Join us on an organic agro-forestry farm and look after the boys while enjoying rural lifestyle in Larochemillay, France

Details

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  Description

  We are a french-german couple living with 2 little boys (10 months and 3 years old), on an organic agro-forestry farm in the Morvan area of Burgundy. Nora's mother, Birgit, is also lives here on and off, in a tiny house on the land. After extended traveling and various professionnal experiences, we settled in this simply most beautiful part of France, Anselm for his agro-forestry farming, and Nora with her coaching,consulting& training work... Birgit is an anthropologist who will probably never retire :-) Our farm often hosts volunteers in quest of fresh air and agricultural experience, and is the perfect place for lovers of forests, hiking, and beautiful silence. English and German are spoken at home with our boys, French with the rest of the world & our helpers ! We are so happy to be able to raise our two little ones in such a beautiful natural setting.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Dear traveler, you will hear and practice german, french, and english, try out a rural lifestyle, and explore child development with us. We try to learn how to accompany our children with emotional intelligence, nature connection and a positive, supportive approach. You will also have the opportunity to help in agricultural agro-forestry work, if you wish ! Anselm is testing an approach called "syntropic agriculture", look it up ! :-) To be honest, we are more international than deep french, but we know the country & customs very well and are happy to share our love for this beautiful region with you !

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  Help

  At the moment we can offer two types of "missions" : one is helping in the house and with the children and the other is helping on the farm, especially with ECO-CONSTRUCTION projects (woodwork, carpentry, masonry).
  The 1st mission in a nutshell: help Nora stay sane when Anselm is busy on the farm. Nora loves spending lots of quality time with her children, but household or cooking is not her strength and not fun when done alone. Come help, many hands make light work ! :-) This means helping with keeping an orderly & clean house, and looking after the boys (especially the younger one) when Nora needs to work and do administrative tasks.
  The 2nd mission is about helping Anselm with a number of building/construction projects - a nursery (green-house), major shelving units in all the farm buildings, turning an old shed into an office and lastly: a professional kitchen (food processing lab) with walls made of hemp & lime bricks. We're particularly looking for people who have experience with wood work, masonry (brick laying), insulation and clay plasters/coatings.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Arabic: Intermediate
  Spanish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  I have been learning arabic and spanish, would be happy to pick it up again !
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  Accommodation

  There are various options depending on the time of year. In winter 2023/2024 there is a whole house for our helpers, in the summer there'll be camping, a cabin and a guest-room.
  We eat mostly vegetarian, organic, with little animal products, and we will of course pay for your food. Thomas, who works and lives on the farm, used to be a baker and makes delicious whole-grain sourdough bread. Depending on the mission and week-days/week-ends, etc... you will have most meals with our family in the family house, or with other helpers in the helpers house (winter) or helper's kitchen (summer).

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  What else ...

  We will also need time on our own (especially on week-ends), you will be free to explore ! our place is ideal for people who love nature, hiking, forests and are happy to be independent. There are multiple beautiful hikes possible directly from our house. We are 15 km away from the nearest small town with supermarket & train station. For the climate, we try not to take the car too much, and do many things by bycicle. We might buy a 2nd e-bike you can borrow to go to town (15km, 35 min by bicycle) and other sites. Nearby: forests, hills, rivers, pasture, the historic archeological site of Bibracte on the Mont Beuvray... On our farm: many friendly people coming by, joy of sharing. There will certainly be one or more woofers with whom you can team up to organize trips & explorations.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This is our preferred lodging option in the summer. There's already a caravan of an employee on the farm and a little cabin for helpers.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week