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Host is looking for help immediately
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100 %
Last replied
1 Nov 2025
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Description
***WE NEED HELP WITH OUR OLIVE HARVEST FROM THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER!!***
We are Franzi (39) and Elli (37) a german-italian couple living since 2019 in the Campo of Roquetes in south Catalunya.
We have one hectare of olives and Carobs trees where we live off-grid with our animals (3 dogs, 4 cats, 2 goats, 7 chickens, 3 Indian runner ducks and 3 fish): it’s a simple basic life, away from all the hectic and noises.
We are ex travellers and lived in a van for a while before settled down and started rescuing animals: for the safety of them we can't host you if you want to bring your dog.
We work with permaculture principles and parts of sintropyc agroforestry to regenerate this land after centuries of monoculture and decades of herbicides. We are into sustainable building and we love to recycle materials, we built part of our house with cob, bottles and old windows.
As we said, we live off-grid, this means that we rely on rainwater and water delivery: as we live in a drought area every drop counts. We have to use as little water as possible. Don’t worry, you will be able to wash yourself, but you can only use the shower (on our land) once or twice a week, on sunny days. Also we use our grey water to water trees and plants, so you need to use organic soap for hand-washing/showering.
We have a compost toilet tha we will teach you how to use if you are not familiar with it.
We are vegetarian as we eat the eggs from our chickens and very very rarely eat dairy products.
Eating meat is not allowed on our land: for us animals are friends, not food.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Interests
Vegetarian or vegan
Van life
Sustainability
Pets
LGBTQ
Farming
Plant care
Languages
Drawing & painting
Gardening
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Carpentry
Animals
Nature
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Our mothertongues are German (Franzi) and Italian (Elli) but we speak English with each other and we also speak basic Spanish and Catalan.
With us you can experience how off-grid living works in strict contact with nature and animals. It might inspire you to think more carefully about how you use natural resources in your life.
You can learn how to make cob and build with it, make tadelakt, building wicking beds for the veggie garden, doing wormicompost and a lot more about gardening.
Franzi is very handy and always busy in a new small building/repairing project.
Elli loves to cook and she can teach you how to make home made pasta and much more about the Italian food culture!
Important: So that we know you have read our profile till here, please mention the name of one of our dogs, Phoebe in your message ;)
Help
You can help us in many ways, there are always things to do around our Finca with the animals, the garden and the plants, or with building projects.
All our animals are really important to us, so you might get asked to watch over them while we are not at home.
We planed of building an extra room using cob and recycled materials, we’d love to build a cob pizza oven soon as well.
We need to repair our goat fence as they keep pushing and destroying it.
In Autumn we pick carobs and olives, and in the spring we prune our trees.
In the summer we need help watering the veggie garden and preserving the veggies.
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Catalan: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
We are interested to learn more Spanish/Catalan
Accommodation
At the moment we can accommodate a maximum of two people in a basic but confortable caravan. Or you can park your van on our land.
You'll be given usb chargeable lamps to use in the evening and there is stove you can use if you want to drink a coffee or a tea.
We will provide 2 vegetarian/vegan meals a day in exchange for 4-5h work/day for 5 days/week.
We are open for offers that are convenient for all of us!
In the house we have our kitchen, compost toilet and a shower, which you are welcome to use too.
You are welcome to charge your phone/tablet/laptop/other things in our house.
We'll do laundry in town once a week.
What else ...
We are around 7 km away from Tortosa and Roquetes.
The closest beach is in l'Ampolla, 40 mins away by car.
In Tortosa you can catch a train or a bus to Valencia (2,5 hours) or to Barcelona (2 hours)
We are on the foot of Mont Caro (1400m), the highest mountain of the Natural Park "Els Ports" where there are natural pools and beautiful hikes.
In your free time you could explore the surrounding area: we are happy to drop you off at places if you aren’t bringing a car.
Also we like to visit our neighbours, many of whom live like us, so you may meet some of them during your stay.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
We have enough space for vans and caravans.
Can possibly accept pets
For the safety of our animals we can't allow other dogs on our land
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
My animals / pets
The fish
A friend who couldn't live permanently here anymore was giving away her fish so we thought to transform a 250lt barrel into their new home, putting 5 different varieties of aquatic plants!
Ferdinando, Drogo and Khalesii
They are Indian Runner Ducks, although they look a bit like penguins!
They help us keeping down the population of snails and slugs.
They absolutely love their tiny pond: we wish we could have enough water to build them a proper one!
Khaleesi Will QUACK like crazy in the morning, asking you for more snails!Orlando and the girls
Orlando is the rooster that will randomly start to sing at night, or very early in the morning.
Don't worry, you'll get used to him singing and you'll barely notice!
The girls are Princesa, Coco, Chanel, Dolce, Gabbana, Bluey and Squeeky. Don't worry, you'll not get asked to remember their names :)
Watch for Princesa because she will peck your legs, but it won't hurt!Vincent van Goat and Monnalisa
They are goats and no, we don't use them to make cheese because they are family and not food. But we walk them every afternoon for one hour and you might enjoy to come with us too!
Vincent is huge: when he stands on his back legs he is easily over two meters high!
Compared to him, Monnalisa looks very tiny!Tabú, Savannah, Ron and Weasley
Tabú (black) and Savannah (white) are siblings and they are 4 years old.
Tabú will roams outside the fenced area or sleeps somewhere random on the land.
Savannah will hang around most of the time but she doesn't like to get touched except if she chooses you to do it. She absolutely hates to get picked up!
Ron and Weasley are our 2 years old ginger boys. They are siblings as well and looks very similar but have very different personalities: Ron is very shy, and probably you'll not see him much around. Weasley will love you to play with him and he loves cuddles. They come from a local animal sanctuary.Phoebe, Toto and Cashew
Phoebe (8 years) will bark at you probably every day for the first 5 minutes she sees you, but as soon as you'll offer a treat or throw her ball she'll love you!
Toto (5 and half years) is a very sensitive fluffy boy that loves to go out on walks and gentle cuddles on the couch.
Cashew (5 years) is the youngest but he thinks he is the leader of the pack. He will try to get your attention with all sort of silly moves. He's such a clown! He loves rough cuddles and to play with soft toys.
They are all three adopted from the shelters here in Catalunya.
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback (7)
It’s amazing to see how much love and effort go into a single bottle of olive oil. I helped with the harvest and even got to… read more
She arrived in the busiest time of the year: during the olive harvesting!
She has been such a great help in many ways during her stay: she harvested olives with us, she helped us re-cobbing our bathroom, she propagated plants by making… read more
She helped us harvesting olives, that is a hard, repetitive job.
All our animals, that are all rescues and have very particular personalities, really liked her, and that's extremely important… read more
Despite the rainy weather Pavel helped us in many tasks: propagating and potting plants, pruning olive trees, moving the branches and helping with shredding them. He worked in our syntropic lines planting aromatic herbs.
He helped us insulating a ceiling, turning the compost pile and building two new wicking… read more
Photos
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
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Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.9)
It’s amazing to see how much love and effort go into a single bottle of olive oil. I helped with the harvest and even got to… read more
She arrived in the busiest time of the year: during the olive harvesting!
She has been such a great help in many ways during her stay: she harvested olives with us, she helped us re-cobbing our bathroom, she propagated plants by making… read more
She helped us harvesting olives, that is a hard, repetitive job.
All our animals, that are all rescues and have very particular personalities, really liked her, and that's extremely important… read more
Despite the rainy weather Pavel helped us in many tasks: propagating and potting plants, pruning olive trees, moving the branches and helping with shredding them. He worked in our syntropic lines planting aromatic herbs.
He helped us insulating a ceiling, turning the compost pile and building two new wicking… read more
She is a videomaker and contacted us to make a video together: she has an amazing YouTube channel about reconnecting with nature, and we are so grateful for the amazing job she's fine editing our interview!
We felt immediately connected with her, sharing many points of view.
We hope… read more
She helped us in so many different ways: she harvest olives with us, she chopped and rearranged big piles of woods, she… read more
Here a list of the many tasks they had while staying with me: they looked after our dogs and cats while I was at work, they have been cleaning… read more
The animals are lovely, was a matter of a few days until they want to cuddle with you 💗💗
The work was good, I could try new tasks and that was an interesting… read more
She adapted really well to our basic lifestyle and had all the time a great willing to help.
In the time she has been with us she managed to plant some succulents, sort wood, and help us with the beginning of the building of a little wooden shed. She also helped us picking… read more
