Enjoy the lush and abundant mountain of Serra da Gardunha, Portugal

Details

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  Description

  Hi! My name is Ines, I am portuguese and my partner Ariel is Israeli and we have 2 dogs and 2 cats.
  
  We moved to this beautiful land in the Serra da gardunha last year, and since then we are slowly bringing up the basic infrastructures.
  
  The land is 2,7h and half is an oak forest that we are keeping untouched for magical walks. The other part is made of many terraces, with 2 streams crossing by and full of fruit trees. We have mainly cherries and also apples, figs, lemon, orange, plums, chestnuts, olives, walnuts… so we can enjoy an abundance of fruits throughout the year!
  
  We would love to transform this land in a self sustainable organic farm, with the most respect and care for all the beings around us.
  
  The land is near alcaide, a small village known for the mushrooms festival happening in November. The locals are open minded and love to connect to new people! It’s a lush abundant area full of water running around and some beautiful forests, perfect for walks.
  
  We enjoy crafting, gathering around the fire, and going for walks in the forest.
  
  We will soon have a sweat lodge and start to host some ceremonies.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  LOCAL CULTURE
  Since I am Portuguese it’s always a good opportunity to learn more about the Portuguese culture.
  Because the land is quite close to a very cute little village its great to get more involved with the local people, they really enjoy it! There are a few local festivities that everyone gets together in the village to celebrate!
  
  LAND WORKS 🧑‍🌾
  In the land you would be able to learn many different things, from taking care of a veggie garden and trees, how to create good compost, learn about wild plants, how to build more natural structures…
  
  NATURAL COSMETICS AND CRAFTS 🧼
  I also have a brand of natural cosmetics and natural crafts so if you like I can share my knowledge about making soaps, shampoos and herbal preparations with the wild plants around us.
  
  MUSHROOMS 🍄
  This area is known for the mushrooms so you’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about them, given the season! There is a mushroom collection center in the village and a lot of people with good knowledge that you can connect to! And of course the amazing mushroom festival happening in November (MISCAROS festival) where they do super interesting forest walks to collect and teach about wild mushrooms!

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We have a lot of different things than we can use some help with.
  
  We would like that each volunteer will choose something that they enjoy doing! Our main goal is that every one feels happy and motivated in helping us to bring up the beauty on this land.
  
  Some projects where we need help:
  - maintaining the veggie garden and seedlings
  - finishing to build an a-frame wooden house
  - helping with the water connections
  - building a chicken house
  - building an outside oven
  - small projects around the land like stairs, freeing trees from brambles, planting more trees
  - clearing old garbage from a ruin
  - harvesting cherries
  - producing natural cosmetics and herbal medicines
  - preserving fruits and veggies

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Hebrew: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent
  Russian: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate
  French: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  ACCOMMODATION 🛌
  We have a caravan, a bell tent and camping tent, according to the availability in the moment.
  
  TOILET 🚽
  We have one outside dry toilet.
  
  SHOWER 🛀
  There is an outdoor shower with hot water.
  
  ‼️ DO NOT USE conventional chemical products (shampoo, soap, toothpaste) on the land.
  We only use NATURAL products if you don’t have we can supply! ‼️
  
  KITCHEN 🧑‍🍳
  We have a big tent that is the main kitchen/living room with wood burner so is nice and cozy, for common use.
  
  FOOD 🥗
  We will provide vegetarian food for 3 main meals - breakfast, lunch and light dinner.
  
  Lunch - me or my partner will cook lunch to eat all together in the common kitchen.
  
  Dinner - we normally do a lighter meal like soup, bread, salad, eggs etc and it’s a bit more everyone on their own cooking and time of eating.
  
  So most of the meals we will cook but sometimes we’ll just provide the food and you’ll need to cook for yourself!
  
  Occasionally we cook meat or fish but we will cook something vegetarian for those who prefer.
  
  MINIMUM STAY 🏡
  We requests 2 weeks of minimum stay, as it is challenging to receive different people for shorter periods of time
  
  EXCHANGE ⚒️
  As a start we expect 4-5hours 5 days a week but we are very flexible to find a different way to collaborate if this doesn’t suit you.
  Like working more hours less days, or even working less hours and not having the food exchange.

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  What else ...

  REACHING THE LAND
  We are located 15min from Fundao city, Please arrive during the day.
  
  COMING WITHOUT CAR
  There’s many trains and bus coming from Lisbon, Porto or other big cities to Fundao. We can pick you up there. Again please arrive during the day.
  
  It’s perfectly ok to come without your own transport. Although our land is in the middle of a quiet valley, it is only 10min walking to the small village Alcaide.
  There you have a BUS station, TRAIN station, post office, atm, local coffees and small supermarket.
  
  We do go sometimes for some events and sightseeing and we can take you with us.
  But it’s important that you don’t count on that and find alternatives to move around.
  The main road is 5’min walking and it’s quite easy to ask for a ride.
  
  EVENTS 💃
  Around us there’s also many other communities, so there’s lots of nice events going around and alternative markets, 15-30min away.
  
  SERRA DA GARDUNHA ⛰️
  We are located in the heart of Serra da gardunha, with many beautiful trekking paths inside the forest and on top of the mountain, all walking distance.
  
  SIGHTSEEING by car 🚘
  - several river beaches in 20min distance
  - cortes do meio, a valley known for its many natural pools, 30min
  - the top of Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain in Portugal with a ski station, also nice for rock climbing, 50min
  - Monsanto, a beautiful little village on top of a hill, 50min
  - idanha a velha, 50min (Boom festival)
  
  MAIN CITIES by car 🚘
  Fundao - 15min - there you can find everything needed in walking distance from the train/bus station (restaurants, big supermarkets, government offices, etc)
  Covilhã - 25min north - it’s from where you go up to the top of Serra da Estrela
  Castelo Branco - 40min south
  Guarda - 40min north

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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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  Can host digital nomads

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  You can bring your campervan and park it in our parking area, which is close to a secondary road that only one neighbor is passing. We will provide cable for electricity. The toilet, shower and common kitchen are a bit below.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Yes but please do let us know that you’re bringing your pets. We have 2 big dogs that need a calm introduction to other dogs.

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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