Nature, permaculture, community and more in Blatusa, Croatia

Details

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  Description

  We are a young family that recently bought an old farm in an ecovillage. We moved here about 2 years ago, so we are still at the beginning, dreaming, building, creating, improvising stage, even if we already advance a lot in this short time. The property comprises about 10ha of land, where we want to create a sustainable oasis for nurturing body and soul, an opportunity of life respectful of and in cooperation with nature.
  
  We have a big garden which provides us with fresh, organic vegetables year round. We have pastures, forest, a pond we use to irrigate the fields but also for refreshing during the summer. We share the place with chicken, goats, rabbits and cows. We use and experiment regenerative agriculture methods. We grow some vegetables, beans and corn of heirloom varieties. We are expanding our production and sell our produce in order to make our living.
  
  We live in an old house which we renovated with natural building techniques. We are also fixing and renovating other buildings, barn, stable, and a big house that we plan to rent and/or use for social projects, family home, maybe alternative school...
  
  Our family is composed by: Bartul (34), funny, practical and nature lover; Margherita (30), passionate about circus, sustainability and cooking; Sole (5) loves drawing, reading, crafting and meeting new people, she speaks four languages and can talk a lot once she gets started; Miro (3) is more shy but very sweet and funny when he's relaxed; he adores any kind of tools, machines and handwork. Luisa (1.5) is the youngest, observing and crawling the world cuddled by the rest of the family.
  
  It is important to us to create a natural, inspiring and enriching environment for our children to grow in; mostly they are home and we share everyday life with them; often they go to play with their friends in the village or other children come to our place. We would like to homeschool them and are grateful for anything you can share with them, so they can learn something from each.
  
  As you can imagine, we are pretty busy and it can look like we are working all the time: this is because we love what we do! But of course there is also time for the many visitors that come almost everyday to our place, parties and events happening in the village. We have a lot of nice neighbors and many of them have a Workaway profile as well, so there's plenty of opportunity to socialize if you like :)
  
  We offer nice organic food, vegetables from the garden, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt etc. from our cows, eggs from our chicken and (sometimes) meat from our animals, homemade bread from sourdough. We can offer vegetarian or vegan options.
  
  Important! Please note that what is most essential to us is that you feel good here and that we live in a nice atmosphere. You need to be honest and communicate clearly about your wishes and needs, we'll be happy to help you find a good solution. We don't ask for a minimum stay because we prefer you choose freely how long you want to stay according to how we fit to each other. Let's create a beautiful experience together!
  
  So, welcome, volunteers who like good simple life in nature and company of nice people! :-)

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Language practice

  Elderly Companionship

  Animal Care

  Help around the house

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are an international family and we try to have a zero-impact lifestyle. We are located in croatian only "ecovillage", so there's a lot to learn about these topics.
  We are looking forward to exchange, learn and be enriched by you as well!

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  At the moment we are mostly doing a lot of gardening, tree planting, renovation, building and a lot of hard work in general :) So we need a lot of help in different areas since we also take care of our three small children (5-3-1). They love meeting new people and playing, drawing and reading books with them. Gardening we do the organic, nature respectful way and building with natural materials so we are looking for people who would like to learn or share their knowledge in these fields. Since we need help with a lot of different tasks, we can usually adapt to your wishes/skills and assign you the job that suits you most. Skills like carpentry, building, woodworking are very welcome but we can find a job for anyone. We are interested in learning new skills, for example welding.
  
  The area where we live is quite rural and lacking cultural opportunities, so WELCOME to all artists, musicians etc. to share your passion! We have some instruments available and many projects that could benefit from an artistic touch. If you are interested, we could also organize together a public workshop, event, concert etc. for the rest of the children and people in the village!
  
  We regularly organize forest school style activities for children, you could contribute to that as well if you like.
  
  It's desirable that volunteers can work independently after getting the proper instructions, since we are usually busy with many tasks at once and not always we can work together with you. As well for the free time, sometimes we are too busy or we need some family time to play cards or such. Anyway we'll do our best that you feel good, support you in your needs/wishes, chat and laugh at meal times, meet lots of other nice people and interesting projects and provide you with suggestions about the area! :)

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Croatian: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  German: Intermediate
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  We can offer you accommodation in a big, unfinished house, practical in case of cold or rainy weather, or if you feel a bit more adventurous we highly recommend sleeping in the nature in a comfortable tent, which we can provide in case you don't have one. We have mattrasses and lots of blankets which you can borrow. It is preferable you bring your own sleeping bag or bed sheets. The area is very peaceful with a lot of natural sounds, birds singing, deers calling, beautiful starry sky without light interference. Good working clothes and wellies at rainy times are recommended, usually we can provide some equipment if you don't have.
  
  We don't have wifi because we would like to offer you an experience of reality immersion, digital detox, however we can provide limited internet for basic needs or address you to a nearby cafe bar with wifi.
  
  We are located near an 'eco-village' so you never feel lonely here. In fact, it can be quite busy, even at our place which is just being built.

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  What else ...

  There is a nice lake nearby with kaolin clay surrounded by nature, 5 mins by car or 1 hour walking. We often go there in the summer for swimming, but it's worth a visit even in other seasons. A bit further there's a refreshing river where is also possible to swim. Another point of interest is Petrova Gora, with its beautiful forest and abandoned memorial building on the top.
  
  Of course we live in the ecovillage so there's lot of interesting projects and people around, just a nice walk's distance in the forest.

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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

  It might be hard to find time to be alone with your computer here, but, i'm sure it could work if you are self disciplined :)

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  Space for parking camper vans

  There is space to park an airplane if you have one. A family living in a touristic bus successfully parked here too.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We can accept any kind of pets as long as they have sensible and responsible owners!

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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