Join our home in the mountains and help to create our dream garden in Rossano, Italy

Details

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  Description

  Forest Oasis in Calabria - Vintage clothing - Rare Fruits - Puppies
  
  
  We’re Paula and Ramon, living on 10 hectares of forest just above the ancient city of Rossano—between the Ionian Sea and the Sila mountains. Our home sits in a pocket of biodiversity with natural springs, old trees, ruins waiting for revival, a greenhouse full of rare tropical fruit species, and gardens slowly turning into a year-round edible landscape. Paula runs a vintage clothing shop (60s–90s Italian pieces), and Ramon studies and collects plants. Around the place you’ll meet our dogs, our chickens, and the general atmosphere of a small but growing homestead where things are repaired, made, and created rather than bought.
  
  We enjoy hosting people who are curious, practical, and up for learning or building something real—especially younger travelers who come for adventure rather than comfort. There’s a simple stone house for volunteers a few minutes’ walk away, surrounded by forest and mountain silence. What we seek isn’t just help, but connection: days spent gardening, crafting, hiking, solving problems together, and sharing meals. If you want to spend time in nature, grow skills, and be part of something evolving rather than finished, you’ll probably feel at home here.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
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  Interests

  

  Van life

  

  Videography

  

  Fashion or beauty

  

  Farming

  

  Plant care

  

  Music

  

  History

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Books

  

  Art & design

  

  Photography

  

  Languages

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Writing

  

  Performing arts

  

  Hitchhiking

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Carpentry

  

  Animals

  

  Winter sports

  

  Mountain

  

  Dancing

  

  Water sports

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Hiking

  

  Adventure sports

  

  Cycling

  

  Nature

  

  Camping
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Paula is psychologist by study (Dutch university), but expert in vintage clothing by profession. Ramon has studied Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry (Dutch university - same one ;) ) but works with plants and artificial intelligence. We have, between us, valuable experience in:
  
  Plant cultivation, vintage clothing, Woodworking, some metalworking (apprentice welder), Biodiversity and Evolution, mushroom foraging and how to keep animals. Also present, through close friends and family here: Southern Italian culture and language, cheesemaking, wineproduction and biological farming, amongst many other things.

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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

  People with green thumbs and those with a trade, all trades welcome. We love to learn and help learn.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  French: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  If you speak Japanese or Sanskrit we would be very interested in that. :)
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  Accommodation

  ~50 m2 seperate house in very good state, kitchen, shower, bed, etc.
  
  Food I will not say anything else than this is Italy. Southern Italy.

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  What else ...

  We live in a mountainous area without any public transport nearby. Pickup from train station can be done, but please do tell us beforehand :)

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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

  Good 4G connection we transmute into wifi. Occasionally slows during local peak hours right after southern Italian dinnertime, but stable overall.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have quite a lot of forest and some very good places for campers to park, especially if the camper can do a bit of offroading you can stand next to one of our springs, the river, etc.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys and dogs welcome. But herbivores must be on a leash and carnivores must not hunt chickens.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  

  Kanjo (3 years)

  Male is German x Maremmano
  + two females Pastore Silano (local breed)

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