Italy
Favourited 285 times
HELP PLEASE: looking for volunteers (ONLY families, couples or women, NO single men) for SAFFRON harvesting, from October 7th to November 4th, 2 weeks minimum.
If you want to learn basics of saffron growing, I can tell you all I know in exchange for some help picking flowers early in the morning, cleaning and drying them, and maybe sowing other plants (4 hours per day)...
We are a peculiar family: me, my daughter, her father, grandparents, italian and foreign neighbours, friends... sometimes spread around, sometimes all together!
I started my countryside adventure on summer 2011, when I bought a piece of forest land on central Italy hills: a lot of trees, path walks and old stones.
I fell in love with Valmarecchia valley the first day I saw it, and I thought the land name was a kind of sign: in the local dialect, Boratoja means "with a good will"... in other words "for the ones who wants to trek" as the hill is quite steep!
The land was abandoned since 50 years, so it was a kind of jungle with the ruins of an old stone farmhouse.
I am running a small agricultural activity since 2015, growing biological aromatic herbs (till now mainly saffron, later on I would like to grow other culinary/medicinal plants too).
In the future I would love to have more rooms for hosting travellers, re-animate the small village where I am living (just 5 houses + 2 empty), and hopefully transform the solo job into a group activity.
Some interests of mine: yoga and bioenergetic therapy, medicinale wild herbs, auto-production, training dogs, backpacker travelling (before having two dogs and a baby!), hispanic languages and cultures...
PS: I have one dog, Mina (as the old one, Billo, recently died) and one cat, Pirata: they are funny, cuddly and adventurous.... while the forest is inhabited by deers, boars, badgers, hares, porcupines... and snakes (so bring closed shoes, please)!
Gardening
Babysitting / child care
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
When I have time I like to go trekking together or visit nearby historic villages.
Seasonal tasks (1 or 2 weeks):
WINTER (jan/feb/mar) storage ordering, machinery/materials reparing, house manteinance (interiors).
SPRING (apr/may/jun) collecting aromatic herbs (wild or cultivated), field and garden general manteinance (weeding, pruning, etc), house manteinance (exteriors).
SUMMER (jul/ago/sep) Saffron sowing (every two years), collecting aromatic herbs and wild fruits, field and garden general manteinance (weeding, watering, etc), preparing marmelades or juices from wild fruits and flowers.
AUTUMN (oct/nov/dic) Saffron harvesting, drying, packaging, garden general manteinance (fallen leaves, composting, ect), ordering cutted wood.
All the year tasks:
-dog and cats necessities (food, water, walking)
-cooking for everybody, cleaning dishes
-cleaning common spaces (kitchen, bathroom, stairs...)
-sometimes baby caring (play, play, play...)
Italian, English, Spanish
Hosts will have their private room (2/3 beds), common bathroom.
I live in a countryhouse, 3km away from any food shop.
You can reach me by train to Cesena + bus (direction Bagno di Romagna, bus stop Montepetra) or train to Rimini + bus (direction Novafeltria, last bus stop), then we will pick you up.
Nearby you can have wonderful TREKKINGS on the hills/mountains (400/1.400mt) or HORSE ridings, you can visit medieval little towns (Sant'Agata Feltria, San Leo... all reachable by local transports) or NATURAL PARKS...
if you are obsessed from CLIMBING, you will love the rocks around Perticara (3.5 km far)!
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
4 hours a day 6 days a week
