Help with DIY and around the house in Engeløya, Norway

Details

• 

  Description

  We are a couple (28 and 30), renovating our little house by the sea in Northern Norway. We speak English and German, Norwegian and a little bit of Spanish. We like to travel and meet new people, eat lots of good food, spend time in nature but also enjoy a nice cup of tea and chilling on the sofa. We both have full time jobs so most evenings are just cooking,eating,chilling, maybe some small projects. The house is getting to be pretty comfortable, but we have big plans for the garden as well. We are trying to start a kitchen garden as well as many other projects like building dry stone walls and laying some paving,cutting lot's of trees and bushes and this year we want to get chickens. We are looking forward to having some nice conversations with you, helping and living together as part of the household while you are here. During the day you may be alone, depending on our schedule, you can try to make friends with the neighbours, their cows, go bird watching (we have eagles near by and so many different birds in the summer it's awsome) or just enjoy the solitude.
  
  Some of the projects that we want to realize in the near future and that you can be a part of:
  
  -Design + build a chicken coop
  -Preserve flowers and plants for use in food
  -collect and prepare seaweed
  -putting up some tiles
  -make garden paths
  -make fire wood
  -dig out some unwanted invasive plants
  -lots of sanding and painting
  -build a hot,insulated compost bin
  -make shelves and better storage
  And many more

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Help around the house
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are happy to exchange knowledge about our fields of work, especially gardening, language exchange is very welcome and learning about each other's food and culture! The hiking and outdoor life is fantastic in Engeløya and if work/life allows we can also explore the area together. You can buy a ticket for the 8peaks challenge(about 10€ at the supermarket) and if you go to the 8 mountain peaks within the summer season and collect a stamp on each one you get a commerative item like a mug or a tshirt. If there is anything happening in the village or in our social lives, you are welcome to join and if you want to be alone, there is plenty of opportunities for that too. You can hang out in the garden or enjoy the ocean view from the veranda or the living room. If you are into journalling,writing letters,knitting,meditation,yoga... it's not the worst place here to calm down and do such things. Our place could be a good stop before/after heading to Lofoten or North/South on the mainland. You can even put your days off together and go to Lofoten during your stay with us(or work longer days and have more days off, we are flexible) We are curious to hear your stories and perspectives. Though we have fulltime jobs, this workaway is not supposed to be just for free labour, but to make meaningful connections and create good memories and beautiful things, that have those memories attached to them :) We are looking forward to meet you and we'll make time to get to know you.
  
  One of the night's of your stay we will ask you to cook for the extended family so they can experience some of the food of your country/just your favourite dish to make and they will be happy to tell you about Norwegian culture and whatever you want to talk about as well.

• 

  Help

  We are primarily looking for help around the house, building, fixing and cleaning things and in the garden. If you have skills related to construction or gardening that is great, but with a good attitude and solid "basic" life skills you will be fine as well and we will be happy to host you. If you are a tradesperson (carpenter,mechanic,gardener...) reach out to us even for red months and we'll try to make it work. There may be DIY and art projects as well, we can talk about what kind of things you want to do, so that the help doesn't get boring. The help especially in the garden can be quite physical. Please be up for the challenge. Cleaning inside also counts as help, except when you are cleaning up after yourself, which is necessary of course. At the moment we don't have any animals but are looking to get chickens in the spring. We are working on a limited budget, trying to reuse and recycle as many materials as possible. We also have a weekly food budget of 1000kr which we try to stick to or even go under. We try to save food that other people would throw and experiment with eating the weeds in the garden. this first season we made a bunch of stuff such as teas, pesto, pickled sprucetips and our workawayers also taugt us new edible plants and recipes - It's fun and apart from saving money it also feels very good to eat something that grew in front of our window vs. shipped in from 1000s of km away. :)
  You are welcome to use your stay here as a chance to try foraging and food preservation and feel like a little nature witch (we have some books and most things you can google)
  
  At the moment 1-2 week stays suit us best. We try to reply to all messages and check them regularly, feel free to reach out spontaneously
  
  If you arrive on Thursday or Friday that works best for us because then we can talk about the tasks and get to know you and do some work together on the weekend

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Norwegian: Fluent
  Spanish: Beginner

  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

  Your own room in the house, the bathroom and common areas are shared.
  The guest room has a window facing the forrest, a door which you can lock, a single-bed bunk bed, Adrian's Computer desk and a shelf. If we get two solo travellers at the same time you might have to share the room (or sleep on the couch if you're not comfortable sharing the room) One day we'll renovate the basement and have more usable space but for now it is like this. Sometimes you can hear birds all throughout the night. We are pretty far up here in Steigen which means if you come in the summer you get to enjoy the midnight sun, which is really weird at first, but also great because you never have to stop driving/hiking/doing anything just because the light is gone.
  Reasonably comfortable inside accomodation for 2 at the moment. If you want to camp outside in your car or tent that is possible of course. Feel free to send us a message even for "red" marked months in the calendar, if you are camping outside.We have Wifi, a dishwasher and a washing machine, that you may use as soon as you arrive ;)
  
  We can talk about what you want to eat or cook and we will buy the ingredients and take turns cooking.(with some flexibility in case we get food that is about to go bad then we have to use that first or preserve it that day)During the day you can just take food from the fridge. If you have a specific diet, just tell us and we try to make it work. It's not completely easy to be vegan in Norway, but if you are one of the ambitious people who try, you are just as welcome here as the omnivores. Personally we do cook with meat and fish.
  
  We can provide: sheets, towels, soap & shampoo and we can probably find a few work clothes too, if you haven't brought your own. Other toiletries you have to bring yourself, we recommend sunscreen
  
  A rain jacket and waterproof shoes are a good idea year round! This is because even if you go hiking in beautiful sunny weather you will get wet feet because the mossy ground holds a lot of water.

• 

  What else ...

  there are stunning beaches in this area, some of Norways finest, on clear days: wonderful views of lofoten across the water, walking/hiking, swimming in the (cold) ocean, local sightseeing, birdwatching(one time there was a seal chilling at the neighbours house,mini dolphins swimming right by the side of road,eagles and the occasional Moose), kajaking, fishing
  
  We have two old bikes you can borrow. There are buses and the speedboat (hurtigbåt which you can book on reisnordland.no or at the sentrumsterminalen in Bodø at the counter to bodø/lofoten the stop you need is Bogøy(Steigen)
  
  If you come on the bus we can also pick you up from a stop called Skjelvareid.
  
  If you are driving yourself please note that our driveway is a muddy mess after rainy days and easy to get stuck in without 4wheel drive, so if you have a car without 4WD you may have to park up on the road.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  Our Internet is currently working well but speeds were a bit meh last summer. They have built a big new antenna nearby and we're hoping they will switch in on soon and give us faster internet. You're welcome to use the desk in the guest room or the kitchen table if you want to work or study

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  we have space and a very nice water and mountain view, you are welcome to camp out there

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

• 

  Hours expected

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

Feedback (5)