Join our family home in the countryside close to the French Alps, France

Details

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  Description

  Hello! we are a family with 2 children: one 7 years old and a baby. We all live in a big house in the country close to the French Alps, near Chasselay, Isère.
  
  Anne is a hiking guide and kinesiologist.
  Hugo is a electronics engineer and works near Grenoble. He also takes care of a few sheep - with his sheepdog Ottis
  Our dynamic son Florimond is living with us, he loves trains and nature, and his sister Capucine just joined last winter.
  
  The house is big so we try to have other housemates sharing the same views and willing to involve themselves in household and outdoor activities.
  
  We have a few animals : 1 dog, 5 cats and many sheep. And also hens for delicious eggs!
  
  We are not a commercial farm but we try to be self-sufficient for vegetables and, in the future, fruits 😃. That's a lot of work in the garden! We use the permaculture as much as possible and are always learning/experimenting new possibilities. In the evening we share meals and share the work in the garden, house maintenance and chores. So when we're several, it's not a total community life, nor a mere shared-rent, it's something in between 😃
  
  Children are greatly welcome, as long as we can get organized, and Florimond would be delighted to meet new friends of his age.
  
  We might also be interested in extending the workaway as "au pair" if everything goes well alltogether.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We live in a good place to hike in the hills, close to the mountains.
  We can exchange about hiking, kinesiology, engineering, organic gardening, breeding sheep, DIY building...
  
  It's far from town, but there is often someone to go to St Marcellin, or even sometimes Grenoble, and we can drive with you to the mountains for a hike together.

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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

  All year long, we need help with organic gardening: we grow potatoes, zucchinis, carrots, tomatoes, beans, onions, cabbages, leeks, squashes, turnips, radishes, parsnip, ... DIY garden improvements and weeding is often necessary too. Of course, when time is ripe, there is harvesting of vegetables and fruits to do. We try to make preserves when too much food has to be harvested.
  
  The help in the garden is our main need, it may be tiring and it needs a little motivation to dirty your hands 😀
  
  We also took back some pieces of land around the house, that were left to turn to brushes, and we have to fence them for the sheep, and clean parts of it. That can be quite physical!
  
  Other kinds of help needed:
  
  Help for general maintenance of the house: cleaning, cooking, DIY works like painting shutters, …
  
  Wood gathering, cutting and moving to its storage for the fireplace.
  
  And sometimes, babysitting our children when we need to work. Florimond is 7 years old. Loves trains, dinosaurs and dinotrains. Capucine is willing to walk.
  
  And if you have any special skills let us know!
  
  NB : from mid-spring to end summer, depending on the temperature, we prefer to work outside early in the morning and at the end of the afternoon

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  French: Fluent
  English: Intermediate
  German: Beginner

  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 live in a big home (on the picture) with 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and dry toilets (only).
  
  The kitchen and bathrooms, the living room are collective.
  For one who'd want to play music, we have a small electrical keyboard and a guitar.
  
  We like to cook good and organic food, with a responsible consumption of meat, and scare industrial food. We’re also used to welcome vegetarian people. We take turns in preparing the meals. We eat all together. Food is of course included in your stay, if our "food habits" suit you; alcohol and caviar are not included, but we will be happy to share a beer with you.
  
  Workawayers are also expected to take part in usual little household chores like cleaning and cooking, like each housemate does. For us it seems natural. If you want to share your own typical dishes, you're greatly welcome. Even if you are not the cook of the day, it's nice to give some help for cooking. We will be happy to learn new recipes!

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  What else ...

  HOW TO COME HERE
  Whilst we are not expecting you to cross oceans on a rawing boat, we'd appreciate if you came to our place from Europ by train, bus or shared car rather than planes. How you travel is part of the journey.
  
  Please note that we are near Chasselay in the Isère department (zip code 38470), NOT the Chasselay close to Lyon 😃
  Closest train stations are St Marcellin or Vinay.
  
  
  WHAT SHOULD YOU BRING?
  
  Long pants, and long sleeved vest or shirt, that are somewhat resistant, some activities may involves bushes or brambles. So even in summer, it’s good to have one set. Even for carrying wood, it’s more comfortable.
  Good shoes, that have some grip and wouldn’t mind some earth on it. In mid season, and if you have some room in your luggage, Wellington boots may be useful in the garden, yet not mandatory.
  From May to September, a cap or hat may prove really useful, or even necessary.
  A swimsuit if you like to swim, there’s a small lake nearby at 20 minutes walk, and we regularly go to another lake in summer, or in a swimming pool in other seasons.

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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

  We have a really limited internet bandwidth.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have space for a camper van if necessary.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Please tell us if you have pets. Absolute confidence of good behaviour with the animals on the farm - dog, cats, sheep and hens - is required.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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