Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
9 Apr 2024
Reply rate
91.0 %
Usually responds within 20 days
Feedback
31
Email verified
Badges (2)
Details
Description
We are a family of 4 (Pascal, Bene, 9 years old Luna, and 6 years old Mateo)
We are developing a permaculture project in the charming village of Los Silos on the northern coast Tenerife island. The purpose there is to plant an edible forest made of exotic trees, spices and aromatic herbs. Our permaculture challenge is great, we started in a desert created by conventional agriculture. Now the soil is in recovering process and we have more and more trees and live comes back. Fruits trees are still young but year after year we eat new fruits from our land. We also have a vanilla cultivation in expansion. Tenerife enjoys a particular climate where plants from tropical, subtropical, Mediterranean and temperate regions can be grown here. If you like nature, if you're interested in useful plants, you'll like our project :-).
We also organize permaculture workshops, visits and activities around art and creativity . We welcome groups to make them spend a good time learning in a beautiful surrounding.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
In our village you'll easily get in touch with the local culture and participate to the local festivities such as the market every Sunday morning, the cultural events, the traditional celebrations, carnivals and so on. As part of our family and team you'll have the opportunity to share all those events with us. Besides the Canaries Culture we also like our volunteer to be part of the "world culture". Our family is originally from Belgium and we speak daily French and Spanish, also English, Dutch and Italian. We have travelled and did volunteering a lot before settling, reason why we like a lot to meet new people, to have nice exchanges and to give the opportunity to offer a great experience with us.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
IN GENERAL :
* We need help to give life to an agricultural land which was almost a desert when we started in 2014. The tasks can vary according to the seasons. A few examples of what you might do: to give live to seeds and plant cuttings, to prepare pots for seeding, to water the plants, to feed the chickens and to improve their habitat, to dig holes for planting, to plant hedges, to make mulch and compost, to give some care to the little trees that have been planted, to install the irrigation system, to build fences or oters infrastructures… Thinks to have in mind are that the tasks can be physical (especially to dig holes) and the weather in summer can be hot. We are also constantly need help with the infrastructures of the finca; painting, building with wood or other materials, improving existing structures or developing new ones. People with experience in those fields are more than welcome!
* TAKING CARE OF OUR CHILDREN (FOR FRENCH OR SPANISH SPEAKING VOLUNTEERS ONLY) If you love children and you are able to share valuable moments with them, if you feel you have love to share, empathy, creativity and patience, then you could be interested in collaborating in the education of our children. What we need is someone to attend our own children and sometimes their little friends in this special natural space during the afternoons of the week and one morning on Sunday. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO SPEAK FLUENTLY SPANISH OR FRENCH in order to be able to comunicate with the children. To do so, the overall help asked is around 3 hours per day, 5 days per week and between three weeks and one month. Sometimes the volunteering hours are shared between the children and the work at the finca.
*FAMILIES: We don't host families at the moment. Thank you for your understanding and for not sending a request if you dream to join us as a family.
*COUPLES: Two volunteers applying as a couple are welcome. Just take in account that one of the two has to match with the profile to take care of the children.
*DIGITAL NOMADS: please take into consideration that our finca has no internet connection. We have no working space available.
*2 SPECIAL WISHES FOR 2023-24 (maybe it's you!)
People specialist and able to teach us ecobuilding with clay, cañas or other natural materials.
Mural painter artists able to teach us how to paint beautiful walls with sprays.
*As you might understand, we're quite busy working on many projects at the same time. So we feel sometimes so overwhelmed that it's not because our working time is over that we can rest... To help us to relieve our everyday life, we could also ask you to help us on differents task such as housework or cooking.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW: Being a host on Workaway means that we receive many many demands, especially in Tenerife, nearly all year round. To respond to everyone is a hard task and we are sometimes overwhelmed, especially when volunteers don't read carefully our profile. Don't apply as a digital nomad if we have no internet connection, don't propose to take care of the children if you don't speak Spanish or French, don't apply as a familly and we have no space for it, and so on... Please get to the point and tell us how you can fit in our project. It will be a great time saving for you searching for a place and for us.
We try to do our best to respond to everyone but please don't blame us if you feel the answer we send you doesn't match with your expectation. It also happens that several demands are on process at the same time because we experience many changes of decision from the candidates for volunteering (sometimes they drop us 3 days before arrival!). We try to match the volunteers with our calendar and fill it as we can. So please, note that till we don't agree with you a fixed arrival date, your stay with us is not confirmed. We also see that we or the Workawayers answer after several days and everything changes so fast meanwhile. Sometimes it's more efficient to chat with WhatsApp or Telegram. You can write your mobile number if you wish so.
Thank you for your understanding.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
Accommodation in a tent or wooden cabin on the land. This option is available for individual volunteers or couples. Bringing your own tent is also a possibility. Outdoor solar shower (which means there is not hot water when the sky is too cloudy), dry toilet and equipped common little kitchen. Internet access with computers and free wifi is found at the library village at 500 meters away from from our finca (we have NO internet connection in our farm). If you like a "back to the nature" experience you'll love this option! Take in account that we offer camping conditions and you'll spend your days outdoor. The winter can be chill but never cold: average of 17-18ºC during the day and lowest night temperature at night of 12ºC (mostly January and February).
What else ...
Los Silos is a small village of 4000 inhabitants with a lot a energy. There's often something to do or to see here and around. Festival, carnival, street events... a lot of possibilities to entertain yourself and meet new friends. The sea is only 2km away (20 minutes walk) and the beautiful mountains with many walking paths are just 2 steps away from the house. If you like hiking and nature, Los Silos is surrounded by the ocean coast and the natural pools, the bananas and others fruits trees plantations, the palm trees, the laurel forest, the volcanoes, the historical town of Garachico...
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
3 hours per day, 5 days per week, breakfast included. Or 10 hours per week with accommodation without meals.
Feedback (21)
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.5)
Communication:
(4.9)
I spent 1 month with my friend Paul a the Finca Canopea. It was pretty amazing! We were sleeping in a wooden cabin in the middle of this nature paradise, sleeping with the sound of wind, frogs and even sometimes owls. We did some fair work in exchange of this cabin and all the homemade accommodations of the finca. We mostly work on the… read more
I woke up every morning and went to bed between mountains and the ocean view, the frogs and insects around sang a goodnight song every evening and the outside-shower underneath passion fruits was most refreshing.
Working with Pascal… read more
Finca la Canopea has been a very helpful and beautifull place for me to be.
Besides helpxchange this was my first WW experience.
6 weeks in total of planting trees, nurturing the land, helping the chickens stretch their legs.
I really enjoyed the vibe of the whole ordeal.
Many… read more
My experience with Béné, Pascal, Luna and Mateo was my first workaway and it couldn't have been better !!
The family is most welcoming and speaks English, Spanish and French which is very convenient. I spend the whole month of July 2019 in the finca,… read more
In particular we loved feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs with our children.
It was also a pleasure watering the baby trees in the tree nursery and watching them grow and bloom. Our… read more
Thank you very much,Lin,and see you next time!
Kelly is a Wonder Woman! She spent 3 months in our hostel giving us a great help in any kind of task, going beyond of our basic needs.
Amongst other things, she had a warm contact with the guests and gave a nice atmosphere during breakfast time. She made breads and pastries experiences to diversify the guests… read more
The area is beautiful and calm, a small village… read more
