Apprenticeship Positions Now Open Year Round!
On beautiful Lasqueti Island, become the person you've been longing to be. This is an apprenticeship that will help you grow skills that are difficult to acquire anywhere else:
Living off of the Grid
You'll use electric light that is fuelled by solar energy and a small brook
You'll cook with the sun and all parts of dead trees
You'll use rainwater that is collected by gravity and heated by the sun
Building a Truly Sustainable Lifestyle
You'll garden with a year long perspective that is integrated with the surrounding environment
You'll build with the earth: rock foundations, cob walls, cedar shake and metal roofs
You'll harvest humanure
You'll build a healthy body and mind by working at a pace that is comfortable and enjoyable
Turning Work into Play
You'll dance when you could walk
You'll ride when you could sit passively
You'll sing when you could talk
You'll be inspired all the day long
Accomplishing Much with Ease and Joy
You'll be surprised at how fast the days go by when you're out in clean, fresh air drinking crystal clean water & eating delicious home-made meals
You'll enjoy our accomplishments because you aren't overtired and stressed
You'll realize that you can choose to do anything with joy and ease.
This year's Natural Building projects include:
Of course, Natural Building will be the main focus, as you absorb the way our cob buildings are designed - to work with Nature rather than against her. You'll have as many hands-on opportunities as you'll want to learn and perfect your own version of Fast Cob! And depending on your time here, you may be part of a Fast Cob! workshop, when a special and magical week bonds a small group of keen Cobbers.
You'll also be immersed in our way of Natural Living, using the Sun to cook, gravity to feed our water, and our natural inclinations to have fun and enjoy whatever we choose to learn and do. Our happy hens provide crazy-delicious organic, free-range eggs, and our garden can also be abundant at times. Wild foods will be foraged if our timing is right.
All of our apprenticeships start with a 1 month commitment; after 1 month, we will decide together whether to continue and for how long.
After 1 month, you will leave this programme knowing how to build your own structure from start to finish.
The Apprenticeship programmes include daily facilitation/guidance, accommodation in a prospector’s tent on a wooden platform with a queen sized bed, chest of drawers, lots of shelves, a full but basic kitchen, and a Cob outhouse. All your meals and snacks are provided while you stay with us.
If you are interested in one of these positions, please fill in the form below or apply by sending an email to cob at lasqueti dot ca with the following information:
After this information is processed, Dave will call you by telephone to discuss. If we agree to start an apprenticeship relationship together, you’ll be asked to make a deposit to hold your spot. Full payment is due before or upon arrival.
Each week could vary, but the usual schedule is 5 full days from 8am to 6pm with a leisurely lunch and morning and afternoon snack breaks. The sixth day could be a full or a half day if mutually agreed upon. Breakfast and dinner precede and follow every working day. Sharing meals is optional on the seventh day.
You are expected to self-motivate throughout; this is not a holiday camp. All lasting learning comes through experience and hands-on activity. Keeping a balanced approach to each day helps keep our stamina strong. By finding joy in everything we do, motivation flows effortlessly.
You will live part of the time with a young child and her small dog. Both are easy to get along with but have their own routines and needs. My daughter’s needs take priority over everything else but also rarely compete for time and space. Our relationship has been formally used to demonstrate parenting skills that are often not found in our civilization so our hope is that you will benefit from that as well.
If you choose a time that overlaps our workshops, you will be an active part of them. Opportunities include instructing/leading small groups as well as being part of larger group projects. Benefits include meeting motivated and interesting participants and feasting on 3 meals and 2 snacks a day that are professionally prepared.
You will also interact with the Community, both through neighbours visiting and by attending Community Events. Nothing is compulsory.
We will feed ourselves mostly vegan/vegetarian fare, all organically grown. We will share this task, both in obtaining the food and cooking/presenting it. You will learn how to use the sun to cook and bake while our Cob ovens are used mostly as a backup for cloudy days.
Human silence is an important facet of our environment; there are millions of other species that fill the air but we humans will enjoy both silence, singing and anything in between. Listening skills are crucial.
Projects and Skills
When all is said and done, you'll know how to build most aspects of an energy-efficient home made out of the earth. You'll have many opportunities to mix and build walls and integrate windows, doors, and interior features. You'll be ready to build yourself or someone else a natural building made out of cob when you're done.
How can gardening/growing your own food be easy?
We garden with a year-round perspective and utilize natural systems in the garden rather than recreating them or fighting against them. We’ll also learn from professional full-time farmers/gardeners on the Island who have been growing successfully for decades.
We will also harvest wild foods where they still exist abundantly and try to relearn techniques for use that were lost when 90% of the indigenous population died within a generation on this coast (this is also called genocide).
The location is an inspiration in itself
Lasqueti Island is completely off-the-grid with no car ferry and unpaved roads. The community kept the 3rd wave of clearcutting mostly off the island and the result is a mature forest throughout. Our site is rustic and peaceful. Do not expect any of the services you enjoy in an urban environment; instead, we have a Free Store, 2 restaurants, and a gift store as well as many self-serve stands for local produce and baking.
The artistic community is diverse and deeply talented. The women’s community is strong and independent. A weekly Market brings many together to share food, music, and fun, as do many other festivals and events. The waters surrounding the island are clean and clear with swimming beaches within reach by bicycle.
Mosquitoes peak for a week and then are usually not noticed during the day. Horse/Deer flies will regularly visit for a bite but are easily thwarted.
The weather is usually dry and warm, sometimes hot, and always cool at night. The surrounding forest and ocean makes all weather easy to enjoy, despite the dramatic changes elsewhere.
- living off of the grid (electric-, water-, sewer-, highway-, consumer-grid)
- building a truly sustainable lifestyle
- turning work into play
- accomplishing much with ease and joy
Living off of the Grid
You'll use electric light that is fuelled by solar energy and a small brook
You'll cook with the sun and all parts of dead trees
You'll use rainwater that is collected by gravity and heated by the sun
Building a Truly Sustainable Lifestyle
You'll garden with a year long perspective that is integrated with the surrounding environment
You'll build with the earth: rock foundations, cob walls, cedar shake and metal roofs
You'll harvest humanure
You'll build a healthy body and mind by working at a pace that is comfortable and enjoyable
Turning Work into Play
You'll dance when you could walk
You'll ride when you could sit passively
You'll sing when you could talk
You'll be inspired all the day long
Accomplishing Much with Ease and Joy
You'll be surprised at how fast the days go by when you're out in clean, fresh air drinking crystal clean water & eating delicious home-made meals
You'll enjoy our accomplishments because you aren't overtired and stressed
You'll realize that you can choose to do anything with joy and ease.
This year's Natural Building projects include:
- an new outhouse still to be sited. If you apply early and want this project, you'll be able to be part of it from start to finish, including the design, foundation, plastering, and roof. This project can be done in 1 month.
- finishing a spiral outhouse with hand dug material (already dug:). This was our first cob project but the old technique was used. Existing walls, built over an entire summer, are less than 2 feet high. Using Fast Cob!, we will finish this is less than a month, including the roof.
- finishing a 1.5 storey extension to our cob house. Foundation work, super-fast cobbing, Fast Cobbing, plumbing, electrical, door and window installation are all part of this project. Mid-summer will see the roof installed. From August onward, plastering and installing a cob floor will be the focus.
- All apprenticeships will have as many Fast Cobbing opportunities as the apprentice wants. At minimum, an introduction to rock foundations will also be part of each apprenticeship.
Of course, Natural Building will be the main focus, as you absorb the way our cob buildings are designed - to work with Nature rather than against her. You'll have as many hands-on opportunities as you'll want to learn and perfect your own version of Fast Cob! And depending on your time here, you may be part of a Fast Cob! workshop, when a special and magical week bonds a small group of keen Cobbers.
You'll also be immersed in our way of Natural Living, using the Sun to cook, gravity to feed our water, and our natural inclinations to have fun and enjoy whatever we choose to learn and do. Our happy hens provide crazy-delicious organic, free-range eggs, and our garden can also be abundant at times. Wild foods will be foraged if our timing is right.
All of our apprenticeships start with a 1 month commitment; after 1 month, we will decide together whether to continue and for how long.
After 1 month, you will leave this programme knowing how to build your own structure from start to finish.
The Apprenticeship programmes include daily facilitation/guidance, accommodation in a prospector’s tent on a wooden platform with a queen sized bed, chest of drawers, lots of shelves, a full but basic kitchen, and a Cob outhouse. All your meals and snacks are provided while you stay with us.
If you are interested in one of these positions, please fill in the form below or apply by sending an email to cob at lasqueti dot ca with the following information:
- Name and age
- Contact information (email and phone)
- Any previous experience and a brief personal history
- Why you are applying for an apprenticeship
- How you plan to use the skills you acquire during the apprenticeship
- One personal and one work-related reference with email contact information
After this information is processed, Dave will call you by telephone to discuss. If we agree to start an apprenticeship relationship together, you’ll be asked to make a deposit to hold your spot. Full payment is due before or upon arrival.
Each week could vary, but the usual schedule is 5 full days from 8am to 6pm with a leisurely lunch and morning and afternoon snack breaks. The sixth day could be a full or a half day if mutually agreed upon. Breakfast and dinner precede and follow every working day. Sharing meals is optional on the seventh day.
You are expected to self-motivate throughout; this is not a holiday camp. All lasting learning comes through experience and hands-on activity. Keeping a balanced approach to each day helps keep our stamina strong. By finding joy in everything we do, motivation flows effortlessly.
You will live part of the time with a young child and her small dog. Both are easy to get along with but have their own routines and needs. My daughter’s needs take priority over everything else but also rarely compete for time and space. Our relationship has been formally used to demonstrate parenting skills that are often not found in our civilization so our hope is that you will benefit from that as well.
If you choose a time that overlaps our workshops, you will be an active part of them. Opportunities include instructing/leading small groups as well as being part of larger group projects. Benefits include meeting motivated and interesting participants and feasting on 3 meals and 2 snacks a day that are professionally prepared.
You will also interact with the Community, both through neighbours visiting and by attending Community Events. Nothing is compulsory.
We will feed ourselves mostly vegan/vegetarian fare, all organically grown. We will share this task, both in obtaining the food and cooking/presenting it. You will learn how to use the sun to cook and bake while our Cob ovens are used mostly as a backup for cloudy days.
Human silence is an important facet of our environment; there are millions of other species that fill the air but we humans will enjoy both silence, singing and anything in between. Listening skills are crucial.
Projects and Skills
When all is said and done, you'll know how to build most aspects of an energy-efficient home made out of the earth. You'll have many opportunities to mix and build walls and integrate windows, doors, and interior features. You'll be ready to build yourself or someone else a natural building made out of cob when you're done.
How can gardening/growing your own food be easy?
We garden with a year-round perspective and utilize natural systems in the garden rather than recreating them or fighting against them. We’ll also learn from professional full-time farmers/gardeners on the Island who have been growing successfully for decades.
We will also harvest wild foods where they still exist abundantly and try to relearn techniques for use that were lost when 90% of the indigenous population died within a generation on this coast (this is also called genocide).
The location is an inspiration in itself
Lasqueti Island is completely off-the-grid with no car ferry and unpaved roads. The community kept the 3rd wave of clearcutting mostly off the island and the result is a mature forest throughout. Our site is rustic and peaceful. Do not expect any of the services you enjoy in an urban environment; instead, we have a Free Store, 2 restaurants, and a gift store as well as many self-serve stands for local produce and baking.
The artistic community is diverse and deeply talented. The women’s community is strong and independent. A weekly Market brings many together to share food, music, and fun, as do many other festivals and events. The waters surrounding the island are clean and clear with swimming beaches within reach by bicycle.
Mosquitoes peak for a week and then are usually not noticed during the day. Horse/Deer flies will regularly visit for a bite but are easily thwarted.
The weather is usually dry and warm, sometimes hot, and always cool at night. The surrounding forest and ocean makes all weather easy to enjoy, despite the dramatic changes elsewhere.
Contact Us
If you are interested in this apprenticeship program, please contact us by:
phone: 604.216.6700
email: cob at lasqueti dot ca
mail: 1 Beautiful Bicycle Lane, En-tay/Lasqueti Island, Sliammon Territory V0R 2J0
phone: 604.216.6700
email: cob at lasqueti dot ca
mail: 1 Beautiful Bicycle Lane, En-tay/Lasqueti Island, Sliammon Territory V0R 2J0
