Help out with DIY improvements and projects on a west-coast island smallholding in Bømlo, Norway

Details

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  Description

  Hello workawayer!
  
  My name is Mia Julie and I am a 37 year old, and have been working as a producer in the cultural field for 10 years. Last year I was on leave from my job making festivals to stay on my childhood farm at the tiny island of Spissøy in Bømlo. We had a great time with workawayers and we want to do it again this year. I will be home working remotely with the festival and locally with a dance project from about 20th of may till june 2nd. I would be delighted if you want to join our little family these weeks and help at the farm!
  
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  The farm - or rather smallholding - have a few winter feed old norse sheep that is the farm business. As a workawayer you will not be helping with any produce sold, but rather give a helping hand in any activities in the home and garden of the farm.
  
  There are a million projects that can be done with the place that could come true with help form you. I hope that through workaway I will meet and get inspired by people coming from all over the world, I have previously hosted a lot of courchsurfers while living in the city and travelled like this my self and I always like it better when I can connect with someone local on my travels. I also hope that with your help we can take on project that could be hard with just me and my parents.
  
  Some examples of general help needed:
  - Upkeep (washing, fixing and painting) buildings (some happened last year, some still to go)
  - Gardening and cutting grass
  - Cleaving firewood and piling it + moving dry firewood indoors.
  - Cleaning and organising toolsheds
  - Doing dishes and some cleaning indoors
  - Harvesting and preserving fruit, berries and vegetables for winter
  - Making meals
  
  Some dreams I had last year that your skills helped me fulfil:
  - Refurbishing one of the bedrooms in the old house I live in. (We did and it is beautiful and you can live there now!)
  - Build a roof and a door for an old dirt cellar. (Not yet!)
  - Making a patio with old roof stones (THIS HAPPENED THANKS TO YOU GUYS!!)
  - Building an outdoor kitchen (maybe this year?)
  - Building a pizzaoven
  - Deforesting a field and perhaps prepare some of the wood for basketmaking. (Good on its way)
  
  Having a variety of experience, being handy and not afraid of the muck and dirt of farm life and garden life is very appreciated. If you know anything about carpentry, mechanics, plumbing or electrician related tasks that is awesome. We also love food and we have a sea of fish, a forrest of mushrooms and a garden with crops and just got our very own tiny greenhouse so I hope for some delicious meals together! We look forward to invite you to our home for a cultural exchange!
  
  My family is Trine (71) and Erling (85) and they settled down on our tiny western coast smallholding on a secluded island 40 years ago. The farm actually consists of two traditional Norwegian coastal smallholdings, with about 100 years old traditional west coast timber houses. Currently we have old norse sheep on the farm, who stay outside all throughout the year and our very cuddly cat Nellik (nutmeg).

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We can offer you a nice and peaceful place to stay, with the forest right outside the door great for small hikes, The sea is 5 minutes walk away and I will happily swim with you all year around. We also have a small open boat that you can borrow if we don't use it and you are comfortable and safe with driving boats.
  
  Staying at our farm you will quickly see how we live with the seasons.
  All year it is possible to go fishing, in the season we forage for mushrooms and in winter it is time for indoor projects, or cutting down trees for firewood. The west coast is a wet place with a lot of rain in the winter and not so often snow. The summer is very green and it can be 14 degrees and rain or it can be 25 degrees celcius and sunny.
  
  When I grew up we where five people living on the island, and we had to go by boat to get around. Now there is a bridge connecting the island to the mainland and other surrounding islands and I would guess about 30 people living here. We actually got our own micro bakery which has very good bread and buns and an absolutely delicious traditional treat called nordlandskake. The island is also quite easy to get to from the closest cities. From Bergen and Stavanger you can just get on a buss that stops on the neighbour island a frive minute drive from our island. (and a 2,5 hour drive with the bus to the city)
  
  My parents have lived and travelled in different times than ours which I always like hearing stories about. My mother has experience with self sufficiency, beekeeping and handcrafts like natural dye and weaving and many more things, she also runs a local art organization. My father is an engineer by trait, and has built his own glassfiber boat and is profoundly interested in history. I am an organizer, a dancer and mover and a practical generalist interested in a little bit of everything.
  
  The islands surrounding ours are rich with history. From the first export of green stone in the stone age to the story of Christianity's arrival in Norway to the local kilms for burning chalk and even an old gold-mine. It is not so easy to get around on the island if you don't have a car, but the buss leaves for the island centers where there are stores and some restaurants almost hourly. Getting to the larger surrounding cities like Bergen and Stavanger for weekends is easy - the buss leaves from our neighbour island and we can take you there.

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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

  Having a variety of work experience, being practically skilled, handy, positive thinking, self going, well organised and not afraid of getting dirt on your hands are great trates to be on a farm.
  
  I also think it might be nice to come as a couple because then you can organise your free-time together and keep each other company.
  
  Some examples of general help needed:
  - Fencing
  - Washing, fixing and painting buildings
  - Cutting grass in the garden
  - Cleaving firewood and piling it + moving dry firewood indoors.
  - Cleaning and organising toolsheds
  - Doing dishes and some cleaning indoors
  - Harvesting and preserving fruit, berries and vegetables for winter
  - Making meals
  
  Some dreams I have for the coming year that your skills might help me fulfil:
  - Build a roof and a door for an old dirt cellar
  - Making a patio with old roof stones
  - Building an outdoor kitchen
  - Building a pizzaoven
  - Deforesting a field and perhaps prepare some of the wood for basketmaking.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Norwegian bokmål: Fluent
  Norwegian nynorsk: Fluent
  Italian: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  You can chose if you want to stay in the main house of my parents with all facilities or with me in the old house where you get the pleasure of making a morning trip with an amazing view to the outdoor toilet. We will have access to the main house for showers, Wifi and laundry etc.
  
  I imagine a helping day from 9 to 12, lunch from 12 - 13 and then a few more hours of tasks until 15. But I am sure this will have to be a bit flexible depending on the type of projects and also things like the weather that day. It can be quite shifty weather on the west coast and it can rain in the morning and be sunny in the afternoon.
  
  We like family meals and to eat together and some times we would love to eat dinner together, but since days are different, some days you might be provided with ingredients to make your own dinner. Some times we might have fished the dinner together. For breakfast we have bread and different spreads.
  
  Some things to know:
  -The weather is shifty! Warm clothes and rain gear and shoes that can be dirty and stay dry is key. We have suitable gloves. We also have some rain gear - but not for all sizes of humans :)
  -Smoking only outdoors and cigarette buds go in the ash tray ;)
  -Leave your room tidy and clean
  -If you want to go somewhere and do something on weekdays, lets talk and make a plan for how we make it work.
  -Cleaning up after cooking meals, using materials or taking a shower makes everyone so much happier.

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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

  In the main house there is a decent internet connection and it is possible to have a working table in the bedroom in front of the window.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a lot of space for parking vans, but not any experience with doing so, so please let me know what you need in order for it to work.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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