Take part in my young permaculture project in Giarre, Sicily, Italy

Details

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  Description

  ***Looking for 2 volunteers from the 20th of september***
  
  Hello everyone! I'm Alberto and this is a young permaculture project born in 2019. I am from 1988 but I was born again when this project has began 😌 a new life 😱
  
  FYI Before you read I would tell I host volunteers for two weeks as a minimum and four as a maximum 🙏 from June to September I'll host up to 3-4 volunteers at time.
  To be sure to find space in here you should contact me within 2 and 3 months in advance.
  There are dogs, cats, chickens always xaround us, and lot of mosquitos from April to October🙏
  
  I have purchased an abandoned citrus grove that with the help of volunteers are transforming into an edible forest rich in biodiversity.
  I have many dreams to "build", so we spend the time here between giving constant manteinance to the land and building new things all year long.
  I desire to turn this land in a jungle where people must wear safety helmets to avoid being knockout by the fruits falling at anytime 🤣 It would be an oasis with many facilities that are only in my mind at this time 😁
  Just give me twenty more years for that 🙏🙏
  
  The land is 7000 square meters, with many lemon trees, olive, pears, grapes, clementines, grapefruit, a few tropical trees, and herbs.
  I am few kilometers far from the sea, and some more kilometers far from Etna. We are 160 meters above sea level, and the subtropical climate allows us to grow many exotic fruits and live outdoors 9 months per year.
  Anyway we live outside 12 months per year 😎😎😎
  We are not a company, everything we produce is for self-sufficiency.
  Inhabitants of this land are Acab (the dog), Dima (the big one, half cat and half puppet 🥹), Azolo (the black cat and, the king of the Land 🫣), Gilda (the new arrived, a little female that always follows Azolo 🙂‍↔️) 8 chickens and Alberto (the human) 😁.
  I have friends over often and you'll have the chance to know other good souls 🙏
  
  Some more about me:
  I am an easy going person, outgoing and funny, also empathetic, open minded and caring.
  I behave as a kid when I am happy and relaxed, as an "adult" when we work on priorities.
  
  I Just ask to the volunteers to wake up at time, keep the kitchen clean and honour the daily tasks, and be focused during the explanations I give, expecially for how to use water 🙏🙏🙏🙏
  
  Sometimes thinking about everything is overwhelming and I can lose focus 🙏 that's also why I ask for help 😁
  I like to cook and I do it often. I am not a chef but whatever I make gets finished every single time 😎 I am also happy if someone else would do it ❤️
  I am Sagittarius, Aquarius rising, for anyone interested in knowing 🙏
  
  What I'm looking for:
  My first goal is make people feel comfortable, relaxed and safe, like at home 🙏 then make them independent in the land, punctual and focused.
  I look for people that would love to change their life, that love DIY, that are curious to learn and happy to be completely involved in someone's life, kinda of au pair experience, but without an house and just a dog that babysit himself 😂
  I can tell my story, share my experience, teach what I've learnt throught observation and experience.
  I can teach you a bit of everything: I'm not expert in anything, but I have made everything by myself here. Woodworking, prunings, irrigation, electricity, building, networking, problem solving etc... Here there's no chance to give up 💪😁
  
  There are many little daily tasks that could be done whenever we ask ourselves: "How can I help?" that I will show you the very first days 🤗
  When we are under the same roof we are friends: we work together, talk about ourselves, make food together and help each other.
  There are thousands little things to do here and everything can change suddenly because of weather, commitments, or just feeling weak.
  
  The time here is different: days are longer, and weeks are shorter 🤔 Remember It!
  Good travelling everyone!

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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

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Interests

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Sustainability

  

  Self development

  

  Pets

  

  Farming

  

  Plant care

  

  Photography

  

  Gardening

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Carpentry

  

  Animals
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You could learn that you can feel at home even far from your house :)
  This project is about developing to be off grid, so you can gain plenty of information around permaculture, gardening, building, solving problems et cetera et cetera 😁
  We are totally off grid, with solar electricity and water from rain collection, and whatever we need we project and build by ourselves 🫣.
  DIY is the keyword, you could expect any kind of work here, in depending on what we are building (or fixing 🥲).
  Everyone here becomes familiar with the pickaxe, the shovel, the rake, the wheelbarrow and their proper way of using them without wasting calories 😁 then gardening is a big task, so you can learn prunings, graftings, new plantations ect.. in depending on the season you come here.
  Beside that there is always the weekly maintenance of the vegetable garden, so boooring!
  What else? I do not know yet, but I know will be tiring, that's why I am here 😁
  Life here is as a small familiar environment that turns strangers in siblings, and people here are totally involved in my life, knowing my friends and coming with me the few times I get out from here 😁
  I have used to go with volunteers to many projects around the area, that's why some feedbacks talk about that, but I found this exhausting and I slowed down this a lot 🙏
  I am willing to teach whatever I have learnt about wildlife in these six years outdoor😁
  This project is still rising, so by coming here you'll put your hands in something meaningful that will expand roots and will get bigger and bigger every year 🙏
  
  *Photography: in one of my previous lives I have been a freelance photographer, so I am able to teach everything about whatever camera you'll bring with you 🤗*

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  Help

  Coming to my land is an experience of wild life 😁 It's hard only during the time you need to get used to it 💪
  
  We work 4-5 hours per day in the early morning. Some tasks require also help in the afternoon and the evening (making grape juices, harvest olives...) but in these cases those days worth as two days of help.
  Help are really varius, I cannot make a list 😭.
  Just be ready for workouts 😁 pickaxe, shovel, rake, gloves will be part of your dress code 😁
  I am building a lot, as I said, so we'll do carpentry, woodworking, plasterings, we use lot of clay, straw and sand for making walls, and we give constant mainteinance to the land and the vegetable garden 🙏
  
  There are two days off every five of help: It must be comunicate at least a day in advance and it cannot be a day we must do some big tasks dealed in advance 🙏
  I suggest to avoid weekends because there are much less trains running and more crowd 😮‍💨
  FYI I have noticed that often volunteer prefer help 2-3 days then get a day off, so we do🙏
  
  Daily tasks are clean up the outdoor kitchen, keeping it tidy at anytime, feed the animals and preparing meals togheter 😁 during summer also give water to the plants 🙏
  Once per week we clean the facilities, the roulottes, we sort the garbage and handwash clothes, we clean the chicken coop 😱, and we do maintenance on the vegetable garden 😁.
  
  Almost everyday we work on something different, and those tasks change between hot and cold seasons. Also, every day can change because of the weather 🕺
  
  The daily routine is simple🙏
  We wake up at dawn, we have breakfast, then we work till lunch (sometimes togheter, sometimes alone).
  After cleaning the kitchen the afternoon is free, and we meet again and hour before dusk to do some work, that could be tidy up, fix tools etc in cold season and water the trees in summer🥳
  
  
  !!!Winter is only for really adaptable people!!! 💪 It's tiring, cold, rainy and with short days of daylight.
  We wake up later to make to environment outside warm a bit, and we work all day long (sun sets at around 16.30). We'll make always 4-5 hours of work divided into the morning and the afternoon.
  Also shower can be taken only after lunch due to temperatures, to make the outdoor shower experience more enjoyable 💪
  
  Anyway the fact I'm still alive and healty after six winters should ensure you a bit 🤣
  
  !!!Advice for "northern" people: July and August are crazy hot, with temperatures over 35 degrees for 8 to 10 hours per day, dealing with mosquitos, flies, ants and sunburns (expecially for really light skins).
  This temperatures affect the energies more than you think, and some people from North Europe have given up after few days because of that, discovering also new allergies 😬 I would say that insects bites and sun radiations are on a different scale here 🙏
  Please consider this advice 🙏🙏🙏 and choose another season 😜 March-April and September-November are the best options, trust me pleeease🙏🙏🙏
  
  The land every year requires some big jobs that I ask for help with:
  January: prune grapes, dig out oaks and blackberry shrubs;
  February: prune olive trees, pear trees, ivys;
  March: graft olive trees, prepare the summer vegetable garden, seedings etc.;
  April: graft and prune citrus trees, harvest lemons;
  May: look after the vegetable garden, harvest medlars, weedings, work on safety against summer bushfire;
  June-July: build with mud 😍 water new plants, weedings, dig out oaks and blackberry shrubs;
  August: water new plants, make tomato sauce (1 to 3 days)
  September: harvest grapes (1-2 days), make grape juice, harvest hazelnuts (3-4 days), harvest prickly pears, new plantations (trees and vegetables)
  October-November: harvest olives (biggest task of the year! 3 days of heavy work and 2 extra days of rest after 😁), plant onions, fennels, peas, broad beans;
  December: harvest lemons (2-3 days);
  
  ***Ongoing projects:
  - we are building the walls of the outside shower, transforming it in an inside shower 😍
  ***
  
  *** In the next months:
  - Plaster the new buildings;
  - Build fornitures and drawers;
  - Make signs for the paths;
  - Start a 500 square meters food forest 💪;
  ***
  
  ***In the future:
  - restore a 4000 litres container to make a pond;
  - Build a new chicken coop;
  - Build a second compost toilet;
  - Build a kitchen;
  ***

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Spanish: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  !!Life here is outdoors!! Be sure you're ready for It 🙏
  No comforts, no hairdryer, no fridge, and many other missing things 😛 compost toilet outside, shower outside, then dog hairs, cats and chickens everywhere!
  Dirty nails, dust, seeds and leaves on your hairs, scratches on armpits and mosquito bites are part of the experience 😁 you'll come back home wilder 😜
  
  Volunteers will sleep in a cozy roulotte (with heating system in wintertime) 🤙 It's made for two volunteers (always same gender).
  
  There is a compost toilet, an outdoor kitchen and an outdoor shower.
  
  One thing to know about the compost toilet: I ask to pee in it as less as possible, and pee behind the tree you prefer that day 😁 this drastically reduce bad smells, emptying it is much easier and we do not have to find a way to get rid of tons of urine 🙏🙏🙏
  
  Water is really precious, so we ask to use it very very carefully :) I guarantee a shower per day in summer, and one every two days in the rest of the year (october-may). We cannot have shower during rainy days 🫣
  If you bring shampoos, soaps ect., please look for biological ones, because water goes directly to the trees 🙏 I provide natural soaps and handmade toothpaste made out of clay, essentials oils and coconut oil 😁 If you feel is "too much" for you feel free to use your own products 😅.
  
  Kitchen requires lot of water and I have developed methods to reduce water consumption at his minimum, be sure to follow exactly the instructions I will give 🙏🙏🙏
  
  I can provide you all the working clothes you need (tshirts and trousers), safety shoes (must be used for many tasks), extra towels and extra warm clothes. I have a full closet of all kinds of clothing (sweatshirts, pants, bathing suits, blankets) so pack extra socks and underwear rather than an extra heavy layer 🙏
  
  ***Volunteers must have a head lamp (USB recharge), plastic shoes and one towel for the shower, single bed sheets and a pillow case 🙏***
  
  ***"What else could be useful to bring?"
  These are really useful things to bring that makes everything easier, listed in ordered of priority:
  - a metal bottle;
  - a powerbank;
  - a sleeping bag;
  - something particular that belongs to your country, could be something to drink or eat togheter or something to stitch or hang somewhere 😁 your choice, it's only a suggestion and not mandatory 🙏
  If you have space left in your luggage please fill it with these things 🙏***
  
  We have little electricity obtained throught sun, enough for charging phones every day and other devices with sunny days.
  
  We handwash underwear, socks and tshirts, and we use a laundry machines in a nearby town for all the other stuff when we reach the critical amount of clothes 😜 I pay for wash all the clothes I give to you for working and I would love to have a contribution to wash yours if an extra washing machine is needed for this 🙏
  
  There is no wifi here 🤔 what did you expect? 🤣
  I suggest to travellers outside Europe that stay more than a month in Italy that it's worth buying an italian simcard. It cost around 25 euros with a month of service included. You can use its data keeping your old number 😎 be sure there's space for a second simcard in your phone 🙏 I have lots of data and I can make my phone a hotspot when needed 🙏
  
  Life's here is totally outdoor and pretty tiring for the body, but also wise and satisfing 💪
  Some tasks in the land are boring, some exciting, some tiring for the body, some tiring for the brain. And they are all chances to know each other and learn something new togheter every day 🥹
  
  We'll always cook and eat togheter.
  I only buy ingredients like rice, pasta, legumes, flour, sugar, vegetables etc... so every meal comes out from primary food 😁 💪 during cold season we also eat cheese and we make sweets, while during hot season we mainly eat fruits from the land and some tahin 😜
  If you like to have wine or beer every day you should go buy them 😌 getting dizzy is allowed, getting drunk is forbidden 🧐 among all my jobs here I am also the safety manager 😁
  
  Who desires processed food or something else i do not buy he/she can buy them for himself/herself when we go to the grocery store, but, please, consumption of every food is allowed only in the kitchen area because food attracts ants, wasps, the cats, the dog, mice etc...🤷
  During days off you are also allowed to use the kitchen and eat leftovers, but I do not want to cook 🙏 it's also my day off a bit 😁😁😁
  
  
  In this place animals are completely free, so don't be scared of a chicken try to jump to the table to chase your food, or the dog sitting next to you gently waiting for you giving him a piece of what you are eating 😁
  
  I really need to care about expenses at this times but I share everything I have and I feel Rich anyway 🙏 Happiness is real only when shared (guess the movie!) and I totally believe in it 🙏
  
  So, what are you waiting for? 😎

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  What else ...

  We are 30 km north from Catania, not far from the Giarre exit of the A18 highway.
  It is possible to reach us by train from Fontanarossa Airport. The trains go toward Messina and the station where to stop is Carruba (is a minor station, not all the trains stop there, so double check this please 🙏).
  Plane+train usually is the best solution for reaching me. Purchase tickets only throught Trenitalia site, double check also this 🙏
  I will come and pick you up at the station, no worries 🤗
  
  Please if you come by plane buy one that lands before the afternoon, because reaching me is easier in the morning and I need couple of hours of sunlight to introduce you to the Land and the animals 🙏
  Unless your plans are set already, I also suggest you to wait for buying the return ticket (or make it possibile to change date) because after few days you'll know if you want to stay more (happens 😌).
  
  Walking around the surrounding area is possible but is pretty awkward because the roads are not suitable for pedestrians 😟 using bikes is possible but all the roads here are pretty steep 💪 we are over a Vulcano 😁.
  
  There is San Leonardello Village, only one kilometer far from the land, that has a bar, a bakery, a tobacco shop, a fruit and vegetables shop, and a post office. Much closer to the land there is a chinese store that sells any kind of stuff, good if you need a mosquito spray, a charging cable, a memory card or plastic shoes 😜
  There are two grocery stores twice the distance of San Leonardello Village 🙏
  
  I will pick you up and drop at Carruba station when you'll travel by train in your days off.
  You can reach Taormina, Acireale, Catania, Siracusa, Messina and other beautiful cities 😎
  Buses can bring you everywhere in Sicily, they departure from Catania station.
  Hiking in Etna is something we do once or twice per season, but if you enjoy going there I can drop you there and pick you up if someone pays for petrol 🙏
  We are building a big community of people that have lands and help each other, so during the stay you'll participate in parties and meetings with other people who have permaculture projects, also going to their places helping for what they need 😁 some hosts in the surroundings are my friends 😌
  
  Weather:
  Here humidity is high all year long, but you can manage it. Lowest temperatures are in January-February, going less than 4 degrees during the night, and maybe reach 15 at lunch time. The highest are in summer, we can go over 40 degrees...yes! Forty! But we go to the sea everyday when this happens 😁 and days are so long and nice that you forget everyday you have worked that morning!
  
  Mosquitos...we deal with them from February to November, being really annoying in May-June and September-November 🤷
  
  Spring is always the best season, unless you have allergies to pollens 🤣 sun, rain, wind, everything growing fast with colours and parfumes everywhere 🤩
  Summer is very hot, and that humidity makes you sweat all day long. But temperatures at night are just perfect 🥹
  Fall is intense, with lot of various works that change everyday, and is the chance to learn many little things instead of a few but big, as can happen in winter and Spring.
  
  Every candidate will have a half an hour videocall to make me show the Land, give further explanations and ask her/him some questions to be sure we are creating a win-win situation 💪
  
  I have hosted more than a hundred people in these years, and more than half of them come from workaway ❤️ I love this site and the wonderful work of moderators, that make everything simple but also efficient and transparent 🙏
  There was a time a felt the need to talk more about myself, now there are these wonderful reviews that do this for me 😌
  Also my description is so detailed because I always ask to volunteers if there was something missing 😎
  I always have times more requests than the ones I could accept, this means that I always can choose good souls, eager to learn and help, and keep a high-vibe mood in this little paradise we are making 🙏
  Thanks for your time reading me 🙏
  
  Alberto

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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

  Evenings are always free from work here. I do not have wifi but I have lot of data and I can use my phone as hotspot whenever is needed 🙏 Signal here is very good 🙏

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  Space for parking camper vans

  Can't make you throw any water here 🙏 The maximum lenght could be 6,5 meters to fit 🙏

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

  Acab

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