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Help us settle in our new home with dogs and cats in Val Nure, Piacenza, Italy

  • Last activity : 13 Dec 2024

Availability

  2025 

 Min stay requested: at least 2 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    **NO AVAILABILITY UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST**
    **Our baby is due soon so we are unable to answer messages at this time, please wait until mid August before sending requests**

    I am a psychologist born and raised in Milan, I lived in a few different places in Italy and a period in Germany. My partner Mario and I lived in a remote countryside house (formerly a farm) for a couple of years and now we are moving to a new house a bit less remote outside of the town, in a village of more or less 20 houses, while we wait for our soon to arrive baby (July).
    We have a big garden that needs some work to set up a new veg garden and trees.
    We adopted 4 maremma sheepdogs that were once guardians for sheep in the farm and were abandoned + 4 cats (that lived around here) and we share their custody with my parents when needed.
    I am vegan, so the food we offer here is mostly plant-powered :-) and we love cooking when we have time.

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
  • UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN goals
    No poverty
    Zero hunger
    Good health and well-being
    Quality education
    Gender equality
    Clean water and sanitation
    Affordable and clean energy
    Decent work and economic growth
    Industries, innovation and infrastructure
    Reduce inequality
    Sustainable cities and communities
    Responsible consumption and production
    Climate action
    Life below water
    Life on land
    Peace, justice and strong institutions
    Partnerships for the goals
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    The landscape we have is wonderful and you get the chance to see the cycles of nature.
    The dogs and cats are lovely so you get tons of love from them.
    I used to be a couchsurfing guest and host, and I travelled abroad a lot, so I would be happy to resume cultural exchange and tell you about Italy and hear about your country.
    I still don't know a lot about sustainable gardening but I can share what I learned til now and learn more with you.
    My partner has a good knowledge of the countryside and of the woods, he is also a great cook (you need to speak a bit of Italian to learn from him).
    When my parents are here you have my dad (IT geek) who speaks English and my mom who is a wonderful physiotherapist and great cook. She doesn't speak English but every foreigner she meets gets to learn something from her.

  • Help

    Help

    ***OPTION 1*** CATS AND DOGS
    We request a minimum availability of 2 weeks. It helps us with logistics, with work plans and with the dogs' balance to have someone staying a longer period.
    We look for someone who has a consistent experience with dogs (personally took care of their own dogs and/or worked in a dog shelter for a long period), with some knowledge about how to "read" dogs' signals (e.g., stress, excitement). Our dogs are super sweet but they are big (between 38 and 50kg) and two of them get really excited with bicycles, motorbikes, some cars and wildlife (especially deers and rabbits), thus walking them and managing them requires a bit more care than smaller ones sometimes.

    ***OPTION 2*** OUTSIDE
    Help with outside works: picking up/cutting wood, planting trees/plants, cutting the grass in some areas, preparing the soil for the veg garden, DIY works for outside
    In the summertime we look for people who have a good knowledge of the veg garden (e.g., how to tie tomatoes, has an eye for parasites of plants or plant diseases etc.).
    We will love to teach you what we know and share time with you, but we don't have time at the moment to train from 0 someone who stays a short period of time, so you need to be already a bit skilled.

    ***OPTION 3*** DIY and General maintainance
    Help with setting up the house (painting, fixing, moving furniture, building stuff etc)

    We need help with:
    - taking care of the dogs and cats
    - general maintainance of the house and surroundings, the vegetable garden, some fruit trees, auto-production (depending on the season I do jams, syrups, pick up fruits and herbs etc), and other small works.
    ANIMALS: walk the dogs in the morning and/or evenings (in summer), around lunch time or afternoon too (in the other seasons). Prepare their food.
    GARDEN: watering the plants, keeping the veg garden, picking up fruits and vegetables, stacking wood, small works to keep the garden tidy
    HOUSE: cleaning, tidying up, doing some small works inside the house.
    At times we might need help with some small DIY projects.

  • Languages spoken

    English: Fluent
    Italian: Fluent
    German: Intermediate
    Spanish: Beginner

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    You will have a room inside the house with us with closet, bed and a desk OR a room in an apt nearby (5 mins walk).
    We offer the food we have and expect to share basic house cleanup and preparation of meals.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    There is no public transport to reach the house, you will need to walk a bit or to have someone (also one of us when we can) drive you to the nearest bus stop. When you arrive we can pick you up in Piacenza station or in town. The town is 20 mins walk from home. There is a café/restaurant nearby.
    We are near the woods, the hills and the river Nure.
    We are usually more free in the weekend and if we can we like to go in the woods or to the river for a walk, or going around to pick up stuff depending on the period (e.g., chestnuts, fruits). Let us know in advance if you want to come around with us so that we can plan accordingly.
    In your time off you can take great walks in the hills or in the forest and go down to the river (better in summer).
    We live a somewhat quiet life, and like to spend some time here and with the animals. We might have friends over visiting or coming over to eat and drink.
    We expect that you respect people and common spaces, clean up after yourself, help with maintaining the house clean and tidy. Everything else can be agreed flexibly, feel free to ask :-)

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    At the moment we can't guarantee a quiet place to work but Internet is available

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    Manouvers to enter might be tricky and one entrance is very steep.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    Two

Host ref number: 274251979973

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