Project Holidays?

[JulieSherris]

Now. I've been mulling over an idea for several weeks now & while it sounds pretty good in my head, I am none too sure how it will translate onto a forum board - but here goes & hopefully all will become clear.... maybe

Some of us are fortunate enough to live in a rural area, with a rural property and on different levels are living the Ish life
And some aren't. Now, I'm not saying that I'm living a better life than others, but I appreciate the situation I am in right now.
This coming year is going to be tough, financially, for many people & us on the Ish boards are going to be no different - except of course, we may not panic quite so much about certain things.
But my suggestion is this:
An Ish type-WWOOF type holiday offer to other Ishers.

Here's how it could work....

As you know, we bought a place which has a long long list of impending projects.
So, for instance:
If anyone out there has plumbing experience, you could come stay with us for a week & help hubby change all the radiators & a lot of the water pipes. In return, I'll give you breakfast, let you grab your own lunch from the kitchen & we'll all pitch in for dinner..... we have a comfy spare double room, room in the drive for a caravan if anyone has their own & there is enough room in the garden for a tent or 3.
It doesn't have to be plumbing - if anyone is a dab hand at decorating, we could have a painting week inside or outside the house
We have a huge part of the garden that hubby wants to turn into a duck pond
We always have wood to saw!
We have peat turfs to stack, dry & gather in the summer on the bogs
If you know about foraging in woods, I'd like to learn
I can knit & crochet, so could give lessons
I'd like to learn a bit about vegetarian & vegan cooking
I'd like to learn more about home brew
I'd like to learn how to make perfect jams & preserves
We need to install double glazing all round...
Then there's the livestock intentions - but I need to start making the runs & houses....
And of course, digging, planting, weeding, etc
And there's ALWAYS grass to cut!
And we have a whole other cottage down the bottom of the garden that needs a complete overhaul, from the roof down!

See what I mean? People could come out for a holiday (ok, a working holiday) but it wouldn't cost much apart from the travel costs. And you needn't help EVERY day - there would be time for fun too!

I was thinking this over & thought how cool it would be to have an 'Ishers' house - each project helped by a different Isher!
Hubby said that eventually it would be nice to have the large room in the derelict as a self contained studio bedsit room for guests - ok, that's not going to be this year, but it would be lovely for future years.
I do NOT want to do B & B for strangers, but am quite open to sharing my time & projects with fellow Ishers.

I don't know if anyone else out there would be willing to do this too - but think how cool it would be. And it would be great for the folks who live in towns to have a cheap but productive holiday.

Now I've typed this out, I'm wondering is it feasible......

Anyway, thoughts welcome, guys.
Julie.

[Milims]

That sounds like a rather wonderful idea! Having had the joy of meeting some ishers already and knowing that there is a wealth of skill. enthusiasm, knowledge and muscle out there it could work really well! The thing is it wouldn't necessarily be that someone comes to stay with you to lend their hands - they can also learn and share new stuff with you. Go for it!

[JulieSherris]

I was thinking that way too, Milims. I know there's a WWOOFIsh thread too, but I was thinking about something a little more specific-ish...... if that makes sense - sort of like a skill swap.

From June to September here, the villages take turns to have their family days - really it's a 'do' in a couple of fields with sheep shearing, some kiddy rides, tug-of-war, chicken show, guess the weight of the bull, etc....the raffle prizes are normally a sheep or goat.... ok, it seems a little old fashioned, but they're fun!

So, my calendar is clear for anyone who wants to get in touch

[snapdragon]

Sounds a wonderful idea

[the.fee.fairy]

Sounds like a great idea - are you within easy reach of public transport?

[JulieSherris]

Sounds like a great idea - are you within easy reach of public transport?

Fee.... now then, public transport in the west of Ireland....

Well, I see the school buses regularly, does that count??

There's a train that comes over from Dublin to Roscommon - and that's not too far from us.
It's a very rural area, but there is a bus service that also goes through Roscommon & some of the local villages.

When we first moved out here, I went to the local garage/shop to ask about a bus service into Galway... bearing in mind that we were on a main national road.... and was told 'yes of course there's bus to Galway!! I think it's on wednesday & friday'.......

Anyway, I have a car, so provide taxi service for all! Unless my guests drive, then I usually pop them on my insurance so they can bog off by themselves!

[ocailleagh]

Wow! Thats a fabulous idea! I'm hopefully going over to a friend's in Queensland during summertime to do something similar, orchard planting and the like, but if that doesn't work out...

I'm no good with plumbing or any of that kinda thing, but gardening type stuff, veggie food, brewing, various outdoorsy things...I'm pretty good with those. Other (probably less useful but still nice) skills I have include massage/aromatherapy/reflexology/reiki, and a variety of other therapies besides.

[ocailleagh]

Oh, and the camping in the garden bit sounds great too! It'd be nice to get a bit of use out of one of my tents :-p

[JulieSherris]

I certainly can't promise aussie weather... but there's always a whole heap of projects...

But there's also the calm quiet days when it's nice to just wander in the gardens listening to the birds & looking at new plants appearing.... And of course, hubby is busy on the plans for the chook houses, & his duck pond & has announced today that yes, we CAN have a few geese... haha, ALWAYS lots of projects!!

[ocailleagh]

Heh, the Australian weather is actually one of the reasons I might not go :-p Along with the Australian spiders and snakes and crocodiles :-s I'm presuming Ireland has much less in the way of ocailleagh-eating fauna :-D

[JulieSherris]

Ooo... spiders ::shudder::

There's no snakes out here, & no moles either....

But apparently, we have mink as the woods are right next door & plenty, plenty of foxes, & badgers....
Apart from that there are 2 smelly basset hounds touring the gardens when they can be bothered to wake up - now they can be REALLY scary!

[Shirley]

Great idea - loads of jobs here too at our place in the lovely north east of scotland

[Annpan]

Wow, just found this.... Me too (central Scotland) loads of things needing done, especially over this summer as the extension goes up - anyone with building (or shouting at builders) expertise would be super duper welcome here..... we can provide a tent to camp in as we don't know if we'll even have a roof over our heads in the next few months

[ocailleagh]

I wouldn't mind moles, they're not so much with the scary :-p
I know you have no snakes, the Druids took them with them when Patrick persecuted them into leaving :-D
But minks, foxes and badgers? Cool, all creatures I've yet to see in the wild...though minks are kinda nasty aren't they? Ecologically speaking I mean. I'm sure they're pleasant enough to talk to ;-)

And Scotland too eh? Heh, if this carries on I could tour the country helping out here and there :-) No building experience or knowledge, but I'm great at shouting. Also, tea-making :-D And one of my tents is a really big teepee-style one, so if you really did have a lack of roofing... ;-)

[the.fee.fairy]

Oooh...you live near Roscommon? I had a friend who...ummm...'lived' there! Haven't heard from him for ages...