Profile information
Host rating
65 %
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Details
Description
We are preserving and restoring an ancient landscape. The terraces and water channels were built by Moorish people over 1000 years ago who considered the region to be a garden paradise in the mountains. Now a small family farm with 70 olive trees, 15 almonds, a growing number of fruit trees, medicinal plants and a kitchen garden. Spring water is our main source for the land and house which runs alongside the land through a magical ravine. However beautiful, taking care taking for over 2 hectares of land is a lot to manage so your help is greatly appreciated.
We love learning, nature, gardening, art, literature, movement, music, yoga and getting to know new friends. We are a married couple with 2 daughters; 1 year old and 4 years old, together we live here with 5 cats, some hens, a cockerel and a dog.
Tasks change with the seasons, we are currently in spring time and watering twice daily to attend to our many plants and trees. We need support with both indoor and outdoor activities such as creating mulch, weeding, watering, planting, animal care, creating structures, step building, baking, making preserves, organising and clearing cupboards and stores.
In other seasons tasks can include seed planting, preparing gardens, harvesting and storing foods, olive and almond harvests, firewood cutting and sorting, pruning trees, landscaping, land management, irrigation, clearing water channels, maintaining water pipe systems, pool cleaning, strimming, wood chipping or leaf gathering for mulch.. and so much more. There is always a mountain of activities to do but working outdoors in supreme fresh air, with birdsong and sunshine in a mountain landscape with a view to die for fills us with soulful connection to the earth.
We knew a little bit more than nothing about gardening when we moved here 6 years ago, every day is a great adventure! Through experimenting along the way we are now regenerating the soil and successfully growing plants and trees. Still we have so much to learn and there are specific times of year when we need more help on the land for planting, harvesting and developing our permaculture and forest gardens.
Steadily we are building more infrastructure to improve guest facilities and working towards hosting yoga retreats. For now there is a beautiful yurt, a campervan, space for bringing tents or campervans, an outdoor compost loo, and we share our house facilities for cooking and showers. In time we aim to build an outdoor shower, kitchen and make camping facilities for guests to enjoy staying in nature. It is so peaceful here and wildlife thrives along the ravine with many migrating birds nesting there at night. A botanists paradise with many rare species, wild goats passing by daily and stunning sunrise and sunsets.
Who ever you are we are interested to hear from you and we would love your help in growing the garden paradise that this place is becoming.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
There are so much variety in the daily tasks to here, you can learn English & Spanish languages, plenty of gardening, challenges of life off grid such as solar and spring water systems, land management, pruning & depending on the season planting, harvesting & canning crops, how to be a part of a happy family home, basic carpentry and pallet wood constructions, cleaning, animal care, maintenance of an off grid home, dog training for a rescue dog, and so much more.
Volunteers give a maximum of 5 hours daily 5 days a week in exchange for 3 vegetarian meals a day. Many people enjoy to do more since the activities are varied and there is simply a lot to do.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We are urgently looking for a conscientious couple or solo person to begin now for help with child care, cooking, cleaning, seed planting, weeding, watering, intercropping and succession planting, especially throughout May. Also dog training and pet care. The role is potentially longer term helping on the land alongside au pair type activities. We prefer a minimum of 1 month but ideally 1 year or longer.
To begin we make a video call to discuss more details. After week 1 of your stay we review to ensure everyone is happy to commit to longer term stays.
In May we will be preparing & maintaining vegetable beds, weeding, daily watering, system maintenance like checking water filters, pipes & the spring. Seeding, planting, animal care and lots more. We also want help in house, with childcare, general cleaning, organising stores, cooking meals, wash up, harvesting & preserving cultivated & wild fruits, vegetables & herbs. There is a great variety of tasks to enjoy as a part of our family routine.
2 days a week we also need support at our community nature school, helping our youngest daughter and generally having fun playing with children aged 1 to 6 years old.
You need to be happy doing tasks on your own at times since we are a busy family and this is a peaceful place in nature, perfect for reading, hiking & exploring during free time. We make sure to share breakfasts & most dinner times together as a team.
We are looking for motivated, positive people who are kind & considerate, genuinely interested in nature, life off grid, ecological farming & attention to detail work. Building, carpentry & irrigation/plumbing, gardening skills are not essential but can be very helpful for our ongoing creative constructions such as a outdoor shower facilities, steps, yoga platform, improving irrigation, improving our fenced chicken space and much more.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
We are English and Spanish speakers. We also enjoy people chatting between themselves in other languages too, this enriches the lives of our family.
Accommodation
A campervan available to sleep a single or couple with it's own power supply, compost loo, & mini kitchen facilities.
A beautiful yurt with a double futon bed and wood stove for use during winter, there is also space for 2 more camping mats on the floor.
Compost loo - the temple of release and relaxation.
We share our home facilities including the shower, kitchen and wifi.
Where possible we prefer people to limit their time on phones and computers in the house around our children.
Bedding & towels are provided.
You can potentially bring a tent or campervan but we need to discuss details in advance since not all vehicles can drive the track to the house.
What else ...
Yegen has a small shop for buying extra snacks you love, a great pizza restaurant, several bars, amazing hiking routes and a mountain view that is really incredible. It is wild and wonderful, home to some rare species of plants
and animals such as mountain goats and wild boar.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
Depending on the season and whether the vehicle can drive our off road track which is fairly extreme.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Minimum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
