Portugal
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Hello, we are Anne and Pjotr. After having worked and travelled around the world for the last 5 years we are finally starting our project.
It is 18 hectares of bushland and consist mostly of hillside with nice views and forested floodland next to the river Seixe.
Our aim is to life a sustainable life and to conserve the nature present on the land (turtles, otters, wild cats, dragon flies, and much more). We want to build naturally and start a permaculture inspired garden whilst enhancing the forest to be more drought, fire and climate resilient.
During our travels we have visited many communities all over the world and have worked as volunteers at many projects, such as organic farms, permaculture gardens, ecological building and ecotourism bussinesses. Pjotr’s background is drummer, gardener and entrepeneur and I am trained as ecologist.
Our dream started 4 years ago while traveling Australia, since then we have been looking at ways to make this dream a reality. We purchased a campervan in the Netherlands and looked for suitable land around Europe. Finally our van broke in Odeceixe and we fell in love with the place. Now we just returned from working our ass off for two years in Australia and New Zeeland which made it possible to pay off the land.
We are waiting for our building permit to rebuild a ruin with taipa (rammed earth). Hopefully we can start next spring. At the moment we are clearing the land, setting up base facilities like water and power, building up our camp, and preparing land for a garden. The work is physically demanding and can be in the sun. We work 5 hours a day Monday to Friday and in the weekend you are free.
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
We are located in rural Portugal close to small coastal Town Odeceixe. Many people farm the traditional way and there are many traditional crafts and products to experience.There is the Rota vincentina walking route and several markets which you can go to. Also there is a large international community present of which many are living a more self sustainable life all in their own way. We are really in the pioneering phase setting everything up. So if you would like to expierience how it is to set up everything from scratch in a raw piece of nature this is the place for you. You can learn how to build, amongst others: camp kitchen, outdoor shower compost toilet and toolshed and setting up water and electricity and designing the land. We will work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week and in the weekend we will be free. We provide 3 meals a day. The 5 hours do not include cooking, doing dishes etc. this is part of the life in the camp and we all do our share in this:) You can borrow a bike to go to town or beach.
Our activities will be preparing the building site, which we will build with Taipa. We need to clear land around the ruin for fire safety. We want to build a new compost toilet. improve the outdoor kitchen and camp for you as volunteers. We need to construct a tool shed and set up our larger solar system and construct a watering system. Furthermore we will start preparing an area of land for gardening. The terrain is steep and the help is physically demanding.
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Spanish: Beginner
Portuguese: Beginner
You can come with your own van or tent, or you can sleep in a campervan. This includes sheets and bedding. We are staying in a house just down the road and we have a big tent /campkitchen with communal living room. We have a very simple outdoor shower and compost toilet. Everything else we still have to set up:) we also have 3 bikes and you can ride your bike to town, it’s only 3 km’s on a dirt road and from town it’s 4 km’s on asfalt to the beach. We have only phone reception if you walk up the hill. We are working on getting WiFi set up. We are in the pioneering stage of the project so we are living really in the bush:) It is cold in the morning and warm during the day and then cold again at night. Make sure you bring warm clothing for the night and good shoes and work clothes for the day.
At the moment we are looking for 2 or 3 volunteers who are not afraid of pioneering and can handle a bit of bush living. It would be great if you are a bit handy with construction. Not afraid of hard manual work. Towards the springtime we hope we have our building permit and we will we need a larger team of people to build the house. This will be rammed earth and involves hard manual labor also the days will be longer but there is much to learn. People with building skills like carpentry, plumbing and electrics would be great.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
There is enough space to park you van:)
yes
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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