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100 %
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27 Feb 2025
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Description
# Status 2025: We are pretty booked until autumn already, nevertheless we can always host self-catering families with kids around the same age as ours, who travel with their own accomodation (caravan / camper / tent) :-) #
We are a german family of six building an off-grid homestead for some years now and trying to apply permaculture principles. We focus on regenerative land management with tree planting/protection and intensive rotational grazing running sheep, goats and chickens in order to build healthy soil. Right now we have 5 sheep, 30 goats, 100+ chickens, two young cats and a puppy dog.
We have three dammed lakes on our property - one of them is for swimming and normally has water until the end of summer. The kids have several trampolins, which they love to share :). We enjoy playing card and board games on rainy days. We recently moved into our log cabin. Before that, we lived in caravan and some nicely refurbished containers, which now serve as the workawayer accomodation. The container has a living room / kitchen and a seperate bedroom. Alternatively accomodation is also available in spacious tents or in your own vehicle if you travel with a campervan or caravan. We have running water, electricity (may be limited in the winter and during nighttime), internet, hot showers and compost toilets.
Workawayers help with daily chores on the land and with the animals (milking, feeding, collecting eggs, rotating animals, weeding, making biochar, cutting, planting), do building projects (chicken tractors, sheds, furniture - mostly with wood), tutor/do languages with our homeschooled children (12/10/8), look after our 2,5 year old or help in the kitchen (cooking, baking or making yoghurt, cheese and ice cream). If you want to see a busy family homestead in the vastness of the Alentejo and enjoy being around animals and children, you will like our place. Families with children are very welcome - preferably with your own vehicle, so that we are able to go places together ;)
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
House sitting
Interests
Farming
Movies & TV
Van life
Culture
Pets
Sustainability
Technology
Videography
Hitchhiking
Languages
Plant care
History
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Carpentry
Astronomy
Books
Animals
Adventure sports
Yoga / Wellness
Dancing
Fitness
Water sports
Outdoor activities
Team sports
Nature
Mountain
Hiking
Cycling
Camping
Beach
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We have travelled quite a bit, speak several languages and are interested in history, geography and regenerative agriculture. We'll always find something interesting to talk about ;-) At our place you can learn how to make cheese, ice cream and joghurt as well as biochar. You can learn how to bake sour dough bread, how to slaughter chickens, make beef jerkey, tallow and ghee. Furthermore you can improve and share your building skills and see how we apply permaculture principles to regenerate degraded land mainly by working with animals and establishing a silvopasture system.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
No special skills necessary, we also learned everything from scratch ;-b
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
Dutch: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
We love to have people on the land for our children to improve their English.
Accommodation
Different accomodations are available:
40 square meter container with living room, fully equiped kitchen kitchen and seperate bedroom with place for two people. Alternatively fully equipped tent with mattress (for one or two people) or your own campervan/caravan (especially if two or more people).
Meals are with the family (if single or couple living with us) or on your own (when coming with campervan/caravan with a family for example). Or a mix. We can't cater vegans at all - eggs and other animal based products are a staple at our farm. We eat a lot of milk, joghurt and cheese, as we produce it ourselves. We do eat some fruit - mostly seasonal and our own, rarely something exotic. We are not eating a lot of grain, starches or vegetables, so even if you're "only" vegetarian, it won't be easy for you here, if you're not self-catered ;-)
What else ...
The beaches of the Westcoast are within 50 minutes and the Algarve is about 1h. We go there about once a week. It is very quiet an peaceful where we live. You can enjoy nature, watch the stars at night or go for a walk or cycling. There are some montainbike tracks passing our property. The nearest town, Ourique, is 7km away and has all the infrastructure needed (cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, shops, library, post office,...). We go there about three times a week. It is connected to the portuguese bus network (Rede Expressos) and we can pick you up there. The next train station is Funcheira, which has connections to Lisbon and Faro. This is also where the the closest airports are.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Workawayers staying in our container house will have reliable internet connection through wifi or ethernet.
Space for parking camper vans
Unlimited space available. You can stay close to the farm or 300m away at the lakes, where we have a solar shower and a compost toilet.
Can possibly accept pets
Dogs, cats - if not hunting chickens ;-) Please let us know if you plan to bring an animal.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (9)
For half of my stay, I was with other Workawayers, which was absolutely lovely. Everyone had their own private sleeping space, which was great for… read more
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(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
For half of my stay, I was with other Workawayers, which was absolutely lovely. Everyone had their own private sleeping space, which was great for… read more
they took me in last minute and welcomed me like from second one. Easy to communicate with, humourous, and entertaining.
The accomodations for the workawayers, their new house, the land, the animals...everything was just nice. Starting the day… read more
After having cleared the initial language barrier, the kids got along very well and became good friends spending most of their time… read more
Michaela, Michael & their three kids stayed nearly three months with us and we found it a perfect constellation. The kids blended in absolutely perfect and they became very good friends with our pack - to the point that there was the odd tear running, when they had to leave 😢
They arrived with their big caravan, which… read more
Well, it was not what I expected - 'cause it didn't feel like work at all. Flo picked me up at the station and made me see him more like a friend or mentor than a boss from the first minute on. He and his lovely family welcomed me so warmly in their container house, that the… read more
Boris is very open-minded and tolerant and we heard a lot of interesting stories from his job as a social worker. The kids loved having him around to play, build, and talk… read more
I learned a lot about regenerative agriculture, and had fun doing farm chores like milking goats, helping with the roataional grazing, picking eggs, gardening, and others.
We had the chance to learn how to make cheese, icecream and biochar, to name a few :)
The family was… read more
She is a bright young woman interested in working with farm animals and we were happy to share with her the experience in rotational grazing and regenerative silvopasture that we made in Portugal. She helped us… read more
