Help us run this little homestead chateau in the countryside near Montjoi, France

Details

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  Description

  We are Malin and Michiel, a German/Dutch couple living in France, with our 2 sons, our dog, our cats, 50 chickens, a gang of ducks, a bunny and some quails.
  
  Malin is a stay at home mother and florist. Michiel mostly focuses on maintenance and DIY projects. Together we run a chateau that is rented out to tourists in the summer season. The rest of the year we try to do some homestead type stuff, running a vegetable garden,herb/tea garden, and some poultry for self sustenance.
  Hope you like eggs!
  
  We are interested in preserving the old European heritage, self-sufficient farm life, etc. We try to find a healthy balance to integrate a natural lifestyle into the modern age. We have many interests, we are artistic folks, into floristry, herbology, crafts, traditional lifestyles, self-sufficiency, history, the arts; drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, music, filmmaking, etc. But we mostly do whatever needs to be done. Circumstances and priorities decide our activities for the day.
  
  Oh, and we eat meat.
  
  We noticed the strong presence of vegans and vegetarians on this platform, so we figured it's best to address this issue on our profile, to avoid unpleasant surprises for those who come to visit us. We don't expect you to join us in our lifestyle choices, but it's good to know that we might be killing our own roosters/ducks on our property, during your stay. Living with animals means you have to take care of them, and that includes avoiding incest. Our solution to that is to eat all the males, so we're left with the females who produce our daily eggs. Introduce a new male every year to produce offspring, and you've got yourself an incest-free little homestead that produces enough animal protein to live off of.
  
  Having lived a vegan organic wholefoods lifestyle for years ( and ending up with a severe B12 defficiency), we are understanding of, and try to be accommodating to people who don't eat meat, but we are not going to stop eating meat for you, so the strict militant totalitarian vegan extremists who don't want to be around us meat-eating savages best look elsewhere ;)
  
  We don't seem to get along very well with woke American University / College Students with Social Justice tags, so if that's you, it's probably best to find another place.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You can expect to learn some basics in homesteading, gardening, herbology, basic construction, renovation, DIY, maintenance chores, and the basics on how to take care of a place like this.
  
  As for languages you can learn here: we speak fluent Dutch, German and English, our French is imperfect.
  We welcome French people, who can help us develop our french language skills, especially by talking French over the dinner table, to expose our son more to the language.
  
  Aside from the practical activities that you could learn from, depending on your interests, you might learn something from our conversations about anything from chickens and plants to history and philosophy, from ecological sustainability and self-sufficiency to politics and spirituality, and anything else that might come up. We are always interested to learn from your unique perspective, especially if you have spent some time looking into things that we don't know much about! Knowledge is power, and we love to empower ourselves and others with the treasures and insights we've come across on our respective journeys.
  
  We value truth and honesty more than political correctness. We enjoy good conversations. If alternative perspectives make you uncomfortable, you'd probably want to look elsewhere. We very much enjoy the company of independent thinkers who critically look at the world and come to their own conclusions to make up their own minds.
  
  We look forward to getting to know you and spending some quality time together :)

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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

  We can use some helping hands with all types of stuff, from general maintenance, gardening, homesteading, DIY stuff, to helping us out with the household.
  
  Depending on our schedule, and your skills and preferences, you can either help Michiel get some things done or help out Malin with the household while she focuses mainly on our newborn baby son ( born january 2024 )
  Since the birth of our second son we can use a bit more help with the basic family household; play with / watch over our oldest son (5), help with the cooking, the dishes, the laundry, etc.
  
  We are also happy to host folks who want to help Michiel with his more physically demanding jobs, DIY projects, etc.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  French: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  We speak fluent Dutch, German and English. Our French is imperfect, and we'd be happy to learn more. Michiel also has some rusty basics in Latin and ancient Greek.
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  Accommodation

  You'll be staying in one of our guesthouses, where you'll have a kitchen and bathroom to yourself. You'll get 3 meals a day. You'll make your own breakfast, we have lunch and dinner together. We eat separately on Sundays.

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  What else ...

  We'll come and pick you up / drop you off at the nearby train station.
  
  We're a bit in the middle of nowhere, so you can't hop on a bus or go shopping here.
  The nearest village has a small village shop at 3km, the nearest supermarket is 20km.
  
  It's a beautiful area to go for a walk, feel free to take the dog along if you enjoy his company.

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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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  Can host digital nomads

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  If you're coming with a campervan, you can park it where you like, if you prefer to sleep in your van, you can use the outside bathroom on the courtyard. It has a shower, toilet and sink.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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