Turkey
Favourited 19 times
-
19/03/2022
Reply rate
100.0 %
Average reply time:
within 1 day
We are an English couple, Will and Jacky, who bought our 16,000sq mts piece of land in 2005 in a rural area about 6kms from the picturesque town of Koycegiz in Mugla province, 3--+0 minutes drive from Dalaman Airport. Two years ago we finally finished building a new house there and moved in. We are looking for Workawayers to help us pick the olives from our 60 organically grown, olive trees. Picking usually starts mid October - we time it for when the olive pressing factory opens for business - and it takes around 4-6 weeks to complete so you can come for a few days or longer, whatever suits you.
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
Farmstay help
We have the most fabulous views of mountains, forest and Koycegiz lake down towards Iztuzu beach and are in easy reach of beautiful sandy beaches, ancient sites, nature trails, plus Marmaris, Fethiye and Mugla cities are all within an hour's bus ride. This area is a mixture of traditional farming villages and westernised modern towns. The wildlife and nature round here is fabulous and we are happy to show you around our local hidden away special places.
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
No previous olive picking experience needed. You'll be picking for 5 hours per day or you can work longer days and have more time off, whatever suits you. We hand pick the olives, rather than beating them off the trees, as we think it's better for the trees like that and doesn't take much longer to pick them. The trees are specially pruned to keep them short to make picking easier. We try to pick every single olive off every tree. We start picking by 9am latest as the weather is cooler earlier, in mid October it will be around 30deg C by noon, cooler in November. We aim to pick 200kgs olives per day as that is the minimum amount needed for pressing on their own, otherwise they are mixed with olives from other customers to make up the weight. At the end of the day's picking we load the olives into the car and take them down to the factory to be pressed and collect the oil from them the following day when we drop off the next load of olives. Unfortunately there is no traditional pressing in this area, the olives are hot pressed.
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Turkish: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Our house is built upside down with the bedrooms downstairs and the living areas upstairs to make the most of the amazing views. It has electricity mainly supplied by photovoltaic panels and an artesian water supply. There is 12mbs WiFi. There are two bedrooms for volunteers, one with twin beds and one with twin beds pushed together to make a double bed and which also has two extra pull-out single beds so the room can be used as 4 singles, 2 doubles or a combination. The two bedrooms share a large shower room/toilet. If you prefer to sleep in a tent outside there is ample room to pitch it. All rooms have air conditioning (although you're unlikely to need it in October). There is a huge kitchen/dining room, a TV room and a big sitting room plus two large outside terraces. Outside the back of the house there is a flower garden and a large newly established orchard. At the front of the house there is a large raised area with a pergola and shaded seating area. We have two dogs which live outside and 12 freely wandering cats (at the time of writing!). English (London and Yorkshire), French, Turkish and some German is spoken. Vegetarians are welcome provided you don't mind your food sharing a fridge with some meat products. We're happy to prepare your food or you can cook it yourself, whatever suits. If you are a smoker you will be banished outside to smoke, you have been warned!
Having six grown up children between us we love spending time with people of different ages from varied backgrounds and have a very tolerant, laid back lifestyle. Even if we don't join in we can take you kite surfing, white water rafting and over to Babadag mountain to paraglide, or over to a beach to chill if action isn't your thing!. Whilst living in England we hosted students of all nationalities so are well used to welcoming everyone and anyone into our home. We are definitely not your typical British ex-pat types!
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Any size vehicle can be parked here
We've two dogs and twelve cats so are happy to welcome friendly dogs and cats.
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
