Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Last replied
18 Jul 2024
Feedback
21
Email verified
Badges (2)
Details
Description
Hi and welcome! 🙏🏻
Right now we are looking for urgent help between 25th June and July 22nd for some wood work to build simple wood structures out of palettes, scrap wood and recycled materials. Some of it will be used on the land (our old ones burnt in a forest fire 2 years ago), some of it will be used in a free co-working place that is part of our land project (just 5mn walk from the land).
It's great if you have basic wood working skills. Your creative input would really be appreciated! You would stay on the land in our van (see pictures) and enjoy the "oasis", the "cliff", the wooden deck and our "beach" where you can swim in the "lavadouro", the old washing bassin. We would also do some general maintenance/upkeep work on our land, in the forest, in the veg garden etc... We especially connect with seekers and people that want to learn and grow. Workawayers won’t be involved in any business activities.
My name is Matthieu. I have been a photographer for over 20 years, and an active National Geographic photographer for the last 20 years. My wife Mareile (she is German, we met in Indonesia) and I bought a beautiful terraced land near Palmela, overlooking a valley called Vale dos Barris. We have planted over 1500 trees/plants so far, including about 90 fruit trees.
On the land, we are in need of people that DON'T mind physical effort :) outdoor showers & dry toilets & a nice camping set-up (in our wood paneled van, see picture!) in a beautiful setting, that like good food and are full of positive vibes. We are following syntropic agroforestry principles and if you are curious, I love to share my knowledge on that.
If you have a van, we can also host it on the land, couples welcome.
We are 1mn walk to the medieval village of Palmela and the first bar ;) We are 40mn to Lisbon (Oriente) by public bus.
More about the FAMILY:
We have 2 boys, Timo (13) and iluka (17). Both our kids are born on the road (one in Hong Kong, the other in Istanbul) and speak German, French, English and Portuguese. Our boys are home-schooled. We are a truly multicultural family, love sharing our travels (we have been to most countries in Asia) and we have been living since 3 years inside the Arrabida Nature Park, just 35mn south of Lisbon.
Please write "PINEAPPLE" in your message when you contact us, so we know you have read our description (as we get lots of request). Thanks, love and light.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We have travel the world for the last 20 years and look forward to hearing about your life, and introduce you to the local markets, area etc. We are passionate about good food, music and world culture.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
- woodwork / carpentry
- help planting trees, soil preparation etc
- Help with occasional cooking (we love cooking!), shopping etc
- general housekeeping and basic building
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Urdu: Fluent
Portuguese: Intermediate
Turkish: IntermediateThis 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
You will stay in our van (electricity, water, kitchen, all wood covered), near our house, just 1mn walk to Palmela village.
Although it can be chilly in the morning in winter in the van, it gets quite warm during the day. We can provide a warm sleeping bag if you don't have any.
What else ...
Our land is adjacent to the medieval village of Palmela - you look front in the valley and you are in full nature, but you walk back up and in 1mn you are in the village. 3mn walk from our place is a bus station that can take you to Lisbon.
It's an exchange: we are excited to host you , and should you come with a respectful and positive attitude to help us and take part in the activities. We are looking forward to it! :)
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (12)
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.9)
Matthieu is truly full of life, vigour and utter enthusiasm for his project, and this made it easy to work with him even though I was at times physically going beyond my comfort zone!… read more
Matthieu, Mareile and their inspiring kids made me feel at home. Their project has a great balance, feeling of being off-grid but near a local town.
There is always plenty of work to do, but my time was respected and there was always time for a break in the Spring bath!
It was also great to… read more
How can I start? This was my first oficial workaway and I couldn't have imagined it better myself!
I truly feel that I have made a second family. The family as a whole is a group of four super intelligent, artistic, warm and friendly individuals. I easily felt at home with them and feel so grateful to have been a part of their lives, as well… read more
Matt is always fun to be around, friendly and good laugh. He taught me a lot, especially about the permaculture, and travelling and… read more
He built a dry toilet for us and worked hard on digging channels and swales on our land, always in good spirit. He came with his girlfriend Sara (connected account), and they both stayed in our van.… read more
Starting with this family in February I had the incredible opportunity of starting on their project from the very beginning. With not much expectations we worked out how to get going on their beautiful piece of land in Palmela - what a sight that place is. I had the most… read more
Matthieu is a enthusiastic and energic person, combined with his wife Mareille a very calm and organized person, there is a lot to learn from this family ! It was so nice to contribute in their lifestyle, which is a day to day plan, you will Never get bored ! The Time work is flexible,… read more
