Help with gardening and care for the animals at our sustainable project in Conquista, Spain

Details

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  Description

  Our project aims at creating food for humans in a sustainable way that mimics a natural ecosystem. Some people call that approach regenerative agriculture.
  
  We are not about extracting from the ecosystem but instead we aim to generate abundance so that we can take away the surplus for human consumption without forcing the whole system into decline.
  
  Our land is 45 ha located in the Valle de los Pedroches in Andalusia, Spain. It is situated in an old agroforestry system called Dehesa in Spanish. The landscape is dominated by oak trees and not much is left from the other vegetation that once existed. The soil is mostly damaged and has very few organic material in it.
  
  An ecosystem is complex and there is not a clear path to achieve anything. Nature is additive and for everything there are multiple ways and multiple actors. Nature is resilient because one could remove one element and the ecosystem keeps functioning. However, removing too much will likely lead to its decline.
  
  To us that means we work simultaneously on multiple topics and make decisions based on knowledge but to a large extend based on observation. What works elsewhere is an inspiration to us but we think we should not copy but instead find our way of applying a principle that has worked in a similar situation as ours.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Videography

  

  Technology

  

  Sustainability

  

  Pets

  

  Farming

  

  Plant care

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Photography

  

  Languages

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Blogging

  

  Architecture

  

  Carpentry

  

  Animals

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Nature
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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

  Spain offers a special visa for young people from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Canada to come on a working holiday for up to 12 months. If you happen to be from these places there is a lot of opportunity to learn about each other's culture. It's actually a multi-cultural experience as we can not only introduce you to the Spanish culture also the German one.

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  Help

  We do not have any recurring tasks like farm chores (eg. feed the goats every morning or clean horse stalls). Instead we have a myriad of little and bigger projects. Depending on your experience and skills you can do them alone or become involved and we do it together.
  
  Our one and only employee Angel speaks Spanish only but I am fluent in German, English, and Spanish.
  
  Projects may involve:
  
  - planting, gardening
  - carpentry
  - metal working including welding
  - software development in the IoT space
  - horse training
  - other work with animals
  
  Eventually once infrastructure has improved we should be able to accept Workawayers who just stay a week or so but for the time being it is much better to stay a lot longer. That allows us to really plan something with you and make your stay here worthwhile for everybody.
  
  Search for us on the web and on YouTube and you can see what we are doing and which projects we have planned to do.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  We speak three languages fluently. Our daughter is a bit autistic but is also able to speak all three languages. However, she does prefer English most of the time. If you happen to be a girl yourself, you can interact with her. She likes English and German more than Spanish though.
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  Accommodation

  The old cortijo is in process of being remodeled. During Spring and Autumn the not insulated building works as accommodation given that people have a sleeping bag.
  
  We have 8 camping beds available and past volunteers found it ok (see images).
  
  Food/meals will be provided. There is also some basic kitchen available for volunteers.

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  What else ...

  You can also find us on YouTube and we have a website. There are now well over 300 videos available documenting what we do since the beginning.

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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 are connected to the Internet via Starlink and use it for work in software development every day. Our place has multiple WiFi access points and a professional network.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We've had visitors with campervans. We can dispose of your waste and provide water and electricity or other help you might need.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

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