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Min stay requested: at least 2 weeks
Details
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Description
Workawayers, Hi! We welcome your interest in visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and we hope that your arrival on our "profile" makes that idea even more appealing. When I say "we," I'm referring to a family composed of one German man, One Bosnian/American woman, one bosnian/German/american toddler, 3 dogs, 7 chickens, and a cat that steals all of our cheese and thinks he might also be of canine form.
We live on a beautiful piece of land nearby mountains and rivers, where we are working on an organic vegetable garden, renovation project, and much, much more (some finished works include: workshop, chicken stable, outdoor kitchen pizza oven). Fair warning, summers in Hercegovina are hot. We're normally up very early to catch the coolest hours, and then spend the day cooling down while the heat passes!
While we consider our surrounding rural, we're a two minute walk from a bus stop which leads you straight to Mostar in around 15km, a tourist attraction but also a very soul-feeding place. In general, BiH is known for being home to passionate people--it's not a place for the faint of heart. It's not Scandinavia quiet, but it's also not New York bustling. Here, you can still find butchers, bakeries, florists, seamstresses, cobblers, local markets with fruits and vegetables from the surrounding areas; let me put it this way: the corner store most likely has a special area for the neighbours eggs, you just have to ask about it!
We're busy with projects and we need a hand (or two, or three?) to support us in that. While we normally receive visits from friends around the globe, we'd love to welcome more people into our groove that feel drawn to this opportunity and who have a genuine interest in woodworking, organic gardening, natural building (wood, hay, clay) and land maintenance.
We are vegetarians--and also great cooks who love food--so the majority of our meals are garden and season inspired, something that is accessible due to the space we've created as well as living in a country that is home to an abundance of fruits--think cherries, strawberries, figs, pomegranates, everything that loves a warm atmosphere.
Listen, there's a million things we could tell you about us, but we'd like to get to know you, too. SO! If you're feeling pulled towards the direction of Herzegovina, give us a little nudge. Let's see if we'd make a good team. -
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Light gardening
Creative DIY projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
House & pet sitting
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Interests
Pets
Sustainability
Vegetarian or vegan
Self development
Farming
Plant care
Music
DIY & crafts
Books
Art & design
Architecture
Blogging
Cooking & food
Gardening
Writing
Drawing & painting
Carpentry
Animals
Yoga / Wellness
Team sports
Nature
Camping
Sailing / Boating
Mountain
Dancing
Beach
Water sports
Outdoor activities
Hiking
Adventure sports -
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
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Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Our home is no stranger to many visitors throughout the year, and we love this part of hosting. With that said, you can expect the opportunity to connect with both locals and international visitors (friends) who come and visit us throughout the year.
One of the things we love to do is host Pizza Parties, where we invite the local community to come and take part in a donation-based outdoor pizza party (the donation sustains the pizza party!) made possible by the use of our cobblestone clay pizza oven. It's the easiest way to get people out of their houses (pizza is somehow magnetising?) and also to connect individuals in the process. We always encourage the exchange of ideas and collaboration, and are happy to host this process.
In terms of who we are and what we do, I can say this. The "land man," my partner, Wanja, is an excellent doer. He's a skilled and trained carpenter, able to build anything from a spoon to a pond to a house. He's also an advanced organic gardener with over 17 years of experience, and the best chef I know (I often refer to his meals as being the child of Michelin Star and Grandma's kitchen level). He's German so naturally his style of working can be rigid and straightforward, but he's easy to work with if you're genuinely up for and interested in not only the work and the learning process.
The land woman is me, Anja! Hi! I'm something like a--butterfly who also has PMS? I'm a connector, writer, community organiser and NGO consultant. I'm also a mom, so you'll often see me running after our four year old toddler in an effort to get her shoes back on or to put on a hat so she doesn't get sunburnt. I'm super into arts and crafts and decorating, and wish for more time to invest in some of the creative projects that we wish to do on the land. More inspiration and support in this realm is always welcomed!
Our daughter is truly the cheerleader of the whole operation, keeping the spirit at an all-time PLAY level and also sometimes driving us wild when we have too many tasks on our list unchecked. Still, we ask that all workawayers consider their relationship to children and if they're up for setting a good example of what it means to human for her. This is of extreme importance to us. She loves our chickens, dogs, cat, her own little garden, her trampoline and her zipline, and she'll be up to accept you full-heartedly if you give her the green light to do so. Her presence is truly a gift.
On that note, one of our favourite things about hosting is getting to know different people with different passions, hopes, skills, weaknesses, and views of the world, and to also expose our daughter and our surrounding to this diversity. While BiH is a tourist hot-spot, it can also be very culturally "bland," and we wish to bring more "zazz" into our community by offering it the gift of encountering and engaging with people from all over the world. Don't worry, Bosnians are extremely welcoming (to the point you may be invited for coffee and/or given a gold bracelet on any given day.) We get that workawayers come to learn something, but we're also fully aware that the learning journey is not one-sided, and we welcome the opportunity to learn from you AND, in turn, learn about ourselves in that process! -
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
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Help
Ideally, the workawayers up for joining us would have an interest in: helping with the maintenance of the garden, supporting in creating natural materials meant for natural building, land maintenance (something we work in partnership together), hosting community, and woodworking. These works would be around our private home, so workawayers will not be responsible for tasks which are associated with our business activities. This includes tasks such as weeding, building clay bricks, help with animal care, etc. There is always something to do around the land, and we're happy to hear workawayers ideas and requests for projects around our home!
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Languages spoken
Bosnian: Fluent
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Hungarian: Beginner -
Accommodation
Workawayers have a few options at our place. There' s a cute guest room with a bed and storage space. There's also the option of.a tent if that's your groove! We have an outdoor kitchen which includes a sink station, as well as an outdoor compost toilet (there's no indoor toilet at the moment!). There's also the bottom floor of the guest house which includes a shower room with sinks and such, as well as a living room with an indoor kitchen and chill area good for the super warm days.
Volunteers can enjoy a complimentary breakfast and dinner, including goodies from the garden for their lunch in exchange for up to 25 hours a week of help (with 2 full days off, of course!). We love cooking and eat vegetarian, but volunteers are welcome to purchase their own meat products if deemed necessary. In general, though, we prefer to keep the land focused on local, sustainable food. -
What else ...
I've written a lot here so I'm trying not to overwhelm you with information. In general, we're open people who put trust and honesty at the forefront of our core values. We believe that everything else is built from this place.
There is no room for bigotry, sexism, racism or discrimination in our home. We try to be courteous of one another's ways and make space for moods. We find the balance between social energy and times when we just want to hermit crab ourselves in our rooms.
We wish for people to be happy with the presence of animals and to respect our no-meat policy on the land. -
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
For the moment, we have SIM cards for guests! We run on a large solar panel, so the idea of having a big set up isn't too convenient in our space. However, we also work from home and use internet so everything is possible!
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Space for parking camper vans
Motorhomes have space to park and are free to use the outdoor kitchen and toilet as needed.
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Can possibly accept pets
We're happy to welcome friendly pets who are good with cats, other dogs, and chickens! However, our land is not fully fenced in and is close to a street that leads up to the mountains, so you must be comfortable with the possibility that your animal roams.
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How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
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My animals / pets
Shakti, Sheila and Mila
Photos
