Help at our self-sufficient homestead in Gleann na Sidh, Valley of the Faeries, Ireland

Details

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  Description

  We live close to the border of Northern Ireland in an amazing area at a short distance from the first Cross Border Global Geo Park in Europe, full of ancient sites and beautiful landscape. We have been growing our own food on our small farm for the past 25 years. We have three major projects on the go, the first one is Self- Sufficiency, every year we get a step closer to becoming independent and we hope to be totally off grid in the next three to four years.The next project is Heritage, and as part of this project we are now breeding Kerry bog ponies which is a rare Irish breed of horses with approximately 450 worldwide. Our three Kerry bog ponies are Misty, Storm and a recent new arrival, our first foal, we are still deciding on a name. We also have one naughty donkey, Hector, We have chickens, which this year have been very busy hatching 14 chicks so far. We have two small dogs Conall,and Sallie, three cats Sparkle, Spirit and Moon. Our third project is Conservation. We have rare butterflies and rare orchids on the farm. In the local area there are also deers, buzzards, peregrines, eagles and much more. We love nature and are very appassionate to learn as much as we can about our environment. We are both part of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland were we go on escursions recording plants and learning about plants, grasses and sedges. We are also connected to Butterfly Conservation due to the rare butterfly we have on our land. Recently Isabella has also been learning about moths and she made the first ever record of a particular species of micro moth in County Cavan. Amongst the many things we do on our farm, we are also involved with the local Tidy Town group to help keep the environment clean and a place we can all enjoy in close relationship with nature. At present we are working on a Biodiversity plan and we are also learning about Sustainability. Our aim is to educate and encourage the local community to take care of their environment and to learn how to work side by side with it by preserving its natural habitat in a Sustainable way. We are Songwriters and love to play music and to exchange stories. Isabella likes to play cards.
  Andy is a tourist guide, Isabella is an Artist and a Holistic Therapist. We are vegetarians, although on rare occasions Isabella eats fish.
  
  Occasionally we hold events such as the Maypole dance.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Elderly Companionship

  Gardening

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet

  House sitting
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  Interests

  

  Events & social

  

  Pets

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Charity work

  

  Farming

  

  Self development

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Gardening

  

  Photography

  

  Plant care

  

  Music

  

  Art & design

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Nature
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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

  There are many benefits from cultural exchange, anything from horticulture, to conservation, heritage, local history, site seeing ancient places, myths and legends, music, healing, art and much more.

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  Help

  We are looking for self-motivated, reliable, and responsible people to come and help us with our projects:
  - gardening (we grow our own organic food but we do not sell it so we are not certified)
  - conservation project, maintaining high nature value habitat
  - Heritage projects
  - General help
  - collecting and cutting wood, looking after chickens, house cleaning, and much more.
  We are looking for people willing to learn the various tasks for running a small farm and be prepared in partaking in all of the tasks.
  
  We prefer people with some skills, but we also welcome people with no experience. We are open to anyone with whatever skills they have to offer.
  Please understand, it takes a long time and much effort for us to sieve through who is the best fit to assist us on the farm, if you are the sort of person that change plans whimsically, please do not choose our farm, because your change of plan leaves us with no help and also deprives other workawayers who would have liked to have come to our farm.
  We have a small holding and our aim is self-sufficiency.
  Self-sufficiency is a way of life, one which we are proud of and we enjoy sharing what we harvest.
  We also enjoy sharing with others all we know, may it be gardening, practical skills, our knowledge of herbs and plants, the mythology of Ireland, local history both ancient and modern, music, cooking etc.
  We are dedicated to the environment and are very active on conservation on our land and our local community, we are also dedicated to Heritage.
  We are looking forward to sharing this experience with you.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  A bedroom in the house.

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  What else ...

  In your time off you can visit the local ancient sites, if Andy is available he might be able to come along with you and give you a tour. We have bicycles which our volunteers can use during their free time. There are music festivals in the area.
  There is an art centre where you may be able to attend clay workshops and other art workshops or events.
  There are buses that will take you to big towns such as Sligo and Enniskillen, but anything else you can travel by bicycle or hitchhiking or taxis. Sometimes we may be able to bring you to some places, but only when we are able to do so.

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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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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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