Enjoy the stunning mountains in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and help us with spring yard work!

Description

We are an active and fun Christian family of 5 looking for a little mature and experienced help mostly with basic yard and landscaping work, some painting, and some decorating APRIL 7-21 or APRIL 30-MAY 13, 2015 ONLY PLEASE (could combine the two sessions with a break in the middle) in the absolutely gorgeous Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia in the United States. Our beautiful home is located in the country overlooking picturesque farmland and yet only 5 miles from historic Staunton, VA. You can lounge by the pool and enjoy stunning views of the Ridge and Valley Appalachian mountains, which are only a few miles away. On the other side of Staunton are the Blue Ridge mountains with excellent hiking, and we are only about 2 hours from either Richmond or Washington, DC, both of which are accessible by Amtrak from Staunton.

Type of help

Gardening
Cooking / shopping
General Maintenance
Help in the house

Help

We are specifically looking for help only for either the dates of **7-21 APRIL ** or **30 APRIL – 13 MAY 2015** to help me with the most important things before we host a ladies retreat at the end of April and, our son Noah graduates on May 30th and my nephew has his wedding reception at our home on June 6th. If a suitable couple would like to stay for both "sessions", the retreat is from 23-26 April and there are lots of great places for you to visit for a few nights while I host the retreat. I could also see if friends might be able to host you for a few days if you don’t want to go sightseeing but I can’t make any promises. (We will be away during June and July and cannot host at all during those months.) Normally we would be glad to host folks with little experience in these areas. However, because of the very busy time of year, someone who has some experience would be preferred so that we don’t need to spend as much time instructing. What we would like help with in APRIL/MAY 2015.

Planting flowers
Spreading mulch
Paint fences
Getting the raised bed veggie garden started for the season
Basic yard work and landscaping
Preparing the pool house and decorate for my nephew’s wedding reception
Light housekeeping
Decorating
Cooking

Other help:

If you are someone with actual carpentry, masonry, or landscaping experience, we could also do things like replacing trim around windows, pruning trees, or maybe even putting the stone facing on our garden walls. Also, if you are a professional cabinet maker, we still need cabinets in the pool house! We may also possibly do some painting in the house, skimming the pool, tree pruning…who knows! If you have interior design or decorating ideas, I need help with ideas for a couple of rooms in my house. It would be great to have some help with preparing dinner depending on the schedule we work out. If you are a professional caterer or event planner, we would consider having you stay through early June to help cater our son’s graduation party and our nephew’s wedding reception if you wanted to.

Because my husband travels frequently for work and it will be a particularly busy time for me, we would prefer either mature women or a married couple with some independent living experience. Because of our Christian beliefs, we will happily accommodate unmarried couples in separate rooms. The work will not be difficult or long but for now I would like someone who is yard/garden savvy and can work more independently with little instruction. Although some rain is possible, May usually brings us beautiful, warm weather and is a great time for outdoor work. We are extremely flexible and, although mornings are a good time to tackle projects, we can plan work times to fit your touring schedule. We don’t have so much work that we could keep more than 2 or 3 people busy (unless you are carpenters or contractors by trade) but families are also welcome. If you have a larger group and we don’t have enough work for everyone, we may just ask you to help out providing some of the extra food necessary. The pool will be open by about April 10th, although I can’t promise it will be warm! :0)

While most of the work we have does not require any special skill, we would like our volunteers to at least be confident and self-motivated with a good work ethic and enthusiasm to get involved. That being said, it would still be ideal if we found someone with some experience with gardening and landscaping, basic construction, or even with interior decorating experience! We have hosted many, many guests from around the world and the country in our home, but this year is the first time we are ever doing a work exchange and our first time with Workaway! I am happy to provide references for anyone who would like them from previous guests since we don’t have Workaway reviews yet. We have yet to have a guest who would not love to return!

Our kids are all teenagers and we do not require any help with them unless you want to help them some by making them practice their Spanish!

Languages spoken

English, very basic French, very basic Spanish

Accommodation

**We are hoping to host Workaway volunteers in APRIL and MAY 2015, but are not able to accept other requests for us to host just yet as we will be away in June and July and do not have work projects scheduled yet for the fall. We will update our profile as other dates become available.**

We have a 6 bedroom home with 3 full bathrooms, as well as a pool house with a full bathroom.

In the house, we have 1 or 2 guest rooms upstairs that can accommodate singles or couples or families traveling together. (Unmarried couples will respectfully be asked to stay in separate rooms.) One bedroom has two twin beds that can also be joined to make a king, and the other bedroom is accessed through Noah’s room and has a queen bed and a twin bed. The bathroom upstairs would be shared with our 18 year old son, Noah. We are happy to share our meals and you can also help yourself when we are not here. Our bedroom and bathroom is downstairs as are our daughter’s bedrooms and bathroom. Unmarried couples will respectfully be asked to stay in separate bedrooms.

The pool house is also a possibility depending on what is going on with our schedule and how many guests we have at a time. We prefer to keep it open for get togethers when possible though. It is very comfortable with heat and A/C and has a private bathroom. The kitchen is not installed yet (but may be by the dates listed) so you would still use the kitchen in the main house. We are in the process of finishing the pool house and it should be finished before too long.

We have a beautiful, inground salt-water pool that will be open in early April and that overlooks the Appalachian Mountains. The weather should be warm enough to start swimming by late April/ early May!
We have a lighted soccer field below the pool and a volleyball area above the pool and we have a small fire pit for bonfires and s’mores. Inside we have a couple of big screen TV’s (we love movie nights!), a classic arcade game with 40+ games as well as other video game systems, and some exercise equipment. Our home itself is pretty, spacious, and comfortable, if not fancy, with lots of room to spread out in. But our yard and view are stunning and we are so grateful for the setting God put us in! It has been described over and over as feeling like being at a resort. It is a beautiful place for rest, relaxation, reflection, and rejuvenation. Spring in Virginia is gorgeous with flowering trees everywhere and the leaves will all be on the trees by the end of April.

Transportation: We are only 5 miles from the small, historic city of Staunton, Virginia, which has public transportation for the city itself, as well as an Amtrak train station to get to other destinations, but there is NO public transport from our house to the city. You are more than welcome to join us in our family activities, and we are happy to provide rides into town when we are available to, but you will certainly want to keep this in mind while considering your tourism plans. We do not have bikes. If you plan to go to some of the historic, civil war sites or to enjoy some of our awesome Appalachian Trail hiking, you may want to consider renting a car to get around more easily.

We have WIFI and we have one cat, Igor, who comes in and out as he pleases. He is not allowed in the guest rooms! Also, There is very strictly no smoking in our home or where others may be affected by the smoke.

Our family is very easy going, active, and spontaneous. Our schedule tends to change from day to day and you are welcome to make yourselves as much at home with us as you would like. We love people and have enjoyed many, many guests over the years. Or…you may have as much privacy as you like! Spring is a very busy season with the kids still in school and lots of things to plan and prepare. The girls will be in soccer and we would love for you to join us for games if you are interested. When we aren’t crazy busy, we love to play games, go hiking, go to movies, and have friends over. We welcome you and look forward to meeting you!

What else …

We are Keith and Kati and we are best friends and high school sweethearts who have been married for 25 years. Still at home with us are our 18 year old son, Noah, and our two daughters, Averi, who is also 18 and whom we adopted at 7 years old from Beijing, China, and Jami, who is 16. They are all students and will be in school through the end of May. Our oldest son, Ryan, is 20 and he is married and serves in the US Marine Corps. He and his wife, Brooke, live in North Carolina. Keith is a real estate investor and also a hail storm chaser who repairs hail damaged cars all around the US and also overseas. We never know when he will be home or gone! He also served for 8 1/2 years in the US Marine Corps and was responsible for maintaining the President’s helicopters. I (Kati) am a "stay-at-home" Mom. I do whatever needs to be done around the house, with the kids, and filling in the gaps as Keith comes and goes! I exercise regularly, look for any excuse to travel, and I LOVE adventure! Our one eyed cat, Igor, is almost 13 but he doesn’t know it. He likes to be where the action is but does not climb on people unless invited. He is not allowed in the guest rooms.

We are an active and fun-loving Christian family. We love outdoor activities, including hiking and water sports among other things. We love to travel ourselves and have been to many countries around the world. We really enjoy meeting new and interesting people and you are only a stranger until the moment you walk through our front door. Although we are new to Workaway, we have hosted so many people, from so many places, for so many different reasons in the 25 years that we have been married that I have lost count!

Popular activities in our area are hiking, antiquing, touring civil war areas, our plethora of wineries, breweries, and cideries, as well as trips to Washington DC or Richmond. Although we don’t have a good mall or lots of retail type stores, we do have one of the East Coast’s largest Antique Malls and Staunton’s downtown area has been recognized as one of the most popular old town tourist destinations in Virginia, with quaint shops and restaurants and also the Shakespeare’s Blackfriar’s Theatre, which hosts Shakespearian actors from around the world. Charlottesville is another beautiful Virginia city that is rich in history and is only 45 minutes away and Harrisonburg is just 30 minutes north. We are also only about 3 hours away from the New River Gorge in West Virginia if you like white water rafting, rock climbing, or high ropes and zip lining. Smith Mountain Lake and Lake Anna are a couple of hours away for fishing and boating. Or… you can just enjoy the peace and serenity of our place; lounging by the pool, playing a little croquet, reading a book, and enjoying the scenery that many of our guests say feels like being at a resort.

Although May will be a busy time for us with the kids finishing school and sports, and with trying to get things ready for the graduation and wedding reception, we are happy to hang out with our guests and play volleyball or go for a hike whenever our schedule allows. Of course, if you are a private person, you are welcome to have all the space that you need! You are also welcome to join us for meals, and I would love for our volunteers to help with cooking as part of our exchange whenever possible.

Also, we have nothing against alcohol in general and Keith enjoys a nice glass of wine or a beer from time to time, we ask that there be no heavy drinking in our home as well as no profanity please.

We are not vegetarian, but we do try to have a balanced and healthy diet. Of course, we like our treats too! ;0) Ideally, I would love it if you are someone who likes to make themselves at home in the kitchen!

A little more information

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  Internet access

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  Limited internet access

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  We have pets

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  We are smokers

Volunteering hours expected

Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week