Hello friends and travelers. Thanks for listening. You are riding along on the Hostile Road Trip podcast. Our mission is to spread awareness of the true hostile experience in the Americas and share stories from the fascinating hosts who create those unique facilities.
I'm your host Jimmy Black, joined alongside co-founder of International Travelers House, Bobby Dyer, and Eric Ferria, co-founder of World Packers.
Each session we sit down with Hostile Operators or Travel Influencers to hear about their road success, discuss trending Hostile topics, and close with tips for travelers who are seeking to have the ultimate experience when visiting each destination.
You can't afford to miss this trip. Now fasten your seatbelts and let's hit the road.
Hello friends and welcome back to the Hostile Road Trip podcast. My name is James Black and I'm here alongside Bobby Dyer. We are the co-founders of ITH Hostiles and EcoLogic.
Thanks James, excited to be here at the D Acres.
Also we have Eric Ferria from World Packers.
Thanks guys, very happy to be here in this amazing organic farm.
And also we have with us the esteemed manager from the D Acres establishment here, Josh.
Hello, thanks for having me.
Thank you so much for joining us early in the morning here as we have quite a tight schedule here and a couple different recordings to pull off.
And we first, maybe the most interesting part of this podcast is to talk about this Hostile's history in the facility itself as we're on an organic farm as well as a working Hostile.
So how long ago did this operation start?
About 20 years ago I moved here.
And the intention originally was more or less just to take over the family farm.
Cool.
So my great aunt was here, she was 89 years old.
I was at the time in Alaska, you know, traveling around and sort of seeing the country so to speak.
Awesome.
And so the opportunity arose, you know, to move here and to help her in her later years.
Great.
And so the Hostile evolved out of that.
We were involved with willing workers on organic farms.
Wolfing, yeah.
So we had lots of people passing through who were interested in the farming and interested in the lifestyle and the experience.
So to combine that with sort of a tourist or accommodation option, it really worked well into integrating the overall holistic nature of our farm operations.
That is beautiful.
You know, it's so cool to see that, you know, see enough of that anymore when the farms are passed down through the family generations.
And then that's so cool to see that you use your experience of traveling about to evolve into a Hostile experience.
And we know from working with woofers as well in our Hostiles that it's an easy switch for them.
You know, it's a very comparable experience in the exchange.
That's really cool.
Now, how big is the farm?
Geez, the farm encompasses 200 acres.
200 acres! Oh my Lord.
But we're also really blessed to be in this section of New Hampshire where there's a lot of open land.
Yeah.
The White Mountain National Forest is the viewshed that we enjoy and that's three quarters of a million acres.
And our backdoor neighbor has sort of a kingdom of himself.
He owns 23,000 acres.
Oh my Lord.
So there's a lot of quiet and a lot of possibilities to interact with the natural world here.
Yeah. It's unobstructed and it doesn't look like it will be.
That's a beautiful thing, which is so, you know, nowadays when you find yourself on a beautiful piece of land like this,
it always seems like you're trying to get pushed out by someone.
So that's great that you found yourself a little niche here where it seems like you're safe in your space.
Now, on this 200 acre farm, what is the, you know, are we working, you know, animals, vegetables?
What is the products that we have going on here?
A large portion of the farm, I would say 90% of it is native forest.
Oh, a touch. It's native, yeah.
So the forest, you know, we'll get into the forest and do trails for recreation, we'll do some logging and so forth.
But the real food production area is limited to about 20 acres.
So you have orchard, pasture, as well as, you know, intensive annual food production within that 20 acres.
You guys have your own market or do you sell to local suppliers?
Well, I think that's one of the innovations that we offer here as well as it's more of a farm to table experience.
We did the market for many years, you know, packing up the pickup and loading everything, traveling.
Sometimes you end up watching your lettuce wilt. It doesn't sell what you're going to do with it.
So the main idea here was to put it on people's table.
So, you know, instead of trying to hustle a dozen eggs for three, four dollars, I can make six breakfasts and make 60, 70 bucks.
That's true. So it's value adding the product.
Right here in this area?
Right here on site. Yeah, right in this kitchen.
So the concept is to really compete with McDonald's.
If we had farms on every corner where there's McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts that had fresh food,
there was, you know, supplying the livelihood for the people who were running it instead of, you know, what the people working at Dunkin Donuts aren't living the life.
Yeah. Amen. Yeah.
So trying to figure out how to replace this modern, you know, food production system with a real food production system that people are in charge of is what we're all about.
And I think that's an awesome thing because I think so many of the so much of the younger generation is so attached from this way of life that we used to have that they don't even know it exists or it's possible.
So it's great for them to be able to come to a place like this and see other people doing it.
And there is an option besides the, you know, the cancer infested food they throw at us at all these fast food chains and processed foods that you can throw on your shelf and last longer than you do.
So it's a little concerning.
So I think that this is a beautiful thing you're doing here and really can be not only a cool experience, but an educational experience.
Absolutely. Our major focus is education.
That's great.
I like to get people in here and taste in the food and celebrating the food.
Yeah. And you're celebrating the process of eating face to face.
Yeah. One another.
Yes. And then they have the opportunity to go right outside and meet the chickens and pigs and, you know, study how we're growing apples or lettuce or kale or whatnot.
Yeah. So there's that connection that actually exists instead of just ordering something on a menu and having it wrapped up and delivered to you.
This is the complete cycle.
Yeah. This is inspiring to talk about because I've always been in the thought process of these large companies like Monsanto.
They want us to forget how to do this so that it's just gone from our whole culture and understanding that we don't know how to farm anymore.
So now we're completely beholden to them.
And it's an unfortunate thing.
So it's great to see that there's still guys like you out there speaking the truth to power and doing it the organic way to educate people.
We always think that hostiling a lot of times people think of it as even if they're beyond the perception that we're battling right now, they might think it's just for a party or just to get wild.
But a lot of times it can be an educational experience in which you leave a more cultured person.
And just as we were on the Liberty Clipper tall ship last night where they're teaching people how to sail as that kind of an art that's being lost.
This is a really cool thing you're doing up here with the farm.
Now, what animals are on the farm?
Currently we have pigs and chickens and rabbits.
Nice.
And there's also some pet alpacas.
Is that what we saw rolling out an alpaca out there?
Now, what is it alpaca?
Geez, it's a South American camelid.
Hey, look at you.
It's from Brazil.
It's from Peru though.
Oh, okay.
Nice animal.
Yeah.
For farming is great, right?
No, they provide manure, they help protect the other animals, they're really aware.
Okay.
And they keep down the grass and they're beautiful.
Yeah, they are.
I saw it cruising out there.
I was like, what a majestic animal.
So it adds to the experience of our guests, you know, to interact with these animals, especially the kids.
They love the rabbits and the chickens and the pigs.
It really adds to the overall experience.
So we like to take in, you know, a wide range of visitors.
Yeah.
We get a lot of families that show up that want to sort of have that experience, you know, where they come in and they see the animals and they have the food and they sort of relax and walks through the woods.
We also get a lot of people that are really interested in the recreational elements that we have to offer out here, the skiing, the hiking, the biking.
That's awesome.
So we put a lot of effort into building up the potential.
Yeah.
So there's lots of trails through the woods for hiking as well as skiing and mountain biking.
And then there's local attractions like the Rumney Rock Climbing that bring in a lot of people.
So that would make this a year round facility, I'm assuming, though.
As the winter comes in, you got the skiing and everything.
So that's great.
So you come up on here to de-acres on a year round basis.
Are you able to farm in the winter?
Do you have greenhouses or anything like that?
We do have some greenhouses.
We also use that other room, the Solarium, to grow quite a bit of greens.
Oh, yeah.
You can see how that works.
Some of the focus as well to this farm to table experience is to having the diet move through the season.
So in the winter time, we're going to be more focused on root crops and storage vegetables and that sort of thing.
Whereas in the summertime, it's more fresh greens, you know, zucchinis, peas, that sort of thing.
Do a lot of canning and whatnot?
Oh, definitely.
All right.
So yeah, this is it.
I'll tell you what, I'd like to come up here for a few days myself and just take in some of the knowledge.
Before you got started, you said you're in Alaska. Were you working on other farms?
Did you have another inspiration that kind of led you to come over here and really think this is what it is today?
Yeah. I mean, I went to college in Boulder and Colorado.
I had some sort of travel experiences there.
I went to Spain and I went to South America, went to Costa Rica for a little bit.
Is that where you stayed in hostels your first time, abroad?
Yeah.
That was my first abroad experiences and really rich experiences where it was a multicultural opportunity, very friendly atmospheres,
you know, less expensive than your typical hotels, but more rich.
Definitely with places that had their own kitchen that you could prepare your own food and so forth and really inspire a lot of the activities we do here.
Awesome. All right.
Well, we're here with Josh at the D Acres in Dorchester, New Hampshire.
Stay tuned and we'll be back after this brief break.
Welcome back to Hostel Road Trip.
It's Black here with Bobby Dyer, Eric Ferreira and our man Josh from the D Acres Organic Farm and Hostel.
We just got a little bit of a rundown on how bad ass this facility is and some of the cool things going on here.
But now we're just going to dive in quickly to the topic of the hostel industry and its perception and how your experience has been in running and operating a hostel in the U.S.
and how your relationship has been with the community and if you've seen any progression as far as the comfortability of the traveler to try out hosteling.
So let's start with the community based element.
Did you get a positive response when you said you were going to open up a hostel and promote a hostel or negative?
How was it?
Well, in this particular community, it's a very rural area.
I'm not saying that people don't have a lot of worldly knowledge, but it's not like New York City or somewhere where it's a little bit more cosmopolitan.
So the people here relate a little bit more with the concept of a bed and breakfast.
And so what we tried to do was facilitate their understanding of what a hostel is.
And I think all in all, the neighbors are concerned about either crime or some sort of loud noise, that sort of thing.
So we just try to keep that to a minimum.
In general, I think there is the perception that a farm can't be also provide overnight accommodations.
There's some rule out there.
But the historic pattern has been, particularly in New Hampshire, for farms to have overnight visitors.
During the summers, typically this is where the people from Boston would come.
They'd come up to New Hampshire and they'd stay at farms for a week or two weeks at a time.
And that was their summer vacation.
That's the traditional vacation of New Englanders a hundred years ago was to come up to the lakes and mountains and stay at farms.
So we're more or less just reinventing that wheel.
It's not a big leap to imagine.
You know, farms are big places with many rooms.
Often the kids have moved on.
So you can bring in guests.
That's a very good point.
They fill in the empty nest, right?
Absolutely.
I think that provides a wonderful opportunity, second income.
Yeah.
I think that's a really cool experience that people don't realize when they talk about hostiling in general.
It's this new thing.
It's really not a new thing.
It's actually what we were doing for hundreds of years and many thousands of years, sharing rooms and accommodations and traveling through towns and working a little bit in exchange for a stay.
It's not like we're inventing the wheel.
We're actually just refurbishing a way of accommodations.
And also in a very important way, I think with all the social media outlets we have, we're becoming very desensitized and communication with each other and eating meals with each other and experiencing each other's presence.
And I think that hostiling kind of breaks down those social media barriers and kind of forces people to have what we call the social orgasm and just interaction with each other.
So that's really cool.
Now, how about as far as your 20 years here, have you seen a profound change or increase in the comfortability of people or the willingness and excitement to see a hostel or do you still see the same hesitations due to the perceptions out there?
Well, I mean, it's sort of a two pronged question.
I think definitely people that have been traveling around and had the experience of a hostel are very open to it.
You know, they are receptive to it because they've had all in all positive experiences.
And, you know, I think that that's the sort of the market that's easy to get in with.
The folks that come that haven't had a hostel experiences are a little bit more standoffish.
Yes, you know, they're walking in the door.
They're a little bit timid.
They're a little bit.
They don't know what to expect.
Yeah.
So it's really trying to break the ice with that group and really provide a welcoming atmosphere and a friendly atmosphere.
And you can sort of see the layers of their shell that's so true away as they get more comfortable here as they go out and interact with the animals, as they have positive experiences with the staff, you know, people that are actually smiling at them because they like to see, you know, other people.
First, when you show up at a hotel, they're paid to smile.
Yeah, they say the same thing to everyone.
It's sort of very repeat.
Yeah.
So you just have to sort of break down those barriers and open those doors.
And then, like you're saying, the magic happens.
Yes.
You end up leaving as friends.
Yeah.
As opposed to, you know, just clients.
Yeah, that's that's so true.
We like to say at our hostel, you check in as a guest, you'll leave as a friend.
You know, in a lot of ways, that's so true, and we a lot of times are so proud to see that person try it out for the first time, see that hesitation.
And a few days later, they leave and they're like, I'm never staying in a fucking hotel again.
You know, and then you're like, yes, we got another one.
Yeah.
So it's sometimes they extend.
Yes.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm always staying here for a day to we'll see.
Two weeks later.
Yeah, especially on an organic farm like yours.
It's almost like a scape from the virtual online world.
Yeah.
You could really tune out up here.
That's for sure.
I like that.
There is no cell service or is there?
Not very good.
Yeah.
Some people can get limited.
We do have a Wi-Fi password.
We just changed it recently, but before it was disconnect.
I like that.
But it's so true.
You know, I can remember a few years ago if I lost reception or didn't have to, I'd be
like, oh shit, I've decided.
And now I'm like, oh, this is beautiful.
No one can find me.
You know, I'm off the grid finally.
Yeah.
So and then you've got that excuse.
I didn't have reception.
I'm sorry.
I was at the GE acres.
So that's just great.
How do most people find you?
Would you say word of mouth or online?
Do you use Airbnb or any of these platforms?
We definitely use Airbnb and for the camp and there's hip camp.
It is more of a word of mouth thing as well as the particular sort of sectors, the demographics
of where we can reach out.
We reach out a lot to the recreationists.
So we put like an advertisement in the climate guy.
And right now we're putting a lot of advertisement into the mountain biking world.
Connect to those communities.
Yeah.
So sort of really trying not to go like with a New York Times ad, but more or less filling
in in these little sectors with strong advertisement.
Right.
But right aimed at a specific demographic.
That's really good advice for other hostile owners out there and managers that when you
throw yourself on a broad OTA, you really expose yourself to everything.
And then those expectations might not be able to be met with everyone.
But if you have more of a focused niche financial marketing campaign, you can really hone in
on who would really enjoy your experience and the guests you know that you could cater
to the best.
So that's very good marketing advice right there.
It's also worked well with our educational component because the climbers show up.
Maybe they're from New York, they're from Tech World or whatnot.
They go in the bathroom, they see the compost and toilet.
That's what it opens their eyes to, you know, sort of the sustainable element.
Then we get a reputation within that certain demographic for having farmed a table, for
having sustainable practices.
And that spreads within such a unique experience horizontally within that word of mouth within
that sector.
Yeah.
So that really works well for us.
And that's still, I always say, you know, all the different marketing campaigns and
add people that come at you, the word of mouth is still the gold.
That really is.
All right.
Well, thanks for that again, Josh.
And we know that you're off to do the voting work and the good work of the people.
And we're going to have Will step in to finish up here for the podcast.
But thanks so much for your time.
We really appreciate it, Matt.
Yeah.
I mean, that's an interesting point in terms of integrating into the community because
I'm an elected official that does the voting.
I am the moderator of the town.
Oh, that's awesome.
So I'm the third of all the voting in our precinct, so to speak, our town.
In New Hampshire, very important in the primaries and things like this, right?
Yeah.
So I get direct contact with all the citizens of the town.
So they know me on a face to face basis as opposed to Josh, the guy that runs the hostel.
Very good point.
Josh, the neighbor that helps run the voting.
They know you, the man first, then that's doing it.
And I think that's a very good point of building that perception, breaking down barriers in
your community, not only getting involved in the community and having them come on to
your location and see what's going on, but just being a part of the community in its
raw form will help you break down a lot of those barriers, put a face to the project.
Absolutely.
Great stuff, man.
Thanks so much for your time.
Thank you so much.
All right.
Absolutely.
All right.
Thanks for having me on here, man.
This is inspiration.
Thank you, guys.
We're going to take a short break for our sponsors and then we'll be back with Wilt
at the D-Akers Hostel in Doorchester, New Hampshire.
Be back soon.
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Welcome back to Hostel Road Trip.
We are happy to be here at Dorchester, New Hampshire at the D-Acres Organic Farm and
Hostel.
And we are down here with Will replacing Josh, who went off to do good work of voting.
And we're happy to have Will with us here.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's great.
All right.
So now we're going to jump into a little bit of the great details of the operational day
here at the farm hostel, which obviously you want to talk about the farming.
So, I mean, typically when you think farming, you're like, all right, you are up before
the sun.
You know, is that a typical thing here?
I usually on an average day, I'm getting up about six.
Okay.
Still pretty early in hostile life.
You know, I spend a little time on my own and then, you know, try to start chores maybe
at seven.
Awesome.
Is about when the day gets going.
Cool.
And you know, what is the staff load here?
Is it like, you know, you're going to be doing some work exchange woofers, like what you
have at a time, including you and Josh.
Yeah, currently it's just the two of us.
Two man show.
But they're in my, you know, in my time here, we've had up to, I think maybe eight, eight
people at a time was the biggest group that I've had.
But I know over the years has been up to say maybe 15 people.
Okay.
So, you know, for say four to seven is sort of a sweet spot for us right now.
Nice.
So what do you see as the kind of general chores or some of the more labor intensive
chores where you need the more crew?
Well, I mean, every day, you know, the animals require care.
No matter what, every day somebody's got to be checking on all the animals.
Yeah.
Generally at least twice a day.
But then it's the real, the real work is out in the garden, you know, for the most part
in the growing season, you know, out there weeding and even harvesting takes a lot of
time.
So that's, that's where the real, it's the gardening and then the preservation is also
a big chunk.
Right.
Now, how many people guest wise, you know, you said you could have around eight or so
for staff.
How many people, if you were sold out, could stay in this location?
That's almost impossible to say.
I don't know that we could certainly fill up the house here in the house.
You know, we've got room for probably about 30 people upstairs.
That's a great one.
It would be a stretch.
Yeah.
It would be pretty tight, but definitely you can do 30, especially if it was all one group,
one big group of people.
That would work out all right.
But then we have the camping outside and that's more or less unlimited.
200 acres, you really got endless potential.
Yeah.
I mean, love, what was it Memorial Day weekend, a couple of weekends ago, you know, we had
there were probably 35 tents out there.
Oh, that's awesome.
Probably, you know, upwards of 50 or 60 people on site.
I think reasonably comfortably we could, we could do a hundred people here.
Okay.
Now, what are you looking at, you know, as far as, you know, a price for a bunk as compared
to price for a tenting camp pad?
Yeah.
So, you know, upstairs in the private rooms, they range from say $75 for a double occupancy.
Okay.
And then we have what we call the family room, which sleeps five and that's $95 for the night
on a non-holiday weekend.
And the camping, you want to come pitch a tent, one person, 10 bucks.
That's awesome.
So $10 per person per night for camping.
So, and then also inside we have what we call the yoga room.
Oh, that's good.
And that's just like a big carpeted space, you know, you sort of bring your own bedding,
crash out.
That's only 20 bucks.
Wow.
So that's pretty reasonable.
Yeah.
You got it.
You can arrange and they're all very affordable.
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
You said you obviously run this year with volunteers, the organic farm with volunteers,
right?
Correct.
And it's not full right now, but you said like you would have just like 30, over 30
people just camping outside, plus people in house, right?
Yeah.
What's the biggest challenge of operating this full and keeping the staff motivated
at the same time?
I was, I mean, I think the biggest challenge with those numbers of people having people
everywhere, you know, inside, outside, it's just sort of trying to keep track of who's
who, you know, who's on for meals, who's paid, who hasn't, stuff like that.
Just trying to keep track of who's with who, you know, just some, is there some random,
random car up in the parking lot that, you know, hasn't checked in, hasn't, are they
just sleeping on their car?
Yeah.
You know, that sort of thing.
And then with, with limited personnel, it's just pulling off the meals, you know, when
you got a dinner of 30 people, you know, take some time to put together for the limited
staff.
So I'm guessing you guys probably run with the lighter staff in the winter with the farm,
you know, not in season and then crew up.
Yep.
You said around eight or so you guys like to have?
That would be, I guess, maybe a reach goal, you know, for us right now to manage.
But yeah, if we have, you know, four or five people, that would be cool.
What would you say is the most important thing to keep the staff motivated?
Ah, geez.
I mean, I'm of the mindset that if somebody wants to be here, they really should be self-motivated.
Okay.
You know, like self-direction, we really try to encourage the self-direction.
Like here's the task.
This is what we need done.
Here's all the materials we need.
Get it done.
You know, that's really what we're looking for.
Yeah.
That person that's just like, okay, cool.
Yeah, I'll figure this out.
I've never done this before, but you know, right attitude.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And I don't know that there's a lot.
I mean, we try to encourage people and put them in positions where this is something
they want to do, they're interested in learning, things along those lines.
But ultimately, there's going to be jobs that you're going to hate, you don't want to do,
and it's really up to the individual to be self-motivated, I think.
Yeah.
Nice.
Absolutely.
But yeah, that's definitely a challenge.
Yeah.
How do, you know, different people require different encouragement.
Do you have international volunteers here?
Yeah.
There definitely have been some.
And again, I've only been here for a fairly short amount of time, so I don't know the
full history.
I've seen definitely some have come through, and I'm sure over the years, many more have.
But I think, Will, I think you make a great point about in the hostiling industry, you
have a lot of exchange workers like woofers, and you know, you do need people with the
right attitude that can be self-motivated and that understand the exchange.
And they're going to fit in your operation, because you can't change your operation for
them.
Right.
Or else you'd be running around with your hair on fire.
Yeah.
Sorry.
That's a very good point for other hostile managers out there, that you know, you can
do your best to motivate them within the confines of your model.
And that's really important to get across.
Yeah.
Once again, Will, thank you so much.
And for all of you out there, listeners, come up to the D acres and listening to the soothing
sounds of nature.
That's right.
Tune in, tune out, find your animalistic primal ways.
Woo.
All right.
Well, thanks again, everyone, for listening.
Bobby Dyer.
Thank you.
Eric Ferrea.
Thank you so much.
Will from the D acres.
Yeah.
Thank you guys so much.
My name is James Black.
We are the Hostile Road Trip, and we are heading onward to the Notch Hostel, another one of
New Hampshire's finest establishments, on the second of four recordings today.
So stay tuned and try to keep up.
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