Portugal
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We are a German (Franz 35) and Polish (Kasia 27) couple, that met while traveling and decided to fulfill their dream of living on the sustainable farm. We are both much interested in organic farming, permaculture and sustainable living. Franz has a Bachelor degree in Biology and we both have successfully taken part in a Permaculture Design Course program. Kasia likes to experiment with medicinal plants, creates herbal teas, soaps and other products from them. She enjoys yoga and long walk with the dog. Franz is a great cook. He loves growing mushrooms and experiment with tropical plants - successfully ;)
In Oct. 2017 we got the land in the heart of Portugal, where we live now with our dog, two cats and few chickens. We are establishing a farm with a permaculture principles. We are setting up a food forest, doing some natural buildings and planning to restore our ruin in the future. At some point we want to be a permaculture education site, hosting PDCs. In the passed year we started to run one-day workshops on various subjects, like:
fermentation
composting
soap making
medicinal herbs
geodome building
We have a big vegetable garden, that feeds us and our volunteers. At the moment we live in the yurt and the following year will be a big time of building our future house.
We constructed a wooden cabin for more accommodation, made a cob building for toilet and shower, set up few geodomes and one of them we turned into an outdoor kitchen.
There are two greenhouses supporting food production during winter times and a root celler, storing our veggies away from the summer heat.
We are trying to create a place which thrives in harmony with elements and nature.
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Farmstay help
Help with Eco Projects
Language practice
Art Projects
Help with Computers/ Internet
It is a good opportunity to see how the little farm evolves in it's early stage. We are here second year and it taught us a lot of many practical skills, that we would never imagine before getting the land. We can show you our current challenges and share excitement about starting a permaculture farm.
We can teach many permaculture tecnics and solutions, specially from practical side.
It is a perfect place for those, who wish to reconnect with nature and with themselves. Who wish for peace and are hungry of knowledge.
We can share our traveling stories and experiences since both of us made long journeys before getting established here ; )
What work may we expect from you:
GARDENING (weeding, planting, mulching, harvesting, watering)
PLANTS PROPAGATION (sowing the seeds, repotting plants)
COMPOSTING (collecting material for the compost, turning compost, applying on the garden beds)
LAND CLEARING (chopping down shrubs we don't need, taking away brumble bushes)
FOREST WORK (we will not ask you for using heavy machines unless you had experience with them and you feel comfortable with that, but you might help with loading wood on the trailer, pruning the trees, or taking away dry ferns)
HELP WITH MAKING FIREWOOD (assisting us while we are cutting the wood, storing it, bringing to the kitchen)
COOKING (If you enjoy cooking, you are more than welcome to make dinner or bake. We always cook on the firewood, so energy is for free and you can bake as much as you want ; )
HELPING WITH UPCOMING NATURAL BUILDINGS
Type of help always depend on the seasons, on what do we have to do at certain time and also on your personal skills and prefers.
We would consider 5 hours of easy going help for 5 days a week as a fair deal for tasty food and accommodation through all the days of your stay. Usually we let volunteers prepare what do they like for breakfast and lunch and then we have a shared dinner together. Most of the time we cook, but if you are happy with cooking, we might also ask you for that as a part of your helping hours.
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Polish: Fluent
Portuguese: Beginner
For our guests and helpers we just have built cosy wooden cabin. It has a lovely view on the land and wood burner to stay warm in the frosty nights during the winter.
In case if the wooden cabin is occupied we have nice old style canvas tents. You are able to see them on our pictures. If you have certain preferences about type of accommodation, tell us in the private message.
Also there is a lot of space to park a van, pitch your own tent or set up your hammock. If you bring your own accommodation, we don't need to save space for you and you are generally welcome any time you wish!
What do we recommend you to take:
OCTOBER - MAY
good rainproof jacket and shoes
warm clothes for chill evenings
torch
environmental friendly soap/shampoo
JUNE - SEPTEMBER
hat or anything that protects you from the sun
your own sleeping bag in case if you will be sleeping in the tent
torch
environmental friendly soap/shampoo
SPECIAL WARNING TO SMOKERS
Since we are situated in the area with very high risk of fire, we want to make sure, that you are very conscious about that. We will ask you to always take care that you put your cigarette leftovers to the jar that is closed afterwards. Remember, that your one mistake could costs us loosing our land and creating a big danger to our neighbours.
We provide food for all the days of the volunteers stay.
For your free time:
we have a lovely river close by to swim in the summer time or you can also hop in the water tank to cool off ; ) There is also a good possibility for hiking, mushroom picking, biking, fishing and getting to know the portuguese village life and local festas. We are 10 minutes drive from Tabua as well as Olivera do Hospital and about an hour drive from Viseu or Coimbra or the Serra de Estrela. The farm itself is nicely remote to be private but lays in 10 min walking distance to the village. There you can find a café, some bars and a little shop for the most necessary things. Close by we have two different yoga teachers and taekwondo. We are surrounded by plenty of similar projects/communities and farms like us. This creates a beautiful feeling of building a better future among friends and neighbors, who take great care of the nature and want to live a healthy, responsible and happy life. There are few local flea markets and other nice social event happening from time to time.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Grid connection with unlimited wi-fi, + - 20mbit/s
There is plenty of space to park a van, but the entrance is a bit limited. Big trucks will not pass through, but there is still option to park near by in a distance of few minutes to the farm.
dogs, cats, donkeys, gorillas, giraffes, elephants. Monkeys maybe not.
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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