Bring a remote off-grid mountain village in Northern Italy back to life near Orasso, Italy

Informationen

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  Beschreibung

  Hello workawayers!


  
  So nice to meet you this way :)
  
  First of all, a little about me; my name is Viana, I am 27 years old, and I am the director of this project. I am originally from Switzerland, although I grew up internationally, and have been all over. Now, since 2023, I am spearheading this project of mine in Italy. Oh yeah, and guess what - I have also been a workaway volunteer! This is another reason I am excited to host you all <3 because I know exactly how it feels to be on the other end of this experience, and its fun and exciting for me to be on this end now and be able to offer people something. Since I have stopped travelling I love using this platform to still meet all kinds of people from all over the world to still be able to have a rich cultural exchange while being at home.
  
  So what the HELL is my project, huh?


  
  I am currently living off grid on a beautiful property in the mountains of Northern Italy. This place is very close to my heart because it is an old family property, and for me, one of the most magical places in the world. The property is a very teeny tiny village, once upon a time a shepherds pasture, nestled between forest, rivers, and mountains. I want to turn this place into something full of life! The vision for the future is creating a Centre for Arts, Education and Natural Living; a village with permanent residents, as well as many longterm/short term visitors and guests. We will live as self sustainably as possible, and organise diverse workshops/ events/ courses etc. to foster community, learning, and exchange. This is the very basic premise of where things are going, but of course as life has taught me, I have no idea what the actual outcome will be.
  
  The minimum stay here for volunteers is 1 month. There is a lot to learn even just about every day life, and if you stay less than 1 month it will take way too much of my energy and time to teach you everything, only to have you leave so soon. And I think you need at least 1 month anyway to adjust, really settle in and get the full experience. I also want to make it clear that the first 10 days of this month will be a kind of "trial period." And that counts for both sides. That simply means, after you have settled in I would like to sit down with you and check in about how things have been going; if it is the case that you realise it may not be the right place for you, or it is not how you imagined, it will also be the time to tell me. And from my side as a host, if I have any concerns or queries with you or am dissatisfied with your effort at work or behaviour, then I will let you know as well, and may ask you to leave. On the other hand, if things go well and you really enjoy the lifestyle I will be very open for you to extend your stay! Open communication is really important for me, as a host, as well as a private person - but more on that later!


  
  For me it also goes without saying that any form of discrimination, violence, or erratic harmful behaviour towards the people, animals, and nature of my place will not be tolerated at all. Sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ageism etc. etc. etc. - big no go. This is an open and safe space for all and any kinds of people and if anyone is made to feel uncomfortable here by you I don't have any problem in asking you to leave.


  
  ALSO!!!! I know I wrote a lot but don't message me if you haven't fully read my profile and really want to be here - it shows. I need people who really want to be here for the right reasons.

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  Arten von Hilfe und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Kunstprojekte

  Hilfe bei Ökoprojekten

  Gartenarbeiten

  Betreuung von Tieren

  Mithilfe auf einem Bauernhof

  Zubereiten / Kochen von Mahlzeiten für die Familie

  Hausarbeiten

  Handwerkliche Arbeiten
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  Interessengebiete

  

  LGBTQ

  

  Nachhaltigkeit

  

  Vegetarier / Veganer

  

  Heimwerken & DIY

  

  Gartenarbeiten

  

  Kochen & Backen

  

  Tischlerarbeiten

  

  Natur

  

  Gebirge

  

  Wandern
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  Kultureller Austausch und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Travelling and getting to know different cultures means having the privilege to see and experience a different way of life through a different set of eyes; this has always been important but maybe right now, with all the craziness going on in the world, its more important than ever for us to get to know different people, different cultures, in a familiar and empathetic way. This kind of experience is invaluable. What I want to offer workawayers is the opportunity to live a different kind of life than what they may have experienced until now, and to make connections with new people from all over, with completely different backgrounds; the social network that this place is fostering around it is incredible. To make new experiences in a new world! My personal culture is a blend of flavours, the culture of the country I am living in is an entity of its own, and the culture of the lifestyle I have chosen is something wholly different on top of that.

 And I am excited and curious to learn about your own personal culture too and let that become a part of this place!
  
  This project is all about learning opportunities. You will learn so many things. You will learn how life actually exists in circles that constantly feed into each other; when you live in the city these circles often get distorted or disjointed, or they are just harder to see. If you are interested in anything like off grid living, sustainable living and community projects it is definitely the place for you. Don't be intimidated about the fact that you may not have any prior experience with the kind of lifestyle that requires planting your own food, chopping wood, making fires etc. I very much believe that anyone can learn anything if you have the right attitude and work ethic, along with a good dose of common sense. You just have to know that you are capable and intelligent and most importantly be willing to fail a couple times (or many times) while you learn until you get there. Sometimes it's so hard. But it's an amazing feeling to figure something out all on your own and see the results at the end of the day...week...month...year.
  
  It is preferred that you already have some preexisting skills, knowledge or experience in gardening, animal care, or a general rural lifestyle; anything hands on or outdoorsy! Please tell me all about your skills!! But I want to make it clear that as long as you have the right attitude; you are motivated, responsible, have a good work ethic and are willing to learn, I greatly appreciate anyone with two hands reaching out to me and wanting to join this project. Let us know what you know, and what you are interested in learning! Of course, I’ll be happy to tell you much more about everything once we are in contact! :)

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  Arbeit

  So WHAT do I need help with?


  
  The project that we are running here is very large; we have a full time team here made up of several different team leaders, most of whom are residents here, each of whom manage a different area within the project. We run a small summer B&B here. This business, as well as the project itself, is run separately from the workaway platform, with paid workers, and so has nothing to do with our volunteers or the tasks you will be asked to do. I mention it however, just because its a really big part of the daily life and reality here - volunteers, residents, and guests all share meals together, and live relatively close to one another. In the summer is our high season, with August being our peak, so during this time of year it gets really busy! This is all important for you to know because you should be a genuinely sociable person and enjoy sitting down for meals with strangers and constantly getting to know new people, because thats what its like to be here in the summer. Within such a busy environment its also important that you are able to orientate yourself with the way things work here, and pick up on the way of things very fast.
  
  As a general volunteer you will support the every day tasks associated with community living and the private home and lend us a helping hand in taking care of this place. All volunteers share responsibilities of everyday tasks of the property, like making firewood, cutting the grass and bushes, or harvesting fruits. As well as general household chores i.e. cleaning of bathrooms and common spaces (things get dirty fast here, whoops!). When we are out of season and don't receive any B&B guests (spring/autumn) the daily cooking responsibilities for the volunteers is shared amongst the group; you should therefore know how to cook well, and for a large group of people (circa 10-15 people)! During the summer we have a kitchen team providing food for all of us. Our kitchen here is plant based, that means vegan/vegetarian, always. We also need daily help with taking care of our chickens, and the biggest community project we have going on is our vegetable garden! You will have to be quite flexible and adaptable lending a helping hand wherever necessary. I, and the other team leaders, will be helping along side you for these daily tasks. It is important for me to understand that everyone here; volunteers, family, friends, guests, or residents, all get treated with the same amount of respect. We share a lot in the time that you are here; we live together, help together, and have fun together! And we will be very happy to welcome you into this special place if we can rely on you to be a responsible part of the community during your stay.
  
  Mainly, we are looking for 3-4 people to form the garden team and support our Head Gardener with simple light gardening, to oversee the process of our vegetable garden - from seed to harvest! We try to grow as much of our own food as possible, but since our garden is still quite small, thats still a far away goal. Together, you will take care of the garden, our little greenhouse, and some wild foraging, and share the responsibilities associated with this i.e. daily watering. The Head Gardener will have a long term plan in mind; their responsibility is to guide you and the garden tasks, not to think for you. Your input and own past experiences and knowledge are always sought after! The emphasis here is really on team work and collaboration - you will therefore have to be proactive, have excellent communication skills, be ready to support your team members and the project wherever necessary, and possess a team player attitude. It is really important for us that we go through this project and our help together as a team, we therefore wish above all for volunteers to be engaged with their team and their tasks and any challenges you might be facing with the tasks as a group.
  
  Previous experience/knowledge of growing your own food, and wild plants is not required but definitely a huge bonus. What we really want to see from you more than anything is a readiness and willingness to learn to be a positive and active participant in the life and tasks around you. Learning is the core of what we do; the reasons that we do what we do here is not only to offer a learning and exchange opportunity for you, but also for us, to learn from all kinds of people from around the world who may have very different experiences and insights than us. We (the residents here) are not professionals and are also just learning and experimenting! The possibility of this exchange is incredibly valuable, and the driving force behind this project.
  
  Your general responsibilities as a team include; creating new small vegetable patches, composting, weeding, planting, tending to plants as they grow, and foraging for wild plants - drying them for storage or using them directly in the kitchen. You will also need to possess a great willingness to learn, to get to know this specific area, its soil, and its climate. You need to have the ability to be creative with what you are doing as well as innovative. Especially in the face of unforeseen challenges such as unidentified pests or climate change - the reality of which has a great effect on gardening. You should also be able to work well independently as well as in a group, and be flexible enough for daily changes.
  
  WHAT I NEED FROM YOU
  
  After one full year of hosting I have learned, that more than anything, volunteers need to be independent, creative, flexible and proactive. I need you to be able to work well independently and to be able to think of solutions for yourself, because unfortunately I don't have all the answers! I need you to have the attitude that you are coming here to work together with me, not wait until I give you instructions for every single detail. This also ties in with proactivity. You need to be able to take initiative with all the tasks you are doing, and see what has to be done without me spelling everything out for you. Independence and taking initiative are not the same as not knowing how to do something. I am happy to spend time with you teaching you something and guiding you as you learn, or for us to figure out something together. I just need to eventually feel like I can rely on you and that I am not the only one thinking, or expending my own energy to get some help out of you. Due to our remote location we do face a lot of daily limitations with our project. You will need to be very flexible and creative in the face of these limitations; you need to be solution oriented, because you will face a lot of problems every day, and that may be very frustrating. Those problems may range from wanting to cook a meal, but not having all the exact ingredients, or wanting to fix something, but not having all the right tools; and you will have to find a solution!
  
  Also, living off-grid in the mountains is definitely no joke and the rural mountain lifestyle can be challenging! Adaptability and great levels of physical fitness are a must for living alongside us here.

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  Gesprochene Sprachen

  Deutsch: Fließend
  Englisch: Fließend
  Niederländisch: Gute Kenntnisse
  Italienisch: Grundkenntnisse

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  Unterkunft

  There is one house where only volunteers live. There are several rooms so you can have your own private room, although with a very large group it is likely you will be asked to share rooms. When we will be a very large group, like over the summer, you may also have to sleep in tents as we don't have enough space indoors for everybody. We will try to do this on rotation. Room allocation will simply be on a first come first serve basis. Of course if you simply prefer to bring your own private tent that is very welcome. All bathrooms are shared.
  
  Our group work hours for all tasks and volunteer projects are from 8:00am-13:00pm. In exchange for five real working days with a good work ethic all three meals a day will of course be totally free and included in your stay, also on the weekends.

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  Was noch ...

  I live in a remote mountain village, and I need you to understand that this place is isolated. I need you to understand that for the daily life as well as for your days off. I live a 45 minute hike away from the nearest point of civilisation (a little village - another 20 minute drive away from the closest small town). The biggest town, with large shops etc. is a 40 minute drive away from that village. You cannot reach my place by car. There is only a hiking path. This means that it is a little complicated to go very far away on your days off. Not only because we are isolated but also because public transport in the valley is very limited. When I go to town I always hitchhike from the village, which works quite well. If you have a car it will be no problem at all, because in terms of distance things are not so far, the accessibility is the issue. We can definitely discuss all the details once we make a connection because there is of course local taxi drivers, elusive buses, and a train station relatively close by.
  
  

I am not trying to scare you away! I just want you to be aware that it is an isolated place and that means that life here can look very different. And not just in terms of transport for coming and going but also for the daily life. You have to not just be okay with but enjoy time by yourself, because it is a very quiet place. And of course you have to love nature and being outside, since we live in the middle of it <3 

Of course there is so much to explore and discover here in your free time! This area is so beautiful; full of forests, mountains, rivers and lakes. From my property you can hike all over the forest and valley. If you like hiking you are going to fall in love with this place. Our forest is also full of rivers where you can swim. You can also hike to neighbouring villages and enjoy a cappuccino and gelato there. The Lago Maggiore is a really beautiful lake also near by which I would recommend for day/weekend trips. There is also other national parks nearby, but I think there is already plenty to see close to home.


  
  Another thing I want to point out is that to live here means to not always live in convenience, and to sometimes even be very uncomfortable. Although we have all the amenities of modern housing we are also living off grid. That means you cannot take a hot shower or do laundry every day, you cannot needlessly leave lights on or use all five different vegetables for a single meal. Some buildings don’t have any heating, some don’t have any hot water. Living here forces you to be mindful about every single thing you are using because nothing is infinite. Of course, no resource anywhere is ever infinite, ha! But it's easy to willingly ignore that when you live in the city and just consume as you please. Here you cannot avoid seeing the reality. You need to be conscious and mindful about what you consume all the time, which is harder than it sounds, and means that life can feel inconvenient at times. And you also need to be respectful of the fact that my budget as a host is not infinite, or even very large. If you cannot respect the realities of life here, we will probably have to have a few hard conversations…
  
  
And you need to be conscious of the fact that we are living in community! Everything you do or don't do affects all of us. This doesn't mean we have to be a happy clappy family all the time or something like that. Time alone as well as time shared is important, but what I mean is that an attitude of individualism and lack of mindfulness or consideration towards other people just really doesn't work here, and won’t be tolerated.
  
  I would also like to add a word on what you might refer to as a code of conduct. After hosting for over a year now I have realised that I need to be careful with my boundaries as a host, and make sure that people respect the place they are coming into, and the person who is making that space and this experience available to them. I just need you to realise and understand that as your host I am not only inviting you to volunteer for me, or to join in on this project, or have “an experience.” I am actually inviting you into my very real and very personal life. And if not treated correctly it can be very depleting for me. This is why I ask of you to please reshape how you might be thinking about this; please, don’t think of this exchange as transactional. You give me five hours; working just to tick off the hours, taking a 45 minute coffee break to get closer to the end of the day, and then you disappear. You will become a part of my life, even if for a very short period, that’s a big thing. So please treat this with respect, not just as a great and interesting opportunity for your cheap travel.
  
  Since we live so isolated from everything else, the human contact that we do share with one another here is very poignant. This means that to have harmony amongst the group and between individuals is extremely important, and whether you realise it or not, or take responsibility for it or not, every single member of the group is responsible for nurturing our collective well being. The lines between personal and work relationships are really blurred here, and I want to point that out to you to be aware of this. Negativity, social violence, passive aggressiveness, dishonesty, immaturity or disrespectful behaviour of any kind are devastating, and have great ripple effects across our social makeup. It leads to feelings of discomfort and claustrophobia, and of course I want to avoid this. I need you to be consciously aware of the things you are putting into this social space and dynamics, if you become a part of this space; open, honest, direct, and respectful communication is key for all of this. If you have an opinion about something, if you have a problem with something, or if you have a problem with someone, you have to talk about it. It might sound uncomfortable for you, but the alternative is brewing negativity and dissent between individuals and the group, and makes for a really terrible experience. 
I try as much as possible as a host to always create a space for this, but I need you to take responsibility for your part in this as well.
  
  I have made great experiences being a host and am excited to once again use the magic of the internet to meet all kinds of people, and share time together, build connections, and exchange. I hope you can understand my words above and why I write them. I am also excited for the growth of the project, and every year and every group that go by, is a part of that growth, and always wonderful to witness. I can see new dimensions starting to take shape and I am really excited for whats to come. I hope you are too, and that you feel inspired about what I am trying to build here. This place is built on the values of community, honesty, and respect; respect for each other, your work, your environment. We ask you to take your time here both seriously and joyously, and are ready to share a wonderful summer if we are on the same page. 

I love my life, and I love that I am able to share it with so many great people; really looking forward to everyone I still get to meet on my path.
  
  Hope to hear from you soon <3

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  Etwas mehr Information

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    Internet Zugang

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    Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang

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    Wir besitzen Tiere

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    Wir sind Raucher

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    Familien möglich

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  Kann Digital Nomads unterbringen

  Digital nomads are very much welcome as long as it doesn't seriously get in the way of the life you are participating in here. Also, I have wifi, and usually it works just fine, but it can become unstable or disrupted when we experience bad weather! So your own data or portable wifi is recommended .

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  Hier sind Haustiere in der Regel willkommen

  As long as they are friendly with my two cats because they are my babies <3

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  Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

  mehr als zwei

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  Meine Tiere/Haustiere

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