Help us with developing a self-sufficient family farm in Méreuil, France

Details

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  Description

  Help us to develop our self-sufficient vegetable garden !
  
  We, (Patrick and Géraldine), live with our two teenagers (Titouan and Tao) on a vast wooded and agricultural land.
  Geraldine is a professional potter and his workshop is close to our home. Patrick is engineer in renewable energy and work mainly at home.
  We are not professional farmers but we produce for ourselves walnut oil (and walnuts !), pear juice, honey and have several vegetable gardens, including two market gardening greenhouses. Recently we planted a large orchard of almond trees and olive trees. We grow everything organically. The project is to develop the place by moving towards ever more food autonomy for the family, while protecting the exceptional biodiversity of the place. Our house is located at the top of the hill, at the end of a kilometer dirt track. It was self-built by us and is completely self-sufficient in water and energy. We also have the old family farm, further down and on the side of the road, where the workshops are located (pottery, forge, honey house, dryers, garages, sewing... etc). This is where the volunteers will sleep but the meals will be taken together at home.
  
  We live in the Buëch valley, which is located in the Pre-Alps, between Marseille (150 km) and Grenoble (100 km). We live in the Baronnies Regional Park and the area is beautiful and invite to hiking and cycle tourism. It is a remote area but well connected by train or bus. The nature is beautifull and wild. It is also a great place for climbing (we live close to Orpierre site). There are many swimming places around our home. There are also many lively cultural places around us and we like to introduce them to our volunteers. We have bicycles to lend to the volunteers for the duration of their stay.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals
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  Interests

  

  Farming

  

  Plant care

  

  Art & design

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Gardening

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Winter sports

  

  Adventure sports

  

  Camping

  

  Nature

  

  Hiking

  

  Mountain

  

  Cycling
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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 have traveled a lot by bicycles with our children (including several long trips of several months mainly in Asia) and are member of the cyclists network since a long time. That's why, we often host cyclists travelers. We are very open to meet people and discover new cultures. We expect our workaway guests to share our ideas and values of tolerance, peace, and the ideal of equality and justice. We are fundamentally opposed to all forms of racism and discrimination for any reason. We are not vegetarians but can organize ourselves to cook without meat, provided that the person is tolerant of non-vegetarianism. We understand all kind of regime, but we cannot be organized to respect more special diet. We will try to bring our visitors in local cultural events, in order to discover the valley.
  We have limited (satellite) internet access at our home and the workaway can use it. The apartment where they sleep, in the farm down hill, has no internet connection. There is also everywhere a good phone connection.

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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

  Our current project consists of:
  - Increase the size of the almond and olive orchard in view of the diversification of production on the farm,
  - Finish the construction of a winter garden (heated greenhouse),
  - Renovate existing water basins and create new ones in order to increase the surface area for watering and better manage water resources,
  - Increase the number of hives and develop the cultivation of melliferous plants in the field,
  - Increase vegetable production and develop preservation techniques,
  
  Workawayers will work on different projects like picking pears and nuts, planting and caring for trees, clearing and preparing land, taking care of vegetable gardens,processing and storing crops. We will also be able to go picking wild mushrooms and plants with the volunteers in autumn. It is also possible to participate in the work on the hives, in the construction of greenhouses and basins... etc. The work will be done in the MORNING only, during 5 days of the week, for a maximum of 4 hours. Week end will be time of rest. Workawayers will work with us or independently. We all eat our meals together and prepare together the work to be done.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate
  German: Beginner
  Italian: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We are interessed in english, Italian, german and spanish training with workawayers.
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  Accommodation

  Workawayers can sleep in a small appartment used as sewing workshop. There are two rooms with toilet and a small kitchen. There is a shower but not hot water (actually). The volunters can take a shower at our home (with hot and nice water !). They will eat with use at our home (15 mn walk) but the small kitchen can be used for breakfeast and tea time if they wish (of course we will provide food for that...)...

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  What else ...

  Workawayers can use our bicycles. We will pick them to next city if necessary, and transport them to discover the region...

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  the van can be as big as you want but it need to be able to drive on a narrow and not very good earth road.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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