Help with gardening, renovation and eco projects at our place between the sea and mountains in Turquel, Portugal

Details

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  Description

  Hi there!
  
  Nature brings us happiness and joy. We love to work in and with it by growing vegetables and fruits, building with ecological materials, and trying to live as conscious as possible. We have been living in our (totally renovated) oldtimer camper since january 2022 and it is still our home. After travelling for a while, last summer we found our own piece of land in Portugal, between the ocean and the mountains. Here we are creating our new home where we would like to spend the rest of our lives. We are situated near a very small town, but at the end of a dead end road, deep down in a calm valley with a beautiful view.
  
  Our goal is to live as self-sufficient as possible. As we have only been here since october, we still have a long way to go, but we already have a big vegetable garden, planted a lot of fruit trees and started renovating our old house that has been abandoned for over 30 years. We both have experience in growing vegetables and small fruits organically. Jannick also has experience in pruning and tree climbing (arborist).
  
  Building and renovating with ecological products is something we really know how to do. Jannick is the son of carpenter and has been working with wood all his life. We renovated a ruin (and our camper!) and built a wooden cabin in the forest together in Belgium.
  Extra skills: compost-toilets, watersystems and filtering systems, 12V electricity solar set-ups.
  
  Natacha is a herbalist and writer who likes to help others who need guidance with writing. She can get lost in texts & things. Natural medicine, planting and taking care of the garden are some of her favourite things. Jannick is a firefighter with a real hands-on mentality and can fix barely anything. He is specialised in rescue climbing and has a lot of survival skills. Both of us worked with people with a disability and are eager to help out others. Oh yes, we loooove to cook vegetarian food. Reggae has always been the soundtrack of our lives.
  
  Important extra info: we have a very energetic, enthusiastic and loveable young border collie (Buju!) who joins us everywhere we go. He loves to meet new friends to. Since august 23 we also adopted an abandoned kitten as well, Ziggy, who is Buju's best friend. We also have chickens and ducks.
  
  IMPORTANT: For now we can only host people in a (big) tent or with their own camper/caravan. In the future we will be able to host people on the attic of our house, but we need to get some projects done and the roof up before we can do that ;). The facilities are VERY basic. We don't have running water and shower outside.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  - Building and renovating (with ecological products)
  - Carpentry
  - Compost-toilets
  - Watersystems and filtering systems
  - 12V electricity solar set-ups
  - Growing vegetables and fruits
  - Pruning trees
  - Cooking vegetarian meals
  - Herbalism/natural medicine
  - Writing

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  Help

  We are looking for people who could help with managing the garden/field and/or renovating the house. There are so many things to do that you will have a long list to choose from. Of course we are also open to other nice suggestions. We would love it if you would have/choose your own project on our land to help with. Hope we can meet eachother soon!

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Portuguese: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  Hi there! Natacha would love to teach you English, French and/or Dutch. Both of us would really like to upgrade our Portuguese.
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  Accommodation

  For now we can only host people in a (big) tent or with their own camper/caravan. In the future we will be able to host people on the attic of our house, but we need to get some projects done and the roof up before we can do that.
  Our facilities are VERY basic. We don't have running water and use an outdoor shower.
  
  We will provide three meals a day in exchange for 4 hours of work 5 days a week. (Unless you have another proposal we like ;).) We normally only eat vegetarian food, but if you really want fish or meat we could provide that once a week.

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  What else ...

  In your time off, there is a a LOT to visit and do in our area. We are located only half an hour from the beach (Nazaré, Foz do Arelho, ...) and the natural park of the Serra de Aire e Candeeiros is on the other side. If you love to visit cities and musea: we are close to Alcobaça and not too far from Caldas da Rainha and Óbidos. In our direct surroundings there are enough forests and fields in which you can walk for hours.
  
  If you don't have your own car or camper, we can take you to the places we go and drop you off in the surrounding towns/cities or at the bus stop (which is very close by). Most of the time, we enjoy being and working on our own land and taking long walks in the valley. One of the reasons we came here, is because we love the tranquility. We try to plan a trip to visit something new every week or two weeks and would love to take you with us!

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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

  We have wifi on our property.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  For now we would LOVE to have workawayers with their own vehicle/campervan. Except for a tent, we can't offer other accommodation yet. Hopefully this will change next winter, when our house is liveable.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We love animals! But because we have a very (re)active border collie, it depends on which pets are staying/visiting. Kind and easygoing dogs are welcome, but cats might be an issue. Please ask :).

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

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

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