Help us maintain our rural property in Fruška Gora national park, Serbia

Details

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  Description

  We live on the outskirts of Fruška Gora national park, on the slopes of Fruška Gora mountain, some 25 km from Novi Sad. We've been learning about gardening, growing crops, renovating, building, maintaining the property etc. We live here all year round. In the warm period (spring to autumn), Lazar's mom is often here too.
  
  Lazar > Born in Serbia, lived in several countries (most notably 6 years in China), traveled a lot (a passionate hitchhiker in my younger days), with almost two decades on Couchsurfing (since the very beginning). Trying to spend less time with my laptop and more time outside.
  Arrow > A city girl who prefers country life. Born in China, lived most of my life in Shanghai doing office jobs. In recent years I've been developing a passion for gardening, cooking (especially baking) and sustainable living. I spend about 2/3 of my year on the farm, and around 1/3 back in Shanghai.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  If there is a skill you'd like to learn - whether it be mowing with a scythe, or operating a chainsaw, or using any of the hand or power tools - please let us know, and we'll do our best to give you a crash course. Same goes for growing fruits and vegetables, mushroom hunting, looking after trees... basically anything you see around here, just feel free to ask, and we'll be happy to show you. We hope you leave here with new skills!

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  Help

  What we need help with generally depends on the season: gardening (weeding, watering, pruning, digging etc), fruit picking, making jams and other fruit preserves, chopping firewood, maintaining the yard (sweeping, mowing the grass and so on), and various repair & construction projects on the property. We are generally not available in winter, as that is our travel season.
  Keep in mind, however, that this is a farm, and all the work involved is manual labor. You don't need to be especially strong or fit, but you should at least be acquainted with the concept of working outside and getting your hands dirty. We will do our best to find tasks that suit your abilities; if a job doesn't suit you, feel free to say so and we'll think of something else.
  There are no animals on the farm (except for Padma the cat).

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Serbian: Fluent
  Chinese (Mandarin): Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate
  Russian: Intermediate

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  Accommodation

  You get a separate room all to yourself.
  The room has a single-person bed. If there are two of you, an extra mattress will be provided.
  We provide all the food. We generally avoid eating meat. If you are vegan, we cook vegan. A lot of what we eat comes from our garden, orchard and the forest.
  We prefer non-smokers, and guests without very young children.

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  What else ...

  Please keep in mind that, while this experience is a vacation to you, to us it is not; while most of your day is free (other than the hours you will be helping), most of our time is occupied. In other words, you need to be self-reliant when it comes to your own entertainment. We are generally low-key; although we like to chat over lunch/dinner, go for a hike with you or take you somewhere interesting on a day trip if we have time, we also value our privacy and alone time.
  
  The forest starts right at the end of the village, so hiking is an obvious option (the national park is about 80 km long and mostly covered by forest). The mountain is criss-crossed by marked hiking trails.
  
  We have a lot of books in English and you are welcome to help yourself to our library. The village is small (population 200, mostly elderly) and there is no public transport to anywhere, but we do have a car and are happy to take you wherever you need to be.
  
  We initially accept people for about a week, and if that works out, and if there is more work for you, we can talk about extending your stay, depending on the season and/or our ongoing projects. Let's not commit to getting trapped in an awkward co-habitation :)
  
  Bailing out at the last minute messes things up for us and also for other volunteers, so please try not to do it.
  
  Please ensure your profile photo clearly shows your face. We sometimes receive requests from people whose profile pictures barely show their faces—seriously, what’s up with that?

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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

  Both of us work from home, so we have fast Internet.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Cats are ok; dogs sadly aren't as we have a cat who doesn't appreciate dogs.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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