Profile information
Host rating
70 %
Last replied
26 Mar 2024
Reply rate
66.7 %
Usually responds within 8 days
Feedback
27
Email verified
Badges (2)
Details
Description
The farm is located in the mountains of the beautiful Adonis (Naher Ibrahim) Valley. The house belongs to Raed's family and his wife Joanna is a French architect.
At the moment Joanna, the children (Nour, 6 and Naim, 4) and most of the time also Raed are living and working in France.
At the moment several people are taking care of the farm. Among whom two couples from Syria. Hiske is the person you'll be hosted by and in contact with. She's an anthropologist and permaculture enthusiast with a love for Lebanon and music.
The house is surrounded by an orchard (mainly apple trees), year round we grow vegetables between the trees. All day long you'll have spectacular views over the valley.
All together we've been aiming to create a place to promote an eco-friendly way of living. Examples of how we're consciously choosing our ways of living: we build using natural and reycled materials, we plant local heirloom seeds, we actively aim to increase biodiversity in the land, we're reducing water consumption by mulching and usage of compost toilet etc.
Since Raed about a decade ago took over the farm from his parents, the orchard was maintained organically, he was one of the first in the valley to do so. Little by little he diversified the orchard adding vegetables, berries and animals (chicken, geese and sheep) to the trees. The farm nowadays is a place with a wide variety of birds, insects, animals and plants.
Part of our work is to process the products of the garden. We make apple juice (and several other apple products), rose water, arak, liquors, kombucha, jams, tomato sauce etc.
We sell the products every weekend in Beyrouth's farmer market.
Joanna has been making some wood furniture and natural building experiments.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
The farm and the life style that it provides is quite unique in the country and even in the world. We're all interested and experienced in social innovation, permaculture, arts, music, and we like to exchange knowledge, recipes, cultural wisdom, etc.
You will learn about the Lebanese culture and the life style of the mountains; Raed's family is originally from the village. We work all year long with Mhammad and his family who are Syrian and live at the farm. They have a lot of knowledge and experience in farming.
Apart from that you will likely learn a lot about organic gardening, cooking and about eco-friendly building.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Spring is for preparing and planting the garden. August, September and a part of October will be a vivid harvesting and processing time at the farm. We're planning to have a team of friends, locals and some travelers to get things done, while enjoying good food, music jams, a fire, yoga. We believe that's how farm life could be at it's greatest. We imagine the people who stay with us to work with us around 5 hours per day, 5 days a week. (Saturday and Sunday off).
Besides the work in the garden (harvesting, planting, weeding, preparing the plots...), and processing (making jam, tomato sauce, drying fruits, making juice...) there are spaces to develop. People interested in art, design, maintenance, carpentry and construction are very welcome to share their ideas and creativity with us.
During free time and your days off you can go to Beyrouth, Tripoli, have a hike in the area, visit other projects and discover the rest of the country.
We have been hosting for a while now and it's really an opportunity for us to travel (through you!) exchange and spend nice moments together.
Languages
Languages spoken
Arabic: Fluent
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
French: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
Many of our friends and colleagues are fluent in Arabic. We're happy to practice language with ones wanting to learn. English and French is being spoken as well.
Accommodation
We've been working on a communal space, including a studio where you can relax. There's a solar shower, a compost toilets and another shared bathroom. There are some places to sleep indoors, and some tents available; up to people's preference we can decide how to accommodate you.
We'll have lunch all together every day, prepared with organic products of the farm. Meals will mostly be vegetarian. You can eat and use fruits and vegetables from the garden, and also vinegar, juice, tomato sauce etc. There's a pizza oven and tannour (traditional oven for making Lebanese bread) to use once a week. There's a village shop at walking distance for everything else you need.
What else ...
There are many nice walks to do around. The Afqa spring is 1 hour walk from the house and from there you can hike on the LMT, a beautiful trail going from North to South Lebanon through the mountains. There is also Jabal Moussa's reserve not far from the house which is a beautiful protected area with many endemic plants where you can easily spend the day walking.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
Friendly animals are welcome, but there is already a male dog at the property.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (20)
There is a broad range of tasks for the volunteers, depending on the season. In my time at the farm we… read more
After having coffee with a view over the mountains we helped with what was needed. And every day was different, so there was no room for boredom. We picked grapes, figs, apples and strawberries, made apple compote and shelves for the farm products, weeded and prepared tomatoes, grapes and figs… read more
In addition to that she spend all her free time fixing stuff in the volunteer's apartment and left everything nicer than before she… read more
I really enjoyed my time with them, the place for the volunteers is private with a beautiful view and they provide… read more
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
There is a broad range of tasks for the volunteers, depending on the season. In my time at the farm we… read more
After having coffee with a view over the mountains we helped with what was needed. And every day was different, so there was no room for boredom. We picked grapes, figs, apples and strawberries, made apple compote and shelves for the farm products, weeded and prepared tomatoes, grapes and figs… read more
In addition to that she spend all her free time fixing stuff in the volunteer's apartment and left everything nicer than before she… read more
I really enjoyed my time with them, the place for the volunteers is private with a beautiful view and they provide… read more
As they're are trying… read more
We stayed here for two weeks and our experience had both positive and negative aspects. When we came, we were the 2nd or 3rd group to use the new setup for volunteers in a separated area under their house. This was a surprise given the comments of prior volunteers but understandable given their situation. This makes quite a different… read more
The team here(Raed, Joanna, and Miguel) are wonderful people that you will enjoy every minute of their company. We have had many interesting and fun conversations.
The work was interesting and I had the opportunity to learn a lot about land and farming - and cooking as well.… read more
She was very curious about the work and gave the best of herself in everything she did. She was always smiling and calm, and gave us good ideas of new products we could do. Thanks to here we discovered the delicious Spanish ratafia (herb… read more
He's curious, intelligent and funny and became friend with everybody that put a feet at the farm. And he plays guitar very well !
Mike, you known you will always be welcome here whenever you want to come back !
They are welcoming, the work is interesting and their place is a foretaste of paradise. It was pretty hard to go back to reality after my experience there.
Joanna and Raed, I wish you all the best for your nice and inspiring project.
I hope to see you one day in belgium (to… read more
our English is to bad to write all what we feel and will say about… read more
Although he only stayed ten days at our place, he was really involved and gave the best of himself.
Thanks a lot for your help Michael, I hope we'll see you again when you hick the LMT !
The work is seasonal, but usually there are various things to do, so it will be as demanding as you choose it to be - the working… read more
It was very nice to have you around, you gave a us very interesting and usefull information about permaculture and about the people acting here in Lebanon.
We wish you good luck in your projects in Germany and hope to see you back one day in Lebanon !
really I spent very nice time at your place. all the people there were very warm and welcoming, the nature around the place very beautiful and calm.
I wish you the best for your future development.
