract animals, but not this summer.
I’m also hoping to build a few small cabins and sheds over the summer, so some days will be devoted to that. About one workday a week is spent doing community service at the community feast hall (35 km down the road), and in August more time will go toward helping the community process salmon. Depending on WWOOFer interest, we could take on the small side project of planting and restoring the raised garden beds at the feast hall.
The work is real. It does not require skill or sheer strength, but if you are coming for an extended stay, you'll need endurance. How challenging the conditions depends on the season-- it can be cold, wet, windy, smoky, buggy, or real hot. We take breaks, adjust pacing, and take rest days to avoid burnout. Work hours and days are flexible and shaped around what works best for the people here and the conditions, 30 hours a week, typically spread over 5 days, adjusted for weather and season.
Safety is the highest priority. We plan carefully and prepare well for working in the bush. Emotional safety matters too—there’s no yelling, bullying, talking down, or highly charged behavior coming from me. There’s zero tolerance for identity-based bigotry, and there’s a strong emphasis on consent and mutual respect.
I don’t claim to be an expert farmer, builder, or trail builder. What I can teach is how to build life systems in the bush that aren’t perfect but are reliable and durable, and how to live well in a remote place and have a good relationship to the territory and people. This is a good place for folks who want to learn by doing and are okay not knowing everything going in.
WWOOFers stay in private, small 8’×8’ cabins I’ve built January 2026, with a bed, desk, electricity, lights, and a diesel heater. They are clean, dry, warm, and have a window. There’s an outdoor shower, or you can shower in the sauna/wooden bathtub in my house, though I only run the wood stove when it’s cold. There’s also the river and nearby lakes for bathing. We don’t have running water or a water heater, so hot water for showers needs to be boiled. We live next to a very clean river and have a pump, so water isn’t scarce.
Meals are shared. You'll have full access to the kitchen and all food. I usually cook most evenings, and WWOOFers are welcome to contribute in the kitchen, especially if you have dietary preferences. I'll communicate with you beforehand about the food inventory and if there's anything you would like or need added.
Outside of work I like playing with my dog, reading, swimming, watching movies, listening to music, film photography, fishing, hunting, trapping, foraging, medicine gathering, and exploring. There’s a lot of territory to move through here—lakes and rivers to swim in, trails and old roads to walk, a proper mountain with trail nearby, and neighbors to meet. Nearest neighbors are 15 km away and we have a community feast hall 35 km away-- which we will visit regularly.
This is a very remote, off-grid place with no cell service, limited, irregular access to town. We do have solar power and Wi-Fi. There’s no alcohol or hard drugs here. This is a good fit for people who are comfortable with quiet, have good independence and self-regulation, are okay with shared responsibility, and have realistic expectations of bush life.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Renewable energy production
Food justice / sovereignty
Methods or systems
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Former WWOOFer
30
Hectares
|
74.1
Acres
