Looking for help on our off-grid herbalist farm in Central Portugal

Details

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  Description

  Hi !
  
  We are a family living in a paradise land in Central Portugal : Marie (Belgian), Gabor (Hungarian) and our son Elouan (7 years old). We are also living with three dogs (Guanche, Zinnia and Kizu), a cat (Fluffy) and four chicken.
  
  Our land is a magical place of 2.3 hectares. We are completely off-grid, with our own water and solar powered electricity. We are very lucky to have more than a hundred fruit trees of all kinds : olive, apple, peer, peach, figs, lemon, orange, tangerin, apricot, vines, almond, chesnut,… and many more ! And, of course, we love to cultivate as many vegetables and medicinal plants as we can !
  
  We came here 5 years ago to find our true home, a place where we could live in real harmony with Nature, and create an abundant Heaven to be as self sufficient as possible.
  
  Gabor is a sound therapist, a Reiki master, and a has long professional experience in organic agriculture and forest management. On my part, I am Bach Flowers practitioner, a Reiki master and I am currently studying to become a clinical herbalist. I also dedicate an important part of my time to creating and preparing various herbal remedies.
  
  We are developing an holistic therapy project and are now starting to give workshops and courses. We also invest a great part of our energy in the care and extension of our medicinal garden, which we want to make a pedagogical garden.
  
  We are looking for motivated helpers, open minded people who love to work and are interested to experience and develop with us an healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Here is a perfect place to (re)connect deeply with nature and with yourself.
  
  With us, you can experience and learn about self sufficient and off-grid life style, about the questions and challenges this way of life brings and how to find and put into place solutions !
  
  You will also learn about gardening : permaculture but also bio intensive, ecologic gardening and food forest designs and techniques (specially those adapted to warm and dry environment). Vegetables and fruit trees, seeds. Water saving systems and natural fire breaks. As well as food transformation and conservation.
  
  The most interesting opportunity you will have with us will probably be to learn about the culture, the harvest, the transformation and the use of many medicinal plants and Bach flowers. We will also be glad to share with you what we know about holistic health, Reiki and Sound Therapy.
  
  We are going, one to three times a month, to local alternative markets where we sell our herbal remedies. Joining us might as well be an interesting and enriching experience.
  
  We also have experience about life in community, and we will enjoy to share about it with you if you want to.

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  Help

  *** We are reaching the end of the house renovation, and we really need some help to clean the building site and give back to the land its former beauty so we can be ready to start organizing visits of the medicinal garden ! ***
  
  For this reason, our main priorities right now are to :
  - move concrete blocks that formed the foundations of our old yurt ;
  - move rubble ;
  - empty and put down an old goat stable ;
  - bring rubbishes to the eco centro ;
  - bring up fire wood which is located down the land ;
  - clear a mimosa forest and use the cut trees to mark the borders of the vegetable and medicinal plants bed.
  
  For all these tasks, we have a tractor that will help us to transport what has to be transported. But we will have to load and unload the trailer.
  
  There might also be other missions as :
  - Gardening (integrating permaculture but also bio intensive, ecologic gardening and food forest techniques) : preparing the soil for new vegetable and medicine plants beds, seeding, weeding, watering, mulching, composting, harvesting, making our own seeds…
  - Work on the land : pruning the fruit trees, clearing the land (cutting brambles and bushes), creating natural fire breaks against wildfire, establish different water collecting and saving systems, prepare firewood.
  - Herbal remedies : harvesting medicinal plants and preparing herbal remedies.
  
  But the after building cleaning will definitely be the main focus. That means the work is gonna be quite physical.
  
  We will of course take into account your personal interests and skills. However what we will do together will depend first on the season and on what is needed at the time.
  
  We are expecting you to help us 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Furthermore, we also ask you to share with us the daily life tasks (cooking and dishes).
  Please, note that the summer weather can be very warm, so we will probably want to adapt our working time around this.
  
  (Please, take into account that most of the labour we will do here is going to be physical. Farm life and autonomy are exciting and a great opportunity to learn what we believe are the most valuable knowledge and skills. But it also involves a fair amount of hard work ! If you have any reservation about this, please do not apply! )

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Hungarian: Fluent
  Portuguese: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  For your stay with us, we will offer you a comfortable bed in a guest room in our house. We didn’t had the possibility to build doors yet, but we installed a curtain to give you as much privacy as possible and we won’t be sleeping on the same floor as you.
  
  If you prefer, you can bring your own tent. There are plenty of very beautiful spots to camp on the land.
  
  If you are travelling by van or camper, we have a very nice, flat and shaded spot for you to instal yourself.
  
  We have solar powered electricity. So you can charge your phone, computer, camera… We also have a good internet connection that you can use if you wish to.
  
  We will provide for you three meals a day : breakfast (muesli, fruits…) , lunch (sandwiches) and dinner (cooked food). The food will be vegetarian and, as much as possible organic. If available in the garden, we are going to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables of course. And we will probably be playing a lot, to find new ways to prepare the vegetables and fruits that we will harvest in abundance.
  
  Depending how we organize ourselves, we might not eat our breakfast at the same moment. But we will eat the lunch together. And cook the dinner together (our take turns). The dinner is usually the moment for us to exchange about our day, and to plan what will be done on the next day.

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  What else ...

  With no neighbor in sight and its abundant trees and flourishing nature, the land offers plenty of privacy. During your time off, you can enjoy its peace and ressource yourself in the soft shade of the trees. Practice yoga, meditation, observe the birds… or just read a book in the hammock.
  
  Even if it feels isolated, we are only ten minutes walk from the village. There you can find bars, nice pastry with free wifi. We are about 15 minutes drive from Tabua and Oliveira do Hospital, and about 40 minutes from Serra da Estrella. The nature around us is magnificent and there is plenty of walk to do. The Mondeigo river is very close and there is possibility to make Kayak. We also have many very beautiful river beaches around, where you can refresh in the cold water.
  
  The alternative life is very active in our area ! There is plenty of projects in the same spirit than ours to discover, and as many interesting people. Many workshops are organized. And there are several free hippie markets every month. You can also find yoga courses and Ecstatic Dance. And of course some partys from time to time.
  
  The locals are very welcoming and open hearted, and the local markets and festas are a very good opportunity to discover about the rural Portuguese culture.
  
  A bit further, we are about 1h from Coimbra, 1h30 from Figueira da Foz and Porto. And about 3h from Lisbon. There is a train station close by and we can drive you/ pick you there if you need.

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  If you are travelling by van or camper, we have a very nice, flat and shaded spot for you to instal yourself.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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