Profile information
Host rating
65 %
Last replied
11 Mar 2024
Reply rate
66.7 %
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Details
Description
We are a small family of three people Timo, Vilma and baby Okra. We speak english, finnish and spanish. We are living in the midst of beautiful rural land, surrounded by forests, fields and lakes. Our home is a former local school building, finely crafted loghouse from 1920's that has an impressive local history. This area is considered as southest wilderness of Finland, not more than 2 hours drive from Helsinki, yet the landscapes remind of the hills and valleys of Lapland.
Our house is definitely a large one, so we have plenty of room here for us, friends and volunteers to enjoy. The main building (school) has two separate living areas with own kitchen, toilet and bedrooms. There is also a big old classroom with many fun indoor activities - a slackline, aerial silk and old gymnastics. Also we have two djembes, a drum set and plenty of other instruments to play with. Outside we have an old sauna building and a garden ready to flourish - we are happy to get inspiration from volunteers of gardening and landscaping skills! And of course the nature around is our playground. There are plenty to explore in the surroundings. Lake Päijänne (the 2nd biggest lake in Finland) is about 2,5 km away, there are gorgeus forests to roam and forage around (berries, herbs, mushrooms depending on the season).
This place invites you to enjoy pure nature and hide away from traffic, haste and noise.
This place is quite new for us too, and we are renovating it in a creative manner and mainly with recycled and local materials in a low budget, while respecting the old ways of building. We are hoping to get help with the garden, painting, renovating the house, and/or spending time with our baby too depending on your skills and interests. Yet we don't have animals, but the place is surrounded by nature (lambs are our forest neighbours in the summer time) and we are thinking about getting bees to begin with.
...and a little bit about us. We are a young couple with our baby born in august 2023. Both of us have been travelling for many years in our lives, also doing Workaway and WWOOFing here and there. We are interested in cultures and languages and we definietly appreciate wild nature and all the beauty and fun it offers as a playground for human souls. We are active people who enjoy outdoor- and indoor activites, sports, exploring and creating - and nowadays our baby Okra comes along! Vilma is a massage therapist and a student at the moment and Timo is self-made carpenter with masters degree in anthropology.
With public transport it takes around 2,5h from Helsinki to Joutsa (nearest bus stop) and we can pick you up from there (20mins drive). In the summer time there also goes a summer bus near by, one-two days a week from Lahti. We have few bicycles to explore the areas nearby and possibly a rowing boat.
Occasionally we are driving to visit Jyvaskyla, Joutsa or Helsinki, you can hop on a trip if you feel like it.
We cook mostly vegetarian, but not exclusively. Vilma is accustomed to cook vegan and gluten-free meals.
Ps. If you'd like to come and help us in our home, we would appreciate personal applications where you'd tell little bit about yourself, perhaps more than it's read on your profile. Also why you would like to come to our place, what projects you'd be interested in participating etc. We try to reply all applications, and more personal letters catch our attention better! Thank you :)
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
This is a unique opportunity to work in an old Finnish village school surroundings, dip yourself into an authentic, historical and rural finnish way of living - having sauna, swimming in lakes, outdooring, foraging, crafting, enjoying the super fresh air and silence.
We have a lot of travelling and volunteering history and we love cultural and skill exchanges. Timo likes working DIY projects with vintage tools and traditional building. He also loves fooling on a slackline, jamming on drums and telling stories. Vilma has crafting skills and loves to forage wild plants for food and cosmetics. She is a body-mind enthuast who happily helps out when you have sore muscles or shares a moment of yoga and natural movement with you.
We have a wide social life though we live in sparsely populated area - friends and family like to visit us on weekends and holidays and stay for a day or two- to have sauna, dine, chill, go hiking, play music and games. At our place is possible to meet more friends from Finland and other countries.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We are hoping to get help with painting the house, gardening, renovating and taking care of the baby, depending on your interests and skills.
Projects we are planning for summer 2024
-Building and planting edible garden
-Building terrace from our own logs and recycled materials
-Painting the main house, north side
-Planting trees and plants
-Creating fences by stone/earth/wood
-Window restoration, the traditional style
-Possibly building an eco toilet
-Getting to know the nearby nature as much as possible :)
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Finnish: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
We have a room to offer inside the house. Also there is plenty of place for a campervan or a tent/hammock if preferred. For outdoor people it is also possible to accomodate in the attic of the house, a granary or sauna building.
What else ...
We are located in a bit distant location, but public transport is not far away. Also we have friends visiting to help you move around if needed. We are hoping a guest that stays for some time so we can get to know each other better.
Local sights:
-Lake Päijänne 2,5km (also historical boat rides in the summer)
-Peltola historical museum 8 km
-Leivonmäki Natural park 26 km
-Vaarunvuori Natural park 23 km
-Cultural cafe and Art Museum Haihatus 27 km
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have working internet access and a quiet space to work.
Space for parking camper vans
We have a big yard to park smaller or bigger campervans
Can possibly accept pets
At the moment we don't have any pets, though we would like to have. So if you are travelling with a pet, don't hesitate to ask us. We are a pet-friendly family :)
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
