Emily cutting a dead willow branch (1)

Alex upgrades our garden among many other projects.

Alex and Emily working hard to finish pouring concrete into the new cinder-block retaining wall.

Alex learning the joys of concrete

Alex begins the tedius work of plucking the feathers from a Grouse he shot on the property.

Alex gets some tips from Brook and Sabrina Kindred on how to pluck and clean a grouse.

The retaining wall after the pour.

Alex pouring concrete into the cinder blocks.

Alex begins the project with much enthusiasm.

Emily gathers cuttings from the willows around Island Pond to build a burn pile.

Emily builds a burn pile

Emily sharpens our tree trimming tool.

Emily cutting a dead willow branch (2)

Emily cutting a dead willow branch (1)

Alex and Emily working hard to finish pouring concrete into the new cinder-block retaining wall.

The retaining wall after the pour.

Emily sharpens our tree trimming tool.

Alex learning the joys of concrete

Emily gathers cuttings from the willows around Island Pond to build a burn pile.

Emily cutting a dead willow branch (2)

Emily builds a burn pile

Alex gets some tips from Brook and Sabrina Kindred on how to pluck and clean a grouse.

Alex begins the tedius work of plucking the feathers from a Grouse he shot on the property.

This September we got a couple of great wwoofers helping at the ranch.

Wwoofusa.org is an organization that a friend of mine turned me on to.  A Wwoofer is a person that exchanges labor for room and board.  It’s a great way for someone to enjoy Lifewater Ranch for free in our off season.  You can book with us directly or via the Wwoofusa organization.  See our wwoofer contract for all the details.

Our Wwoofers get to learn skills like logging, fence repair, wild crafted harvesting, gardening, tree trimming and how we apply sustained agriculture to our ranch.  In addition to fun work, in your off time you get to enjoy all the features that our paying guests enjoy.

Here we have Alex and Emily, a couple fresh from Iraq, enjoying some travel before settling down in Arizona.  Alex decided to take on the garden retaining wall project which he initially thought would only take a day or so but ended up taking the whole week.  This is not to say that Alex didn’t work hard – he worked VERY hard and long!  The difficult part was getting the cinder-block placed correctly before pouring the concrete.

Emily did lots of great cooking and took on a large trimming job up at Island Pond.  The willows had grown gangly over the years and badly needed a hair-cut.  She did a wonderful job!

Later, Alex found some Grouse on the property and shot one for dinner.  As he was cleaning the bird, Sabrina and Brook Kindred stopped by to give them some homemade pickled peppers from their garden.  While there, the girls helped Alex a bit by sharing some tips from some of their great experience in cleaning chickens.

The Kindreds live next to the main house and do most of the farming on the property.  They run their own farm website here.  They specialize in organic fed Chicken, eggs, pork and feed which guests are certainly welcome to buy.

Alex and Emily celebrating a good week of wwoofing with champagne in the hot tub.

Alex and I play a game of chess on my floating chessboard.

Emily, Alex and I enjoy a game of risk.

Alex feeds the cat come stewed Grouse

Emily and Alex enjoy the stewed bird for dinner.

On their last day they took the day off and enjoyed the amenities of Lifewater Ranch.  I give wwoofers one day off a week or more if they have exceeded their minimum hours and done a good job.  Alex and Emily were model wwoofers and I need about 100 more of them here helping me turn Lifewater Ranch into a really great place to visit.