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Host is looking for help immediately
Host rating
90 %
Last replied
31 May 2025
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93.2 %
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Details
Description
Dear community,
We are a young couple that chose to live a different life.
We bought a house in northern Portugal which we will completely rebuild using natural building techniques. Our aim is to build a circular living concept that integrates elements of permaculture and co-living/working.
This will be the adventure of our lifetime which we can only achieve with the support from a worldwide community.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Help around the house
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We can share our experience from a classic career oriented path to using what we have and know early on to build a sustainable minimalist lifestyle. We can teach natural building techniques, permaculture design, yoga and surfing.
Help
More infos on events, availabilities and projects you can find below ⬇️
GENERAL AVAILABILITY
We have availabiliy from spring on and strongly prefer workawayers with pre-knowledge in either handcraft related practices. If you don't have any of these, don't worry and still get in touch, Precondition definitely is that you are passionate with animals and happy to get your hands dirty :) The minimum stay is 2 weeks. We prefer stays between 1 - 3 months. You are living as part of our family and enjoy to get into the flow with people.
OPEN SLOTS & FOCUS:
07.06. - 14.06. | Natural building & permaculture
HOUSE SITTING from 27.06, - 11.07. | taking care of animals & garden
After 28.07. | Natural building & permaculture
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ECO-CONSTRUCTION
We are currently doing projects with wood / straw and clay. We welcome craftsmen experience and are happy to pay a small compensation for people with relevant craftsmen backgrounds,
PERMACULTURE
Spring time will be crazy busy to get the beds going and bring baby plants out. We have a few swales that have to be built to grow our agroforest. If you are a Permaculture designer - please get in touch 👋🏻
CARE HELP
We always need someone who is willing to spend time caring for the others, caring for the house, and animals around.
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If you can, please arrive Friday night / Saturday morning. We need the weekend in order to get you started to the tasks and introduce you to everything. You have 2 days off during the week.
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WORKSHOPS
15.06. Glass bottle brick:
You will learn to upcycle glass bottles and turn them into bricks that can be used for clay construction, as well as upcycled cups and lamps.
The workshops are a great opportunity for cultural exchange and meeting local people in the area, as we usually are a good mix between volunteers and local residents.
Vegan / veg lunch and dinner is included. You stay in your own tent / hammock / van. Arrival day before between 5 - 7 pm. Departure day after until 11 am. No pre-knowledge needed. You have to be healthy and enjoy physical work.
Please don’t bring animals - we already have a lot of them :)
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Portuguese: Beginner
Accommodation
YOUR TENT
You have a spacious "glamping" tent (3x3m in size), high enough to stand in. The tent is equipped with a bed.
SANITATION
We have an outdoor shower, which is the only warm water source and an indoor composting toilet. As it came to a surprise to one or the other: anyone staying with us might also be involved in emptying and cleaning the composting toilet. If you use it - you also take care of it :)
WATER
We have well and are connected to the tap water (not drinkable). There is a river with water from the mountains next to the property. We collect drinking water from nearby natural springs.
ELECTRICITY & WIFI
Provided + super speedy glass fibre internet. It's the best.
NUTRITION
We provide all meals always. We are living mostly vegan and sugar reduced - so will be our food. We are still developing the habits around it, and it’s very difficult if we’re continuously surrounded by other types of food. Therefore, if you need sweets to survive, I’d ask you to keep these things out of the “main” areas - otherwise the munchies are hitting and we’ll go back to spooning Nutella 😂
LAUNDRY
There will be a washing machine available for use and a communal washing line, cost is 1 EUR per wash (including organic washing liquid). You can also share this with other guests.
What else ...
HOW TO GET AROUND
The place is 15 mins by car from amazing surf spots and 10 mins driving to Vila nova de Cerveira. You’re close to mountains for hiking and mountain biking.
If you don’t have a car, be prepared to cycle or walk. You can get anywere by bike, and the rides are very beautiful. Beach is 30 mins by bicycle. The next train station (seixas) is 30 - 40 mins walking. You’ll find trains to all beaches and bigger cities. We have a bicycles you can lend from us that will be a great help in reaching beaches and mountains.
We have surf boards for beginners and rent them out for 10€/ day. Initially we didn’t take any money for sharing our boards, but beginners luck includes that damages on the board come quickly. In order to repair / replace the boards from time to time, we decided to take a little fee.
TRAVEL INSTRUCTIONS
Big sorry beforehand: We don't pick-up workawayers from train stations. Most of the time, your arrival times are somewhat within our working hours and with the flow of workawayers in and out of this house, we can’t handle it. But there are ways to get here even without our help, and many have done it before you ;)
> Generally, Seixas is the clostes train station. If you don't find trains to Seixas, try Caminha.
> Take the Autna Bus from Porto Airport to Vila Nova de Cerveira. Take a train from Vila Nova de Cerveira to Seixas.
> Take the train from Porto to Seixas. Walk from Seixas.
> Sometimes there are Blablacars around, too.
> A taxi from Caminha to Vilar de Mouros should be around 10 - 15 €.
Trains and Buses in Portugal are super cheap - so don't hesitate to try them out.
THINGS YOU SHOULD BRING (SUMMER EDITION)
- A mosquito net to throw over your bed
- Working gloves (we have some you can use, but some people prefer their own)
- A hat
- Mandatory: Biodegradable Sunscreen (mineral based), 100% Biodegradable toothpaste and soap (our water directly flows out watering our plants. If you don't find suitable products, you can buy homemade soap and shampoo (each 5€) and toothpaste from us.)
- Yoga mat and games if you like :)
THINGS YOU SHOULD BRING (WINTER EDITION)
Same as in summer, and:
- A warm hat, warm socks, and warm clothes in general. It gets really chilly during the night and in the mornings.
DONATIONS
Do you know how many trees you have chopped down for use for toilet paper, cardboard packaging, paper etc? How much carbon are you responsible for due to buying food, cars ad flying. If you would like to offset your carbon footprint you can help us by purchasing trees for the nursery. Please ask us when you get here and we can pick these up from the market. You can then plant them and make your own sign to go with them in your name or for a friend.
If you want to bring us anything we need that would be amazing. We always need arts and crafts, books, paint brushes, paint, seeds, old clothes for working, essential oils, musical instruments, mugs, crockery and art.
HOUSE RULES
These may seem obvious to you, but we have a few issues with every group, so I would like to put them here so everything is clear.
- No smoking and drinking around the house and land anytime. Only off property. No smoking in summer in anywhere outside concrete (fire risk).
- Upon arrival: Please do not pet, talk or interact in any ways with our dogs, as it it impacts their training.
- Do not chase or frighten our animals. We have free ranging chicken. They are friendly. Behave calm and friendly around any animal you encounter. When you are stressed, they are stressed.
- Do not remove anything from our land, such as rocks, flowers, plants etc.
- Give people their own space when they need it.
- Remove shoes when accessing the house.
- If you break something due to incompetence or maltreatment, please offer to pay for it.
- If you move something, put it back. If you borrow something, then please put it back.
- Only use organic soap and shampoo (we have these for sale if you need them), as all used water goes to our organic
gardens.
- Don't pull a weed out or take a plant unless you know what it is and have been asked to do so. We have lost so many lovely
plants due to people being unaware that the grass was onions. Also, this is a good learning exercise for you.
- Do not use a tool or garden machinery unless you have been shown how to use it.
- If something is broken, please let us know so we can fix it.
- Sharpen all tools before you use them.
- Clean and return all tools to where they should be before finishing work.
- If a tool doesn't feel like it is working right, or maybe it isn't the right tool for the job, stop using it and check.
- Attend all morning work meetings and weekly community meetings.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have Fibre glass super high quality internet and one room with a desk.
Space for parking camper vans
You can park either on a public parking space close to a nearby chapel or on a piece of land next to our property. The access to the land is very steep and requires you to drive carefully. Very deep vans might have difficulties.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (16)
I really admire the way Emma and Jannis… read more
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I really admire the way Emma and Jannis… read more
I wish you good luck in the future!✨️
Emma and Jannis are wonderful and inspiring young people who have chosen to live… read more
Katarina isn't just good; she's the kind of person who makes everything better. She's this wonderful mix of gentle yet hardcore, proactive, and adaptable. No matter the situation, she's a rockstar, taking care of herself while spreading happiness all… read more
He also brought a lot of joy and ease into the group. Everybody enjoyed his music and got to their limits with small workouts he… read more
My time was spent learning natural building techniques, enjoying the amazing places of Portugal and meeting so many amazing people.
We had a lot of fun working as a group of workawayers and Emma and Jannis on the tiny house… read more
Amongst the fun and the easy going vibe they are really dedicated to their work, and serious about their project - approaching every little bit with great professionalism. This combination is so great to work in and work with. The tasks were set… read more
The little family brought a lot of warmth… read more
Emma and Jannis are lovely chilled and fun people and inspiring to see how they live their lives in such a sustainable way. Their home is so lovely and it felt like 'home' straight… read more
Emma and Jannis are very… read more
