Free Range Chickens
Our goal is to create a revolutionary new model for monkey and wildlife rescue that can be duplicated worldwide, while educating people in sustainable solutions for our planet.
This unique new monkey and wildlife rescue center and permaculture farm has been planned and is being developed and run 100% by volunteers just like yourself. If you are chosen to come and help us, you won’t be coming to help an individual or a family, but to help all the volunteers that came before you, and those who will follow after you. As each volunteer comes and goes, they pass the torch to help us all take this one step closer to our common goal.
We have some long-term (6 months to 1 year+) volunteers to keep the plan, ideas and work flow consistently progressing and developing.
We are currently working on producing food to feed the volunteers, using organic permaculture methods. We also will be needing to construct more housing or “cabins” for the volunteers, using recycled and natural building materials. We are driven to see this succeed in becoming the model to follow for future sanctuaries and rescue centers.
We are in our infancy and have many ideas, projects and dreams and welcome hard-working driven volunteers with positive attitudes to help us with their own knowledge and skills. We need immediate help in fund raising and in developing products to sell to support the growth of the farm. We could also use help with our permaculture design and implementation.
We have a small scale successful aquaponics system, a few small planting beds, a straw bale garden, a small food forest and some animals: goats, pigs, egg and meat chickens, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, rabbits, and tilapia. We do raise and process our own meat here, so this is not the place for vegans.
We would like to set up cheese production, bee keeping, expand our aquaponics systems, and build more housing for volunteers in addition to large pens for the monkeys and other wildlife we will rescue. We also would like a humanure composting toilet, a wood burning pizza and bread oven, electrical fencing, a natural swimming pool, a duck pond and many other special projects. If you wish to come and help, basic knowledge of permaculture and organic gardening is a plus. If you don’t have knowledge of basic permaculture principles, you can take a free course online.
In addition to needing people with permaculture design experience, we need people with experience in welding, electrical work, solar power knowledge, plumbing, aquaponics, farm animal care, wildlife and monkey rescue experience, marketing, fundraising, bee keeping, building with recycled materials such as “eco-bricks” and glass bottles, composting toilets, electrical fencing and we’re open to ideas.
We really are just getting started and still far away from being sustainable or having a well structured program. We are working very hard to become more and more sustainable and feed ourselves and the volunteers, but for now we just can’t. What we do have, we share, but it’s not much yet. We ask that you provide your own food. Plan to spend $20 per week to put towards communal food, and budget another $30 per week for eating out, drinks, activities or any other things you might want to buy or do. That’s a total budget of $50 per week.
We are looking for your help to make this dream come true. The MINIMUM COMMITMENT is ONE MONTH and we prefer longer.
The daily chores are things such as feeding and taking care of the animals and watering existing gardens, and general clean up as we are always open for tours at any time.
The “special projects” could be starting a new garden or improving an existing one, or a project such as installing electric fencing, building a composting toilet, making a duck pond, working on fundraising, creating promotional materials, painting, marketing, setting up bee keeping, etc. We work Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. until noon. The rest of the time is playtime, except for short tasks of feeding or caring for animals, depending on what we have here at the time.
You MUST be self-motivated and as eager to produce results as we are to see them. If you don’t pull your weight, you will be asked to make way for someone else. Without this type of enthusiasm and excitement to make this happen, we can’t make this dream a reality. We don’t have time for people who need their hand held and to be shown what to do every step of the way, but we don’t mind questions at all. Don’t be afraid to speak up.
We start at 6:00 in the morning with breakfast, which must be finished and cleaned up by 7:00. We have a short “production meeting” at 7:00 sharp. This is when we talk about projects and discuss who will do what that day. We then work until noon. After that, the volunteers usually jump in the shower and then head to the beach or to town. We try to take at least one field trip a week and do one activity “out on the town” per week.
We love new ideas and innovative projects, so if you have an idea or proposal, speak up. In the evenings we can have a movie night, a concert (there’s a guitar available), a bonfire on the beach, a workshop of any kind (share your skills and knowledge) or we can play games or just chill and visit.
There is a rustic volunteer house, made entirely out of wood. There is a separate room, semi-private, suitable for a couple staying for a longer time. There are two other twin beds in the common area of the small house.
We refurbished another room in the barn which has one king size mattress and a queen size one. We can host up to 4 people in each house/living area if they like each other. Not much privacy though.
There is a spare tent we can lend and infinite camping opportunities. If you have your own tent or a hammock that would be fantastic!
For now, we have one bathroom in the volunteer house and plans to make a humanure composting toilet in the immediate future. There are several water faucets and huge sinks around the farm, as well as an outdoor shower beside the volunteer house. Both the volunteer house and the barn have electricity.
There is an outdoor communal kitchen area, with a large grill, four burner gas stove, pots, pans, dishes, utensils, tables and a small refrigerator for common use.
You are expected to cook your own food, however most of the volunteers choose to pool everything and cook, clean and eat together.
For transportation, we currently have two bicycles but we are trying to get more. There are two body boards and some snorkeling gear that you can use on the beach, a mere half a mile away, as well as three life jackets. We also have a library that includes both books and movies. The atmosphere is totally laid back and we all love to joke and play games.
We turn down about 20 applications for every one that we accept and have a long waiting list of people who want to come here. If you have advanced skills in one of the areas above, you will move to the top of the list. We require a commitment of at least a month and prefer longer. Due to the amount of people eager to come and work here, we ask you to respect the dates that you apply for, if you are chosen. Please do not tell us at the least minute that you are not coming, or that you are leaving early. Realize that we turned down at least 20 other people to give you the opportunity to help us make this dream a reality.
All in all, being a farm and a community in its infancy, we cannot provide you with a structured learning process. We all learn from each other as we work. We regularly make kombucha and yogurt, so you will learn this if you want to. We expect a certain amount of self-management and internal motivation. A positive and respectful attitude goes a long way. Therefore this is a perfect environment for anyone looking for opportunities to try out things in practice. You can implement your ideas, test out meaningful permaculture projects and see what happens.
Most of the organic farms today get their money by charging their volunteers exorbitant amounts of money for the experience of working on an organic farm. While we do acknowledge the value of learning by doing, and there is a cost involved in hosting people, we also value the efforts of our volunteers and aim to be a fair farm. Therefore, rather than charging volunteers, we cover our operational costs with donations and on-going support of sponsors. In fact, we offer our volunteers a chance to assist us in this process by representing the farm to friends and family and asking for any small amount of support.
Right now we are still taking baby steps and rely heavily on the kindness of our fellow human beings. If you feel like supporting our volunteer-based activities financially, please donate now.
If you feel like this could be the right place for you, that you would have things to learn and that you would be able to bring in a special contribution, please fill in the application!
If you like what we do, please support us and ACT NOW:
