We are located north of Kingman, Arizona. Our property is surrounded by beautiful easily accessible hills or 'mountains' for hiking. We have a mountain bike available for energetic souls that like to ride bikes on dirt roads also. Some Wwoofers have enjoyed rock climbing. We get regular visits from wild horses, neighborhood cattle, and other desert critters. We are just over an hour away from Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and the Colorado river that feeds both these lakes. We are 2 hours from Las Vegas; our nearest big airport location. There is a bus that travels between Las Vegas and Kingman, and we can pick you up at the Kingman bus stop, but we prefer you have your own transportation (we are 10 miles from town you would need to plan on staying at our place for your days off since we don't go to town daily)
WWOOFers stay in our tiny guesthouse, or pop up tent trailer, both are located next to the orchard, You have access to a private fenced-in garden with a fire pit area. The guesthouse has a loft with a queen bed, and a single bed on first floor. Tent trailer has 3 queen size beds. You may be asked to share accommodations with other Wwoofers. If that is a concern please let us know. There is a small fridge/freezer, and microwave. Tiny house has heat but no AC, tent trailer has both. Our main house is available to Wwoofers for bathroom and shower use. Laundry is available too. You are welcome to bring your own RV, electric is available.
We prepare dinner at the main house for everyone at the end of the day. You will also be provided with basics (bread, eggs, milk, etc) and other requests to prepare your own breakfast and lunch. We are omnivores and foodies, but happy to try to accommodate any requests.
We have over 100 pistachio trees that are harvested and processed in September. This is our main harvest. We have 20 other fruit and nut trees, a greenhouse, chickens, and various improvement projects (painting, building structures, maintenance, etc) . We do not accept WWOOFers any time except Fall harvest. We feel it is too hot in Arizona for summer projects, we no longer have enough homestead projects to provide meaningful activities for Wwoofers in the winter or spring. We are retired, but active, and don't ask you to do what we don't do.
Those helping with the fall harvest will have plenty of pistachios to take with them!! Also please note that cell phone coverage is limited in the area. We have high speed StarLink internet available at the main house.
Organic methods: we gather neighbors horse manure 2 times a year to fertilize our fruit and nut trees. We have over 100 pistachio, apple, almond, walnut and pomegranate trees in a 3 acre orchard. We also have grape vines. We have chickens and a greenhouse in addition to the screened in garden for veggies. We have water retention areas to manage seasonal monsoons for helping with desertification issues. We have a tractor and are wanting to build terraces for additional desert friendly garden options.
Certifications: We didn't see the benefit of applying for organic certification, but we use sustainable methods for fertilizing our orchard and managing pests
Current projects: Harvesting in September, and then prepping orchard for winter in late October and November. Harvesting pistachios involves picking trees, removing outer husk, drying nuts 3 days in the desert sun so they are 'shelf stable', sorting the premium open nuts and using nut cracking machine on unopened ones, and then roasting them. Ongoing projects include gardening in the greenhouse and tending chickens. Weeding--there is always weeding! Improving water catchment areas and cutting brush to limit wildfire potential.
Internet access available
Check out our YouTube videos on pistachio harvesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5erngDzt1g
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Beekeeping
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Traditional crafts
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Host type
Production farm
16.2
Hectares
|
40
Acres
