Organic gardening and sustainable living, be part of growing our sustainable lifestyle near Tomar, Portugal.

Details

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  Description

  Organic gardening, smallholding, animals, sustainable living, family. Be part of growing our sustainable, organic lifestyle in the countryside near Tomar, Portugal.
  
  Hello friends,
  
  We are Joao and Sara and our four children – we a Portuguese family living in the countryside near Tomar. We share our life with two dogs, six cats, and a multitude of farm animals including guinea pigs, sheep, ducks, chickens and turkeys.
  
  We moved to our little one-hectare quinta eight years ago and have been building our sustainable lifestyle here ever since. Between learning how to harvest our olives to make delicious olive oil, rearing a whole host of animals and building a year-round organic garden, we´ve learned so much. The countryside here is beautiful: rolling hills, old oak trees, and Portuguese and international families building their lives in the little quintas dotted across the landscape.
  
  With our kids a little bit older now (Lucas 19, Rachael 17, Elias 7 and Ester 5), we´re now ready to welcome volunteers to help us build and manage our little quinta here in the hills east of the historic city of Tomar.
  
  When you join us, you´ll be involved in all aspects of our day-to-day life. That might involve helping Sara pick and cook the organic veggies for lunch, working with Joao on tiling the outdoor living room, keeping the kids entertained, or even bringing the chicks and ducklings into the house for their bedtime.
  
  The work will be whatever is needed at the time, whether that´s helping to manage the organic garden, starting a new building project, or finishing off one already started. We are open to new ideas and love to learn from our guests, whether that´s a new building technique, a recipe or even a new yoga pose!
  
  We welcome volunteers to stay in their own campervan in our patio, where we have electricity and flat space, or alternatively in their own tent in one of the green spaces around the quinta. We have also a room with private bathroom we have also a shred living space where volunteers are welcome to stay. On campervan and tents you will have use of a shared bathroom (hot showers!) as well as a living space with kitchen, sofas, and even an indoor swing.
  
  We ask that you help us for 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week, although we don´t work to a schedule, so the work and itinerary will change daily. Part of staying here is that you get stuck in to the best of your ability. You are then free to enjoy your remaining hours/days however you choose. On Saturdays we rest – spend time with the family, head down to the river, and EAT! If you have transport, its easy to take trips to the river for a spot of canoeing, borrow bikes to ride around the region, hang out with the dogs, or just relax around the quinta.
  
  With this strange Covid time, We will provide all ingredients for meals throughout your stay, but we like volunteers to get stuck in with cooking and clearing up for our comunal meals. We can accommodate most diets (tell us what you need in advance). We eat a mainly vegetarian diet involving lots of home-grown vegetables, bread from our bread oven, and other natural ingredients that we buy locally.
  
  We rear totally free range chickens and ducks for eggs and, along with our sheep, we occasionally use them or sell them for meat. This keeps us free from the commercial meat industry, but we know that some people are not comfortable staying places with this set up. It´s very unlikely that you´ll bear witness to any of this during your stay, but we want to let you know in advance, that this is a part of our life here.
  
  Also: we try to only eat Portuguese seasonal and locally grown produce, so if you cannot survive without bananas or other foods from the other side of the world, you might want to stock up on these too. Likewise with luxury items like sweets/chocolate/crisps etc.
  
  We prefer volunteers to stay with us for between 1-2 weeks. This gives you a chance to get stuck in and also enables us to offer this opportunity to more volunteers.
  
  We love integrating different ideas and skills into our home. If you have always fancied trying to build something or plant a garden or mess around with an idea - but never had a space in which you can, we invite you to come and try!
  
  We at least hope, that everyone who comes here learns a new skill, tries something different and leaves knowing a little bit more about the kind of lifestyle we have here.
  
  We look forward to welcoming those of you who love being in nature and living off the land, enjoy the chaos of busy family life and have a strong work ethic. If you have any questions for us, please don't hesitate to ask!
  
  We look forward to hearing from you.
  
  Joao and Sara

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You´ll learn about a sustainable, organic lifestyle on a Portuguese quinta - including how to grow sustainably, eat off the land, and cook delicious food with natural ingredients.
  
  We can teach you how to make bread in our clay oven, how to rear chicks and ducklings, and we can tell you about the olive harvest each winter. This is also a great opportunity to practice your Portuguese with our family.

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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 ask that you help us for 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week, although we don´t work to a schedule, so the work and itinerary will change daily. The work will be whatever is needed at the time, whether that´s helping to manage the organic garden, starting a new building project, or finishing off one already started.
  
  Part of staying here is that you get stuck in to the best of your ability. You are then free to enjoy your remaining hours/days however you choose. On Saturdays we rest – spend time with the family, head down to the river, and EAT! If you have transport, its easy to take trips to the river, borrow bikes to ride around the region, hang out with the dogs, or just relax around the quinta.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  We welcome volunteers to stay in their own campervan in our patio, where we have electricity and flat space, or alternatively in their own tent in one of the green spaces around the quinta. We even have a sofabed where volunteers are welcome to stay. You will have use of a shared bathroom (hot showers!) as well as a living space with kitchen, sofas, and even an indoor swing.
  Recently we build a extra room with private bathroom

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  What else ...

  In the free time we can go cycling through the bush, running, bathing in the dam, canoeing, surfing the internet, etc.

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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

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.

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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

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