Help us with different family projects and enjoy life in the forest near Hoeleden, Belgium

Details

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  Description

  More than 4 years ago now, after a long search, we bought our little peace of heaven in a forest in Flemish Brabant. We call it "Our Little House in The Forest". We were looking for a small house with enough land to begin living the way we want, as self-sufficient as possible!
  
  Our house is situated in a forest at the end of a dead end street on an open patch. It's roughly 4000m² and we try to grow our own food (meat, vegetables, herbes). Part of it excists out of forest that we bought last year, and we plan on keeping goats there for milk so we can make cheese, soap, yoghurt and so on. There is one house across street and a light post, that's about it.
  
  A little more about the family members, we are Leslie (41), Felicia (37) and Amber (8). Before buying this house, we lived in a co-housing where we learned a lot. There the idea of living as self sustainable as possible further developed. We also loved living together with other people, which is part of the reason we like workaway. I (Leslie) am the bonusfather off Amber, but that is just a "name", to me she is my daughter and to her I am her father.
  
  We have several projects we want to realize, among others renovating a pickup unit, building a walipini, adding more types of animals, .... On top of the list currently, with highest priority, renovating our house. Helping out with the renovation is not something we expect from our guests, if you can free up time for us by helping with the everyday chores and in the vegetablegarden, we will be more then happy. If you do want to help out renovating or have knowledge to share, we won't stop you :-).
  
  Some keywords to describe us: self sustainable, permaculture, natural gardening, respect for earth, human and nature around us, eager to learn and share knowledge. (ok, these are not just keywords, but you get the point I think :-) ).

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We see workaway as "sharing knowledge", as a way of broadening our world view, as a way of gaining insights from different kinds of people and perhaps, as a way of expanding our circle of friends. We don't see this as "free labor" and also don't want just "your labor". Share your thoughts and ideas with us, give us your feedback (but be gentle please ;-) ).
  
  Our knowledge consists of (among others), permaculture, different types of food preservation, making and canning juice and other beverages, (ecological) gardening tips and tricks, alternative building, growing meat, fruit, vegetables and herbs, tanning, alternative use of "weeds" aka foraging :-) .... These are some of the things that can be experienced hands on.
  
  We love to learn new things all the time, so our knowledge gets bigger by the day and we love to share that knowledge with you!
  
  We like to think out of the box and don't really follow mainstream ideas about maintaining a garden. Join us in brainstorming and coming up with new ideas.
  
  Our latest "brain dumps" are building our own rocket stove as a first step for the outdoor kitchen and converting/renovating/decorating our pick up unit (so people can use it). Join us!

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  Help that is needed right now with he colder months coming up:
  - gather wood from the forest
  - making the gardenbeds ready for winter (weeding and mulching only)
  - playing with our daughter when we are buzy with other things. Being good with kids is a must! :)
  
  During the rest of the year:
  On a day to day basis: animals, gardening, etc. ...
  Short and long term: turning our pick up unit into a tiny house for future workawayers, realising some of our other projects (contact us for the really elaborate list of ideas we have :-D )
  
  If you know your way around a contruction site, we are renovating our house by ourselves. Well, to be precise, Felicia's dad will be doing the majority of the work but I (Leslie) will be helping him as much as possible. We would appreciate help here but we don't expect this from our guests. By taking over the daily chores you would already be helping out as that would free up time for us.
  
  Next to the renovation of our house, our first priority would be the pickup unit. So, any tiny house specialists who want to teach us their skills, you are more then welcome! We have a general idea on what we want to do with it, but nothing is written in stone. We are open for any and all suggestions!

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  French: Intermediate
  German: Beginner
  Spanish: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  - 1 single bedroom in the house
  - space on the property for your own accommodation (RV, tent, other ....)
  - we have a tent for 4 people, including one matras that sleeps 2 people. (we are open to invest in more material should it be requested by someone)
  - in the (hopefully near future) a pickup unit to sleep in
  
  What we provide:
  - 3 meals a day (allergies or other needs, let us know)
  - some snacks
  - water, juice, tea and the occasional liquor we make ourselves
  - use of laundry machine
  - WiFi and electricity
  - in agreement with the hosts, transport for trips (dropping of at train station or bringing you to a location)
  - use of bikes (1 electrical and one man powered)
  - use of shower and toilet
  - flexibility (we are not people of really tight schedules)
  - opportunity for socializing but space to be on your own if wanted
  - open and honest communication

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  What else ...

  Our house is situated in an area of Belgium where al lot of fruit orchard are situated. Brussels is only a short hour away, easy accessible by train. So is the rest of Belgium as it really is a very small country.
  
  A lesser known touristic area, the Ardennes is relatively close. We can suggest some places, depending on your preferences.
  
  We live a little remote, so easy acces to public transportation is not available but we are happy to help wherever we can.

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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

  Leslie works from home as a Test Automation Specialist. He works 4 days out of 5. The internet connection is stable and fast.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a few parking spaces that can be used by RV's, Van's or caravans. You are all welcome :-).

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We are open to this. We had one experience with another dog so far and it went well. We have 4 cats (they won't be an issue) and a large dog. A Hovawart, roughly 45 kilo's. He is really friendly to people we accept in our house, but he is a little bit to enthusiastic at first. He will need to get to know our guests and after a while, he would even protect and guard you. He can be locked away but as you can probably understand, we prefer not to and let him run around as much as possible.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

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