I am looking for a person who would like to trade gardening and other tasks for rent in the studio apartment over our garage (carriage house). The apartment is about 650 square feet and has a large living/dining/sleeping room, a kitchen and bathroom.

The ideal person would be a single person with gardening skills who is retired, a student or works part time. A couple would also be okay so long as one has the time to devote to gardening.

I envision that we will provide the studio apartment and utilities rent in exchange for various services from the occupant. The rental value, including utilities, would be set at $900 per month, which is less than comparable apartments are being rented for in our neighborhood.

The value of services, with the exception of house sitting, would be $15.00 per hour, or as negotiated, with the occupant providing the equivalent of $900 rent per month, or 60 hours. The occupant would keep a time sheet to record time spent on services and services provided.

The services may include but not be limited to any of the following:

1. Sweeping stairs, sidewalks, patios, etc.
2. Trimming grass and  brush with a line trimmer
3. Weeding
4. Pruning
5. Raking
6. Gardening, including cultivating, tilling, weeding, mulching, picking fruits and vegetables, managing vines, planting, starting seeds, transplanting, picking up materials or plants at nurseries, etc.
7. Managing compost
8. Maintaining irrigation systems
9. Watering
10. Painting

The studio occupant should be able to operate or learn to operate a gasoline powered line trimmer and an ATV.

House sitting while we are out of town will require feeding and watering dogs, watering goats and perhaps sleeping in the main house at night. House sitting would have an equivalent value of $50 per night.

This arrangement will be covered by a standard month to month rental contract with full rent due each month unless offset by services as described above. However, it is our intention to collect the full rent through services.

We will provide a prioritized list of services on an ongoing basis.

Anyone who is interested should not phone me but should reply by email or letter. I can be reached at tom.butt@intres or via mail at 235 East Scenic, Richmond, CA 94801. Responses should include information about gardening experience and time availability as well as whatever personal information can be offered about background and experience . Ultimately, I will require references.