Ships of the Prairie

We are not a business, just a family of 5 living in farm country. Our volunteer site is a family home with lots of indoor and outdoor animals. We can teach people about our current animals (care, training, etc) and about some degree of hobby farming (basic repair, maintenance, landscaping), as well as show people the local area and what life in the Midwest USA is like. We both work full time, 6am-6pm away from home. When we are away, it's a wonderful site for finding peaceful time alone, reading books, taking walks, or riding bikes down the country roads. This area in north central USA is characterized by wide, flat corn and soybean farms as far as the eye can see. We live several miles (about a 4hr walk) from the nearest towns which have no amenities and less than 1000 residents. Residents in this area all have cars (we both drive approximately an hour one way to work each day) and there is no public transportation.

We can occasionally drive you to the closest towns with train service (25 min drive) or bus service (55 min drive) and pick you up again at these "local" stations. We are several hours from both Chicago and St Louis, and either city makes for a good day or weekend trip with lots to see and do.

When weather permits we also have several great parks and trails for outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, canoeing and of course horseback riding. We enjoy having volunteers that want to live with us in a family setting and we will invite you along to our weekend adventures (camping, family dinners, local festivals, etc) whenever feasible.

We are a couple in our 30-40s with three sons born October 2015, February 2017, and November 2023. We also have 20+ farm, pet, or occasionally exotic animals that stay with us. We have a tiny farm house on a small plot of land which we use only as a hobby farm. Our permanent residents include 6 types of outdoor poultry, indoor dogs, a few horses, ponies and camels, llamas and alpacas, goats, indoor ferrets, a donkey, and a fluctuating number of farm cats. The animals have come to us from all walks of life, from show animals to meat auctions. We have gotten a local reputation as a safe place to drop off neglected animals and occasionally come home to new critters this way. Our little farm house was built in 1914 as a 2-room servant's quarters, with several rooms added on since then. Accommodations would be in the upstairs guest bedroom. We could potentially set up a second bed if you are traveling with a friend, child, etc who you are comfortable rooming with; let us know if you need an extra room/bed and we'll let you know if it's available! There is a small bathroom downstairs that is shared by all occupants of the house. Wifi internet is rural quality, and can go out for days when we have a storm. It will not support high bandwidth activity such as live streaming. The kitchen is shared, and we try to share a family meal together most evenings. There is also a washer/dryer you are welcome to use. Before living with us, you should know we always have indoor dogs, indoor children, and occasionally other indoor animals (birds, ferrets, reptiles) so we cannot host people with uncontrolled allergies and if you smoke, you will not be able to smoke inside. Also, we love our kids and animals but we have become used to the constant mess, smell, chewed item, and LOUD outbursts that they make. Furthermore, living in an old house in the country is a guarantee of the occasional wild visitor - no matter how hard we try, our house occasionally gets mice, bugs, bats, etc. So, basically we are asking you to please be open to living with animals and children in the house before you stay here!