Italy
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16/02/2020
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I'm a Belgian traveler living in a small and quiet village in the mountains of Italy ( Marche region). It's already been 7 years I'm around.
I'm growing food with a greenhouse and vegetable patch, also trying to collect a maximum of what mother nature offer me (herbs, fruits, mushrooms). I'm also working a bit in the forest, it's the main activity around and gave me a good opportunity to be part of the community ... in few words country life.
I'm trying to have a healthier life, that's why I choose this remote place in the mountain where the presence of Nature and wild life is stronger then men.
For me, knowing that wolves are living in the area act as a bio-indicator, Nature is still able to express itself, the quality of life is good!
My diet is vegetarian but I'm a good cook with recipes from all over, so you won't really miss meat ;-)
Having traveling a lot, I've got plenty of stories and advice that I would be glad to share.
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Language practice
I enjoy cooking, so I've got a lot of recipes I can teach, mainly Italian ones!
Italian is the main spoken language obviously you'll pick up something, but french and english speaking happens regularly in summer.
Gardening is also important to me, so you'll definitively learn gardening tricks ... Permaculture and Natural farming are always in my mind.
I enjoy collecting herbs to eat, so you'll learn some of them depending on the season.
Eco-building is interesting me a lot and I'm trying to practice with small projects, like the Rocket Stove and glass bottle wall. I'd like to build more with clay, this is an incredible material.
Living in the countryside, schedule is a bit more solar ... so yes the day start early so we can enjoy the cooler weather and do most of the work in the morning. This leave place for a good nap after lunch in the warmer period of the day : the Mediterranean schedule!
I would need some help for the daily task around the house with general maintenance, vegetables patches and the greenhouse, to collect herbs and fruit in the country side and transform them. (fruit leather, juice, conserve, ...)
We may as well do some little building modification in and around the house, I need to modify the "Thermal Mass Rocket Stove" I've build last autumn, build some glass bottle wall, modify some big old wooden Barrel in furniture, ...
I also have to confess, I felt in love with a little stream in the mountains and like to spend time over there, doing natural wild landscaping around the waterfalls, so we may move some stone there to make dry wall, terraces and dam ...
Italian, French and English
The building is the old school of the village when there use to be a lot of villagers, so high ceiling and large rooms which stay cool in summer.
I've got a dormitory and a bedroom in my house and a trailer to host, depending on the availability.
For shower and Kitchen I'm trying to use only Natural soap, it will be available moderately.
My place is a bit isolated, but the country side is nice. Walking on the mountains around is enjoyable, I like to trail around with my friends and the cool rivers near by are welcome when the weather is too hot.
Without transport it's hard to move around but something can be organize to sites-see around, the medieval cities (Urbino, Gubbio, Cagli, ...) and natural places (Parco del Furlo, Monte Nerone, Grotte di Frassassi, Monte Catria ...)
The Adriatic coast isn't so far, so some time to the beach is also doable.
I usually get a lot of visits at home, so there will always be some activity! I've got plenty of wooden games and others and some really interesting books to read in different languages.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5-6 days a week
