Learn about wildlife and our life on our finca in southern Catalonia, Spain

Details

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  Description

  🍃🙏🏻🍃
  Hi! We are looking for people who love to be out in nature to help us on our beautiful finca, with maintaining our olive grove and lots of other interesting things! Please read on 😊
  
  ✨🐝🌾💪🏻 *Latest projects update*
  This year's wonderful olive harvest is now finished. Our straw bale and cob building which will be a kitchen and volunteer chill space is nearing completion. We are now working on some finishing touches such as mosaics, installing a wood burner, windows and door, the kitchen and other furniture. We would be delighted to welcome people with handy skills who want to help make this a cosy space.
  We are also building a cob and bottle wall. The other main work at this time of year is making biochar, so we will need some help with prep (moving breaking down branches) and processing (pulverising and composting).
  If you can join us for a week or two and would like to get involved please get in touch ☺️🙏🛖
  
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  Hi, hola, bon dia! We are Silke, Nick and our 2 year old Asha Leo. we have 1 dog, 3 cats and 12 chickens. We moved from Scotland to our finca, a 20 hectare valley of olive grove and rewilding mixed pine forest, in Southern Catalonia 8 years ago. We are following our instincts to live in harmony with nature; to care for, restore and cultivate this land. Now we invite good people to work, rest and play here, to join us in learning, growing and creating.
  
  Our dream is to co-create a small community of like minded people who will join us in creating and holding a nourishing, regenerative space for sharing skills, connecting with nature and healing, so that all people can flow through to build and restore their capacity to contribute to the healing of this world.
  
  Silke is a sound therapist, song circle leader and a facilitator for The Work That Reconnects and Mother Nature circles. Nick is a practical handyman, creative gardener, and stone wall builder. We both love working together to manage the olive grove throughout the year. We enjoy cooking, foraging, hiking, permaculture, being silly, learning new things and welcoming people to our amazing land. We love to run workshops and share all we have learnt. We are in the exciting process of registering as an association, which will allow us to receive donations and apply for funding to run projects.
  
  Our place has got so much wild space to explore. We are developing a network of colour marked paths through this beautiful and peaceful valley of long abandoned terraces. It is a richly biodiverse ecosystem full of magic and mystery, and it is a total joy and honour to be here, witnessing beauty and observing and learning about the interconnectedness of all the plants, animals, insects, rocks and soil around us. We are working hard towards self sufficiency and future food security. A huge part of our vision is to create the space for people to deeply connect with nature in many ways, as from this a mutual healing of people and planet emerges. We always say that "the land has worked on us more than we have worked on the land". One of our main ongoing projects is the designing and planting of a forest garden in the olive grove behind our house. So much to do, so much to learn! But how? That's where you come in!
  
  We are looking for self motivated people with energy and enthusiasm. We absolutely love to share what we have learnt and also learn from others. We are equal beings here, working together and taking turns to do everyday jobs like cooking and washing up. We have backgrounds in working with communities, running workshops, foraging, permaculture and gardening. We have no official permaculture training however, we are self taught, so are really interested to hear the experience of others. We are seeking to learn and share, exchanging skills to increase the sustainability of our lifestyles for the maximum growth, learning and wellbeing for all. So get in touch and tell us about you :-)
  
  Our place is in the hills about 30 minutes drive from a few towns, and totally off-grid with solar panels and only rainwater catchment, so if you come here you need to be EXTREMELY careful with water. No hot running water and composting toilets. Telephone reception is limited; you need to climb a couple of minutes up the hill to get signal, but we do have satellite internet in the house. We have space for volunteers to park up a camper van and will normally accept travelling pets. We live simply and try to reduce consumption and waste as much as possible. We treat the land as provider and teacher, so please do not bring non-biodegradable cosmetic products.
  
  We love music, singing and dancing! Please bring instruments and teach us how to play ours! In the evenings we also like to play games and watch films, or take space and time for ourselves to walk, meditate, read and study.
  
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  We are looking for someone to live in our very basic second house long term from the autumn time to help us out with it, and also lend a hand around the farm. The house has electricity and a wood stove to keep warm but so far no plumbing. There is no internet or telephone reception in the house, so if you are looking to disconnect from society and reconnect with nature this is a great opportunity. You can connect to the internet if you are willing to pay for the connection as satellite dish is already installed. Please get in touch for more information. 🙏🌻🙏
  
  Do you have experience in building🔨 simple structures? Please get in touch and join⛓️ our future mission to build... a dome (cúpula) for sound🎶, shade shelters, building with cob and glass bottles, tree houses, benches, outhouses for storage and shelter, root cellar... The list goes on! We want to welcome skilled and independent people to collaborate and co-create with us longer term 🌰🌱🕸️ 💗

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  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

  Help with Computers/ Internet

  House and pet sitting
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We love to share our growing knowledge of the wildlife here, as well as our experiences and processes on the finca, such as how we prune the trees and maintain the forest, making biochar from the prunings then processing, charging and applying the biochar to the land.
  
  There is so much to see in the surrounding areas, especially if you like walking, cycling and exploring. We are about half an hour to drive to the sea, and we are also very close to the Ebro delta with its rich variety of water birds. Inland from us you can find ancient cave paintings, a gorge to swim in, and lots of old villages rich in history and crafts. It is a very inspiring place to live and we are looking forward to exploring it more ourselves.

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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

  Things we work on throughout the year: pruning and maintaining the olive grove. We prune the trees in January and February, and we normally harvest at the middle of October to start of November. We spend time in the winter making and processing biochar and applying it to the land. We pulverise and compost this special charcoal with organic matter to build and improve the nutrients and water retention of soil. We also run yearly workshops teaching others how to do this and we are always happy to share what we know about biochar with volunteers as we feel it's really important. Winter is also time for transplanting trees and plants. If you really want to get your hands in the soil then come and see us!
  Spring is an especially beautiful time to be here. In the summer we generally don't accept volunteers as it's too hot to work, but we are always looking for house/farm/pet sitters so we can take a summer break.
  
  Here are some specific activities and skills we would love to learn about or have help with, so if you can do any of these we'd love to hear from you... even if you don't have experience in these but have bags of enthusiasm and energy then we'd love to see you too!
  
  *General handy people who have a can-do attitude and like to improve and fix things.
  * Those with green fingers, Cultivators, gardeners
  * Adventure playground builders, particularly those good with knots and rope
  *Map makers and path creators - we are developing marked paths through out the valley and we want to create beautiful hand drawn maps and a guide book of our land to show paths and landmarks, to help increase access for walking...
  *Wildlife photographers, drone operators, treehouse builders and geologists
  *Artists of all types
  * General can-do creators and builders of benches, swings, fences, signposts, storage sheds, huts, treehouses and one day.... a dome for sound!
  *Foresters and woodspeople
  *Language exchange. We are learning Spanish and Catalan so if you can speak them with us then excellent!
  *Website and social media. We are notoriously terrible with updating our digital platforms. Some help and encouragement with this is always welcome... Calling photographers, graphic designers, and anyone who is more computer literate than us... Which isn't hard! 😂✨
  *Massage givers and teachers. Please! 😅
  *Yurt fixers. We have a dilapidated one that needs a lot of love 💕

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This 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.
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  Accommodation

  Accommodation -
  There is a very basic casitas that needs a little work. It has no plumbing (outdoor compost toilet) but it does have electricity, cooking facility and a wood burner.
  We have dry compost toilets that we take turns to empty (about once a week depending on how many people are here). Quick showers only to save water.
  
  If you like to cook, great, we love cooking together and sharing recipes with new friends. We eat a mainly vegetarian diet; eggs from our chickens and very occasionally some meat or fish if it has lived a good life (for example wild boar from the mountains surrounding!)

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  What else ...

  We are quite tucked away and don't like to drive out and use too much petrol unnecessarily, so if you want to go out and about a lot whilst you are with us, you will need your own transport. In your time off you can relax here on the finca, walk, create something, whatever you feel. We are two hours south of Barcelona, in Tarragona region, and the closest city is Tortosa, closest town is El Perello (25 mins). There is so much nature to explore surrounding us, with sights such as the Ebro river and Delta, the cave paintings on our doorstep, and the amazing caves in nearby village Benifallet, the Coves de Meravelles. There is also some good cycling along the nearby via verde, an old train line.

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  Access is an issue. Our driveway is quite narrow (approx 3m, less in places) so get in touch if you have a large vehicle to discuss

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  Can possibly accept pets

  This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Poppy / Babu

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