Rejoignez-nous et donnez-nous un coup de main dans notre petite ferme bio familiale dans l'est de la Sicile, Italie

Infos

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  Description

  A food-forest with many interesting and unexpected varieties, a messy farmhouse, lots of original Sicilian Vaffanculos, Mount Etna ubiquitous looming over, mountains of food, train station 5 min on foot to run away whenever you can.
  
  --- Local produce, traditional food and seeds from your area are very welcome (if possible).
  --- Consider having babysitting time part of the experience as our daughter is growing and we now need some help with her too.
  --- To best organize farm activities let us know always your travel plans and terms of stay.
  
  -- Looking for someone with experience in web development and the like to help building our site.
  -- Are you familiar with beekeeping? Let us know!
  
  This exchange is intended as a private homestead and cannot carry out any type of business.
  
  Hi, my name is Guido and with my family we live in the area where Mount Etna is the closest to the sea.
  
  This area is renowned for its unique soil and microclimate; inevitable conditions if you have a three and a half thousand metres volcano to less than ten km from the coast.
  Our farm consists of a few plots, all of them a few km close-by one another.
  My parents (Turi and Caterina) and my grandma (Giuseppa-for everyone just “nonna”) live in one of these plots and the one we hang out at most: a chaotic country house in the middle of a 3-acre grove; an old lemon orchard that my father has transformed into a fruit garden. That is the place we commonly refer to and identify as “the farm”. Today, in that small piece of land, we hold something like 60 different edible varieties of plants and trees, half of which tropical and subtropical. The steady increase in biodiversity together with the non-entrepreneurial management method has in fact fostered the propensity to a number of virtuous aspects of agriculture leading us toward other closely related trends such as sustainable development and self-sufficiency. What had begun as a mere hobby, over time became a lifestyle. This also thanks to the many small farmer markets and purchase coops carried out in the area, where we delighted ourselves in raising our visitor’s awareness about the big issues of our time, drawing their attention with new and exotic products and in recent years also thanks to some international cultural exchange projects. We are and have been always firmly against chemicals and all kind of improper practices, even before becoming certified. We have two friendly dogs (Billy and Bianca) and some chickens. I see many of you want to come to learn or improve Italian, you couldn’t choose a better place! Lots of Italian and dialect gibberish in the house (don’t forget my grandma), not to mention daily traditional Sicilian gestures and body-language and our favorite sport: endless arguing :)
  
  I’ve also been a volunteer myself. I’ve spent several months in the UK and Ireland to loosen up my tongue a bit. My wife is from Hong Kong, we are okay with Latin-based languages and generally curious about all languages.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Bénévolat

  Projets artistiques

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Compagnie pour pers. âgée

  Enseignement

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Aide dans une ferme

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Aide informatique/internet
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Depending on seasons there will be always a variety of practical things to learn (grafting, pruning, wrapping, plowing, plucking, etc.), all imbued with a bit of scientific, philosophical and cultural background.

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  Projets impliquant des enfants

  Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.

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  Aide

  As per guidelines we believe 25 hours a week is a good match for room and board in exchange. Albeit generally in the morning, it is not rare to ask you to help us at a different time of the day (especially if raining or harvesting) or in different places. Our primary target of course will be everything involving the garden maintenance (weeding and cleaning, working the land, harvesting, maintaining and repairing, etc.). Some of our ever-going projects are the enlargement of our vegetable garden along with the improvement of the irrigation system and in our to-do list the start of a small plant nursery and greenhouse.
  
  Since she is going to walk very soon (update: she is now running up and down...heeeelp!!) we now need some playmate for our daughter Agnese. So consider this as part of our routine.
  
  
  A REALITY CHECK
  
  Help in the farm is not always easy. Our lifestyle does not allow us to be constantly present in the field during the day. The type of help we seek consists of simple tasks that can be entrusted on our behalf, giving us some respite and more time to carry on our daily routine. That is why helpers need to be reliable, self-motivated and independent. Of course, that is not always the case, there are things we necessarily need and enjoy to do together.
  
  About expectations: despite our attempts of a faithful description and the feedback in the profile there are always chances that this experience might turn out to be not what you have envisioned. It is a perfectly normal thing and nothing to worry about, especially if you come from a very different environment, culture or simply age group. With this in mind, before you contact us, ask yourself what are your reasons to apply and how many days you would be willing to spend at our place.
  ! Remember this: in case your plans change unexpectedly and say after a week you suddenly feel you have to catch a train the next second, giving us at least a couple days' notice would be very appreciated. Not to mention honoring your original terms of stay if that is just a few days anyways.
  
  Also, depending on seasons farm help requires a certain dead of flexibility: when we write 25 hours per week it does not necessarily mean 5 days a week and 2 days off. There will in fact be extraordinary circumstances (i.e. during olive/lemon harvest, in case of short stays, uncertain weather conditions or absolute deadlines) where we ask you to take more time off before reaching the required amount of hours per week or conversely extend the relative weekly hours limit to then recover the time off later- let's say, if you stay 2 weeks and we really need help for the first 10 days, you can help us for 50 hours the first 10 days and then get the remaining 5 days free (25/7=3.5*15=52). All depend on how long you plan to stay, that's why it is important to let us know that in advance. Feel free to ask for further clarification.
  
  Suggested clothing: long work trousers/jeans, shirts (long and short sleeves), old jacket/hoodie, boots (work/hiking shoes - the ground tend to be wet in the morning), hat, thick leather gloves, hear plugs.
  Solar cream needed on summer, mosquitoes repellent on spring/fall mainly.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Espagnol: Courant
  Italien: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
  
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  Hébergement

  You will be staying with Guido in our apartment in the nearby hamlet of Carruba. The apartment is 4.5 km away from the main plot (the farm). We move together by car.
  Depending on the number of people that come and go, you might be relocated in other rooms when necessary. Bathroom will be always shared. Wi-Fi, washing machine and the normal appliances and equipment needed for everyday living are available in case you are wondering. The apartment is on the last floor, surrounded by balconies and with a big terrace from which you may catch sight of the sea (just 15 minutes away) or tan yourself to a crisp under the sun.
  In case you want to try there is a local bus stops next door and the train station a matter of minutes away on foot.

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  Autres infos...

  Food:
  Based on Mediterranean diet with often some Asian fusion whereas fruit and vegetables coming primarily from our land and friends’ farms. Of all meals, lunch and dinner will be normally shared. We will do our best to make delicious meals and also would love to try some of your home recipes. Let us know of any animal/food allergies you have.
  
  IMPORTANT: we believe if you are in Italy you deserve to try food made by us, therefore we usually take care of the cooking and enjoy it. But in exchange for this you need to help with the washing (a word of advice: we strongly encourage all volunteers to learn well how to wash dishes, done with sponge, soap and water management. Being able to wash dishes well is THE most appreciated quality hosts acknowledge to guests).
  
  
  
  The main plot (the farm) is located in Giarre’s southern outskirts, less than a mile from the motorway’s (A18) exit and easily reachable by all buses covering the SS114. We are approximately 40 km from Catania International Airport, 35-50 minutes depending on connections between public transport – the train takes no more than 25 minutes to get to Catania Centrale railway station from Giarre. The apartment is 4 minutes on foot from the train station.
  Another word of advice: dealing with the mysterious realm of our public services might sometimes be an “extraordinary” experience. Therefore, plan your connections carefully!
  
  Being a densely built area, villages often come in succession, merging together (sometimes it’s hard to say where the one starts and the other ends), each with its own historic core - churches, bars, squares, etc.
  The "Riviera dei limoni", a portion of coastline stretching from Catania to Taormina (Acicastello, Acitrezza, Acireale, Giarre-Riposto, Fiumefreddo, Giardini Naxos, and minor coastal villages/seaside resorts such as Fondachello, Torre Archirafi (not too far away from Carruba), Pozzillo, Stazzo, Santa Tecla, etc., offer a variety of cultural, historical and touristic attractions. However, excluding the biggest and most popular places, the remaining part is not otherwise subjected to foreign residency, which in my opinion makes it even more interesting.
  
  My family might take a moment to decipher your words, my grandma transcends the need to, but they are getting better and better at it since we started.
  
  Having been a helper myself, I have an overall idea of what it’s like to be treated and I will do my best in trying to make your experience as enjoyable and varied as possible. Apologies in advance for our possible lack of organization :)
  
  See you soon!

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il aimait accueillir les digital nomads.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Cet hôte a de la place pour les vans.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  25 hours a week

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