Help with a gardening and building project on Flores, Azores

Details

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  Description

  *️️️️*️️️️Updated January 2022*️️️️*️️️️
  
  We are Pete and Anna, from the UK originally but we are living now on Ilha das Flores in the Açores. We bought a small house and ruin with some land in September 2016 and we are building a house from the ruin and making a garden on our land to grow food for our family. We garden organically and try to incorporate permaculture principles.
  
  Our place is in the village of Lomba on Ilha das Flores, which is in the western group of the Azores archipelago. In the village we have a bar with free Wi-Fi and a bakery. There is a bus to both of the towns on the island from here twice a day where you can go to the supermarket, museums, restaurants, bars etc. There is lots of hiking and camping to do on the island - if you love nature this is a great place to be.
  
  We have sheep, chickens and ducks. We are making cheese from our sheep's milk. We have fresh fruits and vegetables available all year.
  
  We don't have a car so you will need to arrange your own transportation to/from the airport, there are buses during the week, taxis, car hire companies and it is easy to hitchhike here.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are very happy to share our knowledge about permaculture, animal care and eco-building with you! Also if you want to improve your English language we can help you with this. We would love to practice our Portuguese too if you speak this language. We love Flores and are happy to help you out in exploring and enjoying this beautiful island.

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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 availability for volunteering requests for this year is mainly from June to August, the big tasks we have that we need help with for this year are either gardening and field maintenance work, or some small building projects.
  
  The gardening/field tasks include weeding, planting veggies, watering, hedge cutting, cutting back the invasive plants in our pasture and fence building.
  
  The building tasks include pathbuilding, building a small wooden cabin, animal house maintenance.
  
  You need to be physically fit to be able to do this tasks but no previous experience is necessary, we ask that you stay a minimum of one week.
  
  Depending on your skills and needs we are happy to be flexible about helping hours etc to create an arrangement that everyone is happy with.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent

  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 have electricity, a washing machine and WiFi available. We have running cold water from an outside tap. We use compost toilets and if you want a hot shower you need to heat water on the fire and wash outside. There is an open fire for cooking meals.
  
  We have a 1 year old so we may ask volunteers to be more independent at times (but we will at minimum provide you with ingredients to cook with even if we dont cook for you/eat with you). We are not vegetarian/vegan but are able to accommodate vegetarians if you tell us in advance, though you should be aware that we do raise animals for meat production.
  
  The accommodation on offer is a tent in a small banana and fruit tree orchard less than 5 minutes walk from our house. We ask that you bring your own bedding. If there is a bad storm then it is always possible for you to sleep in our house instead. If you have your own tent thats great as there is space for several tents in the camping area.
  
  Our dogs and cats are part of our family and wander freely on site. We only use biodegradable soaps and detergents and ask that you do the same as much as possible.
  
  Because of the baby we may not be able to spend much time with you, so you need to be able to work independently and not get too lonely - maybe couples/groups of friends will be happier here?

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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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  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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