Sustainable living, help with permaculture design and tree planting near Palampur, India

Details

• 

  Description

  Hi, we both, Komal and Vishi, are a couple in our thirties. For a long time, we have been longing to live sustainably in our close to nature, food forest with likeminds and our animals. We recently leased out a 2 acre land around Oak Forest for 35 years in a village around Palampur town in Himachal Pradesh, and are planning to build something (we don't exactly know what and how) there. About 1000 sq mtr is a relaively flat hilltop at 1750m altitude and 7000 sq mtr is a slopy Himalayan hill facing west with oak forest and clayey waterlogged soil. The only thing we know of is it needs to be least damaging to the planet and self-sustaining.

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Travellers can explore local Himalayan life and learn what we know about climate change, nature and living with nature. They will have relatively higher level of flexibility in this project as we do not wish to work with robots but humans who can experiment using their minds and we both can learn together.

• 

  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

• 

  Help

  Help range from anything. However, we need to go step-by-step. For the first stage (October 2023 onwards), we need someone who can help us with land planning, water management, planning for routes, farming areas, building areas, tree plantation (native wild and fruits), animal areas etc. We need someone who have experience of permaculture design to sit with us, discuss what is best for us and the land and then plan further for the next stages where we will need more volunteers. Next stages, from November 2023 onward will include building with earth and reclaimed materials, fencing, route making, water channeling, etc. Then as we grow, we can add other works like food, animal care, etc.

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Hindi: 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.
• 

  Accommodation

  For the first stage, we will provide you accommodation nearby to us (our own) and travel to the site or near to the site. It will be a private room (double sharing) with attached or shared western washrooms. It will be basic but decent enough. Clean sheets and pillows and washroom will be our priority. Later, we plan to have a campsite on site when more volunteers join in and next up, we build a earth home shelter for volunteers.
  
  We will offer our volunteers 3 times food, the same we eat. Mostly Indian and local flavours. We are vegetarian (trying to be vegan) so we will be only able to offer vegetarian meals and eggs, when they are available from local free range home. We also try different cuisines from time to time and encourage volunteers to have a culinary exchange where they can show us how to make their local dishes, if they know.

• 

  What else ...

  There are forests, villages, riversides to be explored around. One can also travel to places like Bir-Billing (paragliding centre) or Dharamshala (home to Tibetan govt and HH Dalai Lama in-exile) which are 1 to 2 hours away.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

• 

  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week