An isolated off-grid homestead on an island off Langkawi. Grass, forest, beach, dogs, sheep, ducks.
Malaysia
Hi! We have an off-grid sheep farm on a tropical island in Malaysia. If you are traveling in South East Asia, this can be a working break between Penang and Thailand.
If you love gardening, animals and woodwork, and are interested to learn about caring for a small flock of sheep, this may be the place for you! We are a retired couple, and our homestead is still under construction. We have a wood workshop, a small house, a sheep house and a vegetable garden...and pasture, forest and beach. We have 4 dogs and 3 cats, all very much involved in our everyday lives, so a visitor needs to be fond of animals to be comfortable. We are running entirely on solar power and filtered stream water, and our sheep are adding much-needed nutrients to our otherwise sandy soil. (We are NOT practicing agriculture, NOT producing food for sale, and are not a teaching example of organic vegetable farming, so please don't expect an internship in these fields. We merely have a small garden for our own veg and fruit, on a big isolated piece of land.)
We're looking for some help from a STRONG, HARDWORKING person, or couple, who can do gardening, woodwork, daily beach garbage clean-up, forest clearing etc. The work day is about 6 hours. Your free time can be spent relaxing, swimming in the sea, reading, exploring the beach or forest. Our place is isolated, and we rarely see people, so this is not really the place to learn about the local community and culture. We appreciate our volunteers helping to keep the place clean, wash dishes and prepare meals.
The seasons affect the work here
Mid Dec to mid April : Dry, no rain, very windy, leaves fall.
Main Work : LEAF RAKING , MOWING & COMPOSTING.
Mid April to August : Daily rain, humid, grass grows fast
Main Work: GRASS MOWING , RAKING & COMPOSTING and beach garbage.
Sept to mid Dec : Rains all day everyday. Very humid. Floods. Not recommended to come
Main Work: Odd jobs, clear fallen trees, raking, garbage, gathering food for sheep.
Accommodation, meals and schedule for volunteer workers:
Your private space is a loft bedroom (without walls) above the wood workshop. There are 2 single beds which can be together or apart, as you desire. Your bathroom is downstairs. Meals are prepared and eaten at our own house, up the hill, within calling distance. Our food is pretty healthy - high in vegetables, and we are NOT vegetarians. (We can feed vegetarians but we do not support a vegan diet.) Your work day begins at 7:45am with farm chores, which you can do daily independently once you have been shown how. Breakfast at 9, assigned task, lunch at 1. Rest till 4, more chores, dinner about 7:30. After dinner, optional tile games or retire early.
Organic methods: The soil in our raised beds and flower beds is enriched with compost which we make from sheep manure and mowed leaves and grass. We use no pesticides. We have fresh stream water, no chemicals, no neighbours.
Certifications: We have not sought certification, as we are only producing a little food for ourselves.
Current projects: We would appreciate help from strong volunteers with these projects:
Woodwork
We are building a wooden house using the Malay woodwork approach (no nails) joinery techniques. If you are skilled with a chisel and other tools, please let us know.
Farm
We maintain 10 acres of pasture (mowing, raking, composting) ; care for sheep, including feeding and washing their house ; maintain a vegetable garden, which includes watering, weeding, planting, harvesting etc. We need to do occasional tree-cutting with a chainsaw, as we gradually open up new areas of forest.
Beach clean-up
We gather and bag up litter left by picnickers and the tide, for disposal. More during rains.
Internet access ; available but low bandwidth
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Sheep or goat farming
Green Building
Renewable energy production
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Permaculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
4
Hectares
|
9.9
Acres
Lisa
Member since 2022
Languages spoken:
English
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 2 days
Malaysia
Langkawi Airport ; Jetty Point Ferry, Kuah, Langkawi
Reviews
Cecilia
United States
•
February 2026
I can not recommend Lisa and Jimmy’s homestead enough!
They are so incredibly welcoming and willing to share what they know. I was able to learn about tropical farming and hydroponics, off grid living, and even got to watch a new lamb be born. The location is beautiful and free time can be spent exploring the surrounding landscape and swimming in the ocean.
Lisa and Jimmy are truly the best. They have led such interesting lives and it was so great getting to hear all of their amazing stories and the knowledge they had to share.
I highly encourage anyone who is interested in farming or off grid living, or just looking for a new experience volunteer here!
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Liberty
United Kingdom
•
February 2026
I had a lovely time at Tropical Island Homestay. Lisa and Jimmy were amazing and wonderful people, always having stories to tell. On the farm I did watering, walking the dogs, woodwork on the new house and other odd jobs around the farm. They never made me do anything outside of my capabilities. Their cooking was amazing too. I also got to witness the birth of a new lamb, who was very cute!!
The accommodation is very comfortable and has exactly what you need with a decent shower and room space. I was there with another lovely WWOOFer who I shared the room with, so it was nice to have fantastic company to do some work with and share our free time with too :))
In late February it wasn’t horribly hot apart from in the middle of the day when we took a break from work after lunch. During this time we usually went to a beach nearby and had a dip in the sea before starting work again about 4pm.
I would highly recommend to come here if you are looking for a remote small farm experience while on an island off Langkawi, where you will discover the trials and tribulations of an off grid life.
Thank you Lisa and Jimmy for your hospitality x
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Awaline
France
•
February 2026
We had an amazing week at Jimmy and Lisa's, they both are really interesting and willing to share their knowledge with us !!
The place is beautiful and relaxing, just between the forest and the forest and the sea, and you can sea a lot of birds in the surroundings !
We spend our time walking the dogs, taking care of the garden, doing some woodwork,...
We had plenty of free time to take a nap on the beach or enjoy a swim in the clear blue sea.
We shared all our meals (which were delicious) with Jimmy and Lisa, and spent our evenings playing games, which was really nice !
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Milly
United Kingdom
•
February 2026
A huge thank you to Lisa and Jimmy, I thoroughly enjoyed my time here!
It's a beautiful and relaxed setting surrounded by nature and from the first day I was made to feel at home. I spent my days helping Jimmy with their new house which was a great opportunity to learn so much! Both Jimmy and Lisa have so much knowledge and are so willing to patiently share it with you.
Free time can be spent however you would like, napping, swimming and/or spending time in nature. The food was great too and we spent the evenings playing many games and hearing about Lisa and Jimmy's lives and experiences.
I highly recommend coming here if you have the opportunity, thank you again Lisa and Jimmy!
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PengJin
China
•
February 2026
Huge thanks to Jimmy and Lisa for taking such good care of me! My days volunteering on their farm were absolutely amazing—I picked up so much, rode a motorbike to explore Tubba Island, and could go for a swim whenever I wanted, the experience was just perfect! Jimmy’s totally awesome: he designed and built their house all by himself, he’s super knowledgeable and has tons of artistic flair. Lisa’s so warm and kind, and she’s full of love too. They’re the most wonderful couple ever, and they’ve turned their farm into a little slice of heaven. I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to do farm volunteering—you won’t regret it! Wishing Jimmy and Lisa good health, all the best, and endless happiness ✨
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AMAR
France
•
January 2026
Nous avons passé deux semaines inoubliables chez Jim et Lisa. Ils ont une ferme dans un cadre idyllique au bord de la plage, ils ont 6 chiens, des brebis, des canards et un chat, les animaux sont très gentils et affectueux. Nos tâches ont été diverses comme : arrosage des plantes, sorties des chiens, ramassage des feuilles pour le compost, réparation de la clôtures des brebis…
Nous étions très bien logés et dormions très bien (mais pensez à amener de l’anti moustiques). Les repas préparés par Lisa étaient super bons, nous nous sommes vraiment régalés 😍
Pendant notre day off nous avons pu aller visiter l’île c’était super, et pendant les moments de libre on pouvait aller à la plage de la ferme.
Lisa et Jim ont été des super hôtes, ils sont vraiment très gentils. C’est un couple adorable très content d’accueillir des wwoofeurs et ça se ressent !
On ne peut que vous recommander cette expérience de WWOOFing
Merci encore eux
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