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Host is looking for help immediately
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Last replied
17 Apr 2024
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Description
Hello everyone.
This is Andreas, Peggy, and our 5 year old Demetra, we live in our six-acre farm in harmony, enjoying the beauty and the presents of natural life.We care to share what is going on here with other people. If you would like to visit our home please READ CAREFULLY THE WHOLE TEXT and ask yourself:
- if you understand what is going on here and
- if you find all of it attractive to you
- do you have any questions-worries-special needs that you want to clarify in your request letter
This way you will only spend 10 minutes of your time and not the two weeks of the minimum visit that we accept.
Our house is a Caravan with an extra wooden room built around it. Outside there are an open living room, a geodesic dome toolhouse, a chicken coop, apiary, nursery, kitchen gardens, water harvesting systems, composting systems, and the land is full of young trees and wild cereal field areas
The farm is equipped with a 200lt solar water heater for hot water all year long, outdoor composting toilet, solar panels for power autonomy.
The nearest village (2km) is called Arla. It has a mini market, a bakery, grill house, 3 café restaurants with free wifi, a pharmacy and a tool shop. The nearest city with a full market is Kato Achaia (8 km). Even though the farm is relatively close to the sea there is no sea view. However from here, one can see the beautiful mountains of Peloponnese, Erymanthos, Santameri, Mazaraki, and Movri.
Here we have achieved a great deal of autonomy. As the time passes we rely less and less on the monetary system and more on nature's powers. Solar energy, water, CO2 and nitrogen collected through our plants and our microorganisms in our soil. Nectar, and pollen collected from our bees, knowledge and experience collected through a great deal of trial and error. Wisdom in human relationships collected after a lot of hosting.
Here, we work on:
Natural Farming, Permaculture, Natural Building, Chicken Breeding, Apiary, Tree nursing, Eco-Community, Ecology, Autonomy and non-monetary management, Mycology, Upcycling, Music, folk art and crafts.
We need people that after reading the above will feel like spending some of their time here in order to interact with us and with the farm’s elements.
We as administrators of the farm ask for:
-RESPECT for all kinds of life that cohabit in the farm
-Respect for all infrastructures and means and tools that have been made or obtained with a lot of effort and are absolutely vital for our survival here.
-Human interaction away from the logic of transaction (monetary or non-monetary) for us every egg, every drop of honey and every piece of knowledge, experience, infrastructure and means that we will share with you has incalculable value. However, we value incalculably every second that you, our guest will devote through your heart to deal with preserving, upgrading, building and supporting our farm and its causes. We believe that useful knowledge is like compost. Useless unless you disperse it.
Establishing mutually beneficial relationships (that lead to universally beneficial relationships) is the ultimate cause of all our efforts. We strongly believe that mutually beneficial relationships once established will be proven by far better than the common mutual exploitation relationships that we are familiar with in our modern society.
Thus we are expecting you, great people, to build together with us the new narrative of mutually beneficial relationships and post it for the next to find and upgrade
P.S. We cohabit with five cats and a dog that are absolutely friendly with children and other pets. Children and pets with similar behavior are always more than welcome to the farm.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Travelers will be taught traditional and modern organic gardening techniques, permaculture and natural building, meet new people. Moreover Apiary, nursery,tree care and guidelines to observe the nature with its patterns and miracles. The options for (perma)cultural exchange are too many to mention here provided that the Travellers have an appetite for it. Please refer to our description for more.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
It is within our philosophy to not rely on volunteers in order to function. We have worked very hard to setup all of our procedures to function with the input of just us three. At the same time we can always utilize the efforts of a proud, hard working person. The reasons that we accept visitors are:
-for the cultural exchange
-in order to fulfill our desire to share and spread our knowledge, our failures and success stories, and our lifestyle in general.
-in order to embrace the work of happy humans against the industrialised production and noisy dirty power tools.
-to combine all the above with the saving of some extra time for us to devote it in research and development.
We might (as many other workawayers do) interview our guests before accepting them, but before that we kindly ask you to ask yourself. "Why do I want to visit this place?" And reply with honesty and through your heart.
If the answer is "because the location is convenient with my travel route and what they ask for is within my capabilities" then YOU ARE ABOUT TO WASTE A GREAT DEAL OF YOUR AND OUR TIME.
The appropriate answer is:"after reading the profile and the feedbacks my heart feels for this place and I would really want to visit even if it was inconvenient with my travel route". I feel that there I will find answers to my questions about an alternative lifestyle, both technical and philosophical. And I am willing to express my gratitude for the above with hard work, through which I will obtain hands on experience" If that is your answer then prepare for a great adventure similar to the one you can read about in our feedbacks.
Also we realized that we can't offer a schedule of 5 hours of work per day as we are NOT A COMMERCIAL FARM and we don't have a constant daily workflow.
As a general approach we ask for about 25hours of help for 5 days per week with Tuesdays and Thursdays off. The timeline depends on the day, the season, the weather and can also adjust to the visitor needs up to a certain extent. Apart from that we ask for participation in the wash up and cleanup after meals.
So we are really looking forward to finding a spot for YOU in our lifestyle. Be it watering the garden, feeding the chicken, building, tidying up, currying stuff around, planting, transplanting, or making a long conversation on how to change the world, we want to work together, interact, teach and learn with you. The tasks are just the excuse for getting closer to each other under a common cause.
Languages
Languages spoken
Greek: Fluent
English: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
We have developed a two hour course to teach the Greek alphabet. Greek language is phonetic. Which means that all the information one needs to pronounce a greek text is in the text itself. You only need to learn the sound that every letter produces. We are very proud to share this knowledge with every visitor and have succeded to do so with a few so far.
Accommodation
For the moment hosting can be provided during the dry season (summer, half spring and half autumn) in tents (we provide tents, mattress pillows, sheets, sleeping bags,hot water bottles,but you are also welcome to bring your own equipment).Mobile homes RVs and Caravans are more than welcome too. The guests can use the infrastructures and means of the farm (toilet, shower, outdoor living room,tent area) taking up the responsibility of their personal safety and proper use of them. As for food we follow the old Greek moto "where four people can eat, six can eat as well" which means that we will provide portions of our own meals (three a day). We have lunch all together in our dining room but breakfast and dinner we provide and the visitors have it whenever they like.We are usually vegetarians but not strictly. Eggs and vegetables are usually enough and we shop responsibly on our way to autonomy step by step. We always do the cooking for you, but as an exception you can cook something for us if you wish,in the spirit of cultural exchange, to show us a dish from your country. Visitors that come with a caravan or mobile home that has its own kitchen are welcome to cook as much as they wish.
What else ...
The nearest (2km) village to the farm is called Arla. It has a mini market, bakery, grill house, 3 café restaurants with free wifi, a pharmacy and a tool shop. From this village. The nearest city with a full market is Kato Achaia which is 8km away by road. The beach of Kato Achaia is organized and full of bars and restaurants.
The International Airport of Araxos is located 30km away from the farm (approx. 40 minutes by car)
The West Achaia Region where the farm is located is suitable for wine tourism as one can find many wineries that welcome visitors. The region is inhabited continuously for over eight millennia (from 6000 B.C.) a statement that is based upon archaeological findings that one can find in the areas’ museums and monuments such as walls, aqueducts, and cemeteries. The beaches of west Achaia are well known for their peaceful and clean waters.
Even though the farm is relatively close to the sea (8 km) there is no sea view. However from here, one can see the beautiful mountains of Peloponnese, Erymanthos, Santameri, Mazaraki, and Movri.
IMPORTANT NOTE: when visitors arrive here we give them a mini tour where we show the composting toilet, the shower and other details about accommodation, safety, and farm particularities in general. For this MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARRIVE HERE TWO HOURS AT LEAST BEFORE SUNSET. In order to achieve this you should talk with us prior to your travel arrangements about the details of your arrival day, and arrange for a pick up where needed.
WE DONT MIND HOSTING SMOKERS as long as they smoke outdoors, are extremely careful with fire safety issues, and care for the dispose of their cigarette buds.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
From December to the end of March we accept only Campervans and other Mobile Homes. These should serve the visitors for accomodation, indoor cooking, heating, and living room. We offer parking spot in the farm, composting toilet, occasional-limited 220volt electricity, hot shower, washing machine, outdoor cooking gas stove, drinkable water, ice for your icebox. Additionally we will be happy to do some shopping (at your cost) for you if you want, while we do our weekly shopping so that you don't have to travel and search for things. We visit the street vegetable market every week and we find deals of local veggies as cheap as 1euro per kilo. For additional supplies you can find a super market in the nearest village of Arla. Finally we offer education around anything we know. We DON'T offer meals-ingredients We ask for up to 15hours assistance per person per week and the rest as described above (respect for all forms of life that cohabit in the farm...etc). The farm's gate is 2.9 meters wide ,so any vehicle wider than that can't go through. Please note that we don't have enough space in our living room to hang out together during the dark winter afternoons. So if you don't have heating in your mobile home, and you are not willing to spend the afternoon in your car, you will probably not enjoy your stay here.
Can possibly accept pets
We will not accept animals that feed off a kitchen garden. For example we don't accept bunnies. Please don't bring a dog here that: -can be aggressive towards children, cats or other dogs. -Has a habbit to dig, as it can do a lot of damage to the farm and also it might escape under the fence and cause problems to neighbors. -Is not co-operating with you, and you can't train it within a reasonable time to not step into garden beds.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
25 hours a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays off
Feedback (21)
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It was a great cultural exchange, as well as an amazing intenive learning experience about natural farming on many levels and topics.
Peggy and Adnreas have an… read more
It is so far the Workaway where I learnt the most. Andreas and Peggy are always open to share their knowledge and I'm so grateful to them. From natural farming to beekeeping I really learnt a lot. The work is always interesting and what I like most is that… read more
We came to… read more
Considering you talk about exchange in two ways, maybe you have to ask yourself what you didn't achieve or understand. Sometimes humans relations are more complicated than a "feedback" in a digital network. This reflects your less of courage and your arrogance.
Never you talked about what you written in this message during… read more
As there is a lot to do at their place, we think it’s fun for every workawayer! You can… read more
We had some wonderfull days with Juliette from start to finish. We enjoyed so much doing things together. Be it working,… read more
During my visit, i helped with everyday… read more
Inga combines the integrity with the humbleness of a noble person. Her backpack with a few things… read more
your place means a lot to me, you mean a lot to me! I stayed one month and even tho it's not such a long time i feel like i'm part of your family (thank you so much for giving me this feeling) and also i learnt so much from you: greek culture and language (i just loved your food, thank you for the recipes, thank… read more
It was a wonderful experience and all the people I met there were very nice.
I loved all the discussions we had with Peggy, who is a sweet and very interesting person. She is also a very good cooker (as Andreas).
Andreas is a nature lover. He likes sharing what he knows, and I loved learning… read more
She helped us so much and we learned a lot from her. Meeting people like her give us the hope that a better world already exists.
She is polite, communicative, always willing to help, skilled, strong, creative, adaptable. She has the ability to take initiatives and at the same time always make sure that she… read more
