Bulgaria
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Are you interested in permaculture, gardening in harmony with nature? Do you have knowledge and experience, or do you want to learn the practical skills?
I've recently bought a house with 2 decares of land which I will gradually turn into a permaculture project. I'm in the blessed situation of having a 'blank canvas' to start with - a sunny plot with healthy, fertile soil, a permaculturist's dream.
In October and November, I'm going to start planting an orchard with plums, apricots, peaches, cherries, sour cherries, pomegranates, apples, pears, quince, persimmon and walnuts, surrounded by a nixed flowering/fruiting that will provide food, attract bees, and shelter wild birds. Do you want to help me with this?
You don't need to have previous permaculture or gardening experience (though if you have, great!) because I can train you. However, you have to be willing to do physical work, e.g. turn the compost heap and dig planting trenches.
Some of your work will be in the house. There's a lot of cleaning and tidying to do. If you have special skills, I'll be happy to allocate you relevant tasks. For example, you may be able to build a grape arbour, composting toilet, solar energy shower or rainwater harvesting system, do small repairs around the house, paint walls, restore old wooden furniture, teach me yoga and tai chi, train the stray do who adopted me, do some social media posting, cook (mostly vegetarian) meals, give me physiotherapy or create a mural from collected ceramics shards.
If you're a couple, you can divide the tasks between you, e.g. one does the gardening and the other the housework.
I'm a writer, and will often sit at my desk to work on a book while you get on with your work in the kitchen or the orchard.
It's quiet and peaceful here. The main sounds you'll hear are birdsong, the humming of bees, the clapclapclap of storks' beaks, the moo of cows and the meeh of sheep, interspersed with goat bells and dogs barking. The location is rural and ecologically fairly clean. The village economy is based on sunflower-growing, solar energy harvesting and fruit orchards.
If you like, I can introduce you to the people in the village, who are really friendly and helpful, though few speak English.
Does this sound like you? If yes, tell me what interests you about this placement and what skills you can contribute. Please be honest about yours kills and everything else. I look forward to hearing from you.
Rayne
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Other
Help in the house
Animal care
Art project
I'll be happy to tell you about Bulgarian life and culture, introduce you to local people and practice German or English with you. I can train you in practical permaculture and gardening skills (depending on the season).
Gardening, DiY/building/home improvements, cleaning, tidying, cooking, shopping, gardening , dog training
Fluent English, fluent German. rusty French, very basic Bulgarian, a smattering of other languages
I have a nice comfortable guest room with a large bed, suitable for a couple. There's a shared bathroom.
If you want to live in your own tent or camper van , there's plenty of space to set it up or park it.
There are frequent buses (about 1 per hour in each direction) to the towns of Elhovo and Yambol, but the bus stop is 2km away. Taxis are cheap, and I'll pay your taxi fares where needed (e.g. to bring home shopping).
The village itself has one small shop and a cafe/pub.
The landscape around the village is nice and clean, mostly flat with some hills, with a river and small lake nearby. Near Elhovo is a beautiful large nature reserve.
We're not far from the Black Sea and the Turkish border, so you can go on excursions there.
Internet is good with occasional outages.
The assignment would suit a couple. It's great for a single, too, as long as you like the quiet life, are content to be alone much of the time and don't require entertainment. A group would need to be willing to 'rough' it for the accommodation, i.e. bring your own tent or sleep on the floor in the house.
If you travel with a dog, that should work out fine, as long as he stays outside (there's a shady verandah) and doesn't harangue my cats. My own dog is companionable with other dogs.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Two
20 -25 hours per week, flexible schedule
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