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WELCOME to Finca la Sacristía, welcome to our home. We are a family of five and love to share our home with loving and interesting people from around the world. Please read and reflect upon the entire profile before applying to stay with us. We are aware it is extensive, and we like to see it as a common starting point for the time we spend together.
WHO WE ARE
We are a German family that moved to the south of Spain in 1999. Hannes (67, musician, yogateacher and allrounder), Maria (70, teacher, caring mother and connector) and Michael (31, critical thinker, maintenance guy and tree caretaker) live here. Johannes (37, psychology enthusiast, builder and hemp seed milk specialist) lives here in winter and Eva (40, cleaning enthusiast, organiser, baker) comes for visits in the winter season. We love to have you here as helping guests and form lasting friendly relationships whenever they come naturally. On the 1.3 ha property we grow Aloe Vera, fruit trees, as well as olive, almond and fig trees in the mountains near Málaga. Since 2017 we are working on transforming the finca into a permaculture-designed fruit-forest, planting many more and diverse trees, with a focus on species that need little water.
We (Hannes and Maria) live a life with a focus on inner peace and meditation when possible. To get to know you closer during your stay, we would welcome it if you take part in group activities, such as yoga, music, heart sharing circles and spiritual conversations when they are offered by us or through initiatives of our friends and guests. Michael likes to invite you for a bonfire if the weather and season allow for it.
Our last big achievement: Building and installing a 6Kwp solar system, giving enough energy for the summer and a large part of the winter months.
What we need help with now: General maintenance of buildings and living spaces, finishing the building of a compost toilet with shower, gardening, cleaning, cooking.
THE PLACE
Close to the little village Benaque (180 people), next to Macharaviaya, the finca offers a wonderful view of the mountain range Sierra de Tejeda and the Mediterranean sea. Our lifestyle is very simple, we live in small wooden houses and caravans. It gets very hot in summer (also with many mosquitos) and it can be windy and cold in the winter. As such, we ask you to prepare yourself to the expected weather. This means ecological sun and mosquito protection as well as long light clothing in summer and warm clothes in winter as well as a warm sleeping bag (this is a suggestion, but we do have blankets)!
There is no air conditioning in any and no heating in most of the caravans. Extreme temperatures are around 5°C in winter and 40 °C in summer time. Otherwise, all caravans and houses are supplied with water, and electricity and you can always ask for a warm water bottle.
Please bring your own working clothes, a water bottle (glass or stainless steel is best), and a torch. There is a clothes exchange to your availability, but it’s not guaranteed that we have your size.
Severe water shortage: this means, utmost care in the usage of water during washing dishes and brushing your teeth. Never let the water tap run if you don’t use the water. If you take showers daily it should be merely a rinse to allow for the use of soap and wash the soap off.
YOU AS A HELPING GUEST
We welcome all people who aspire to lead a disciplined, ethical life and have a positive attitude to life and physical work. Now we have a special need for helpers who have solid experience in setting up and maintaining irrigation-systems, in building/ eco-construction, general construction like tiling and brick laying, as well as woodwork and/ or permaculture garden work.
You will help 4 hours per day, 6 days a week, breaks are extra. Cleaning of the common areas is not included in this working time, and we consider around 30 min/day of kitchen or bathroom cleaning a necessary contribution to a tidy and clean community space. We generally welcome that helpers work during the same hours to be able to organise tasks and the day more easily.
This leads to a schedule of roughly 8-10am / 6-8pm in peak summertime (because of the midday heat) and 10am-2pm in wintertime. Should you wish to work in different times, this can only be agreed upon if the circumstances allow for it and if it’s seen as reasonable and helpful to the situation. The day off is agreed upon together on an individual basis and shall be communicated beforehand.
We would like to have a short skype (or similar software) conversation with you before deciding on your stay. This can be beneficial for you and for us. On the day of your arrival, there will be a short welcoming and an initial “get to know each other” and one of us or a volunteer will show you around.
We propose to have one week for a mutual “trial period” to see if your and our needs are met during your stay. If you appear to be unwilling to follow the clearly mentioned rules (see below) even after reminding you of them, we will kindly ask you to leave within one day. (If a serious case of personal incompatibility with us or the other residents arises, we kindly reserve the
right to ask you to leave even before the one-week trial period ends. Therefore, we recommend setting aside sufficient funds to cover your personal needs if early departure becomes necessary.)
There are no buses to the village near our finca. We pick you up from the bus station at the coast after agreeing on a time. During your stay, on limited occasions you can share a ride if someone from the finca goes anywhere by car. We do not lend our cars. Distances to the closest shops or the beach are 30 minutes by car or 2,5h walking. Some volunteers walked to the beach or came with bycicles and used those to explore in the afteroon and the days off, in a fit condition and pleasant weather it is totally doable. Most volunteers however, just do some exploring in the nearby nature, go for walks or visit the village that is close.
VEGAN LIVING FOOD
Hannes has been eating mostly raw vegan in the past years, and we like to support you if you also wish to eat raw. For the rest of the family and our guests there is plenty of delicious cooked vegan food as well. We have salad and vegetables from the garden, fruit we mostly buy, except for figs in August/ September, when there are plenty. We offer one prepared vegan meal for lunch (raw and cooked options). This meal is prepared by us or by volunteers for all. For breakfast, we usually help together to set the table for a nice porridge or millet with fruits and homemade vegan milk, but it can vary on who is here at that time. We don’t provide coffee, but you can bring your own. Dinner and Sundays, everyone is responsible for preparing their food (you can take it from the storage). Our previous guests have always been very happy and joyful about the variety and taste of the available fruit, vegetables and dry foods.
During the preparation of the meals, we would like the cook to be concentrated on spiritual music or spiritual thoughts (as this has a big influence on our health and our meditations). Only the deputed cook and their helper(s) are allowed in the kitchen and food storage room during cooking time. The food is served in the living-room area and/or on the terrace. People who want to change their diet and would like to know more about (raw) vegan food are very welcome.
YOGA AND MEDITATION
Spiritual development (realizing ourselves as soul) is the main focus of our project. We have a strawbale house, which serves as a yoga and community house. We personally practice meditation on inner Light and Sound with the support of a spiritual teacher from India (ask me for the links). We have a certain daily meditation schedule and on Sundays we have our personal retreat. From this we derive the strength and inspiration for our project. (We would like to mention that we disapprove from the use of Reiki, as – to our knowledge – it involves mental powers and can result in karmic burdens.)
MUSIC
We play music on guitar and sitar, tablas (indian drums), hang drum, esraj and harmonium and many more instruments that you – our guest – would bring along. Now and then, we offer an evening program which can include music, a short spiritual talk and a training in mindfulness/meditation. We meditate between each song for about seven minutes (naming it "Seven for
heaven – prayer for peace"). When playing music on speakers in our kitchen we wish for it to be classical (Indian instrumental) music or selected mantra-songs – the idea being to have a quiet atmosphere and harmony.
COMMUNICATION
We aspire for and try to practice an honest and loving communication between each other to be in a harmonious atmosphere. Respect and gratitude should be the basic attitudes. We might have meetings where we practice the use of "Nonviolent communication" (according to Marshall Rosenberg), the so-called "empathetic or heart communication" upon request. This has proven to be very helpful for keeping harmony in relationships and community settings.
SUSTAINABILITY OF YOUR TRAVEL HERE
Inspired by Michael who studied "Sustainable Tourism", we ask you to consider coming here in the most sustainable way possible. Of course you cannot walk over the ocean but there have been people who came by bicycle from Belgium or Berlin. One man came walking from Denmark and he is continuing his journey, walking to Tanzania – Charlie from "Walking for Water".
DURATION OF YOUR STAY
A minimum of two and a maximum of four weeks is the duration we like our working guests to stay. Since we have many people who wish to come, a longer stay is only possible after discussing it on an individual basis in a conversation before the ending of this period. Generally, longer stays are welcomed if it’s a personal match between us because it results in a more
fruitful experience.
SOME SPECIFIC GUIDELINES we ask you to follow:
- We expect the people to live (raw) vegan on the finca, no smoking, drugs or alcohol.
- The first half of our common meals we do not talk. This leads to more mindfulness and
enjoyment of the food.
- As we use our grey water for the irrigation of trees, please bring along only natural soaps and shampoos, thank you (from the trees). As mentioned, we ask you to shower as short as possible.
- Please adhere to a respectful clothing attire (both men and women) – covering your upper and lower body by wearing T-shirts with at least half sleeves and skirts or at least half-long trousers in all common areas. Please live your romantic relations discretely. This helps to keep the focus of the place, which is on growing spiritually, the awareness, that we are souls and not
bodies. It helps to be focused inward.
- Please respect the calmness of the place and do not put loud music publicly (only with earphones).
- If you like to help less than the required hours or cannot help due to some reason (sickness, menstruation pain, online work), we can reach other agreements that we can discuss in a call beforehand or when you are here. In the case of inability to help because of sickness longer than one day, we would kindly ask you to contribute economically from your heart.
- Since we have cats, please do not bring along dogs.
- We do not take responsibility for any health issues or accidents happening to you on the finca -> be careful where you step and to stay hydrated and dressed according to the weather.
- You need to have your own health insurance.
- Group-meetings: we aspire to have a daily helpers meeting and a short thankfulness circle after the breakfast and before helping, please be on time. Should we forget, you are welcome to give us a gentle reminder on that :D
CLEANLINESS
We want to keep a high standard of hygiene (more details about the kitchen are provided upon arrival). All our helping guests are jointly responsible for the tidiness of the kitchen and the common areas, and the time of the cleaning is not included in the helping hours (see above). Everyone is expected to help with cleaning about 30 minutes per day, also on days off if you are here. The kitchen is to be broomed daily and wet-cleaned weekly.
LAUNDRY: you can give us your laundry and we will wash it with the machine at the required temperature. We only use natural soaps for washing. You can also wash by hand if you like.
INTERNET
- We have good internet (speed via cable 30Mbit/s). Please bring your own laptop if you would
like to use one.
- We have a designated caravan with internet access including WIFI, but please only use it during
certain hours of the day and you as a working guest should please only use this place for
internet (not the kitchen and/or the living room area!).
PACKING LIST
Appropriate clothes and shoes for the season
Natural soap/shampoe, natural sun screen, natural tooth paste, (anti mosquito for the mosquito season)
Medication (if you need some) for the duration of your stay
Gloves for work
Head torch
Your favourite book
Sleeping bag (optional for winter if you know you would be cold)
An instrument?
Charging cable ;)
Personal documents
THANK YOU FOR READING
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If you are interested in helping visiting us, we would be happy to receive a copy-pasted and answered version of the below questionnaire. This is very helpful for us. We finally ask you to send us a PERSONALISED REQUEST which is written in either German or English. Since some applications seem to be written by or with the help of an AI, if we suspect so, we kindly ask you to rewrite it in your own words. We look forward to reading and hearing from you.
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR VOLUNTEERS
- When would you wish to come and with what kind of transportation?
- How long would you like to stay?
- Do you live a vegetarian/ vegan life?
- Do you have physical or mental health problems that you think would be helpful to communicate to us? We kindly ask for your honesty in this matter. The land is quite steep, with an elevation gain of 50 meters over a 100-meter distance, requiring a good level of physical fitness for your leisure and working time. Regarding mental problems or personal challenges in your life, we are not able to offer any professional psychological support, only a friendly ear.
- Do you have a valid health insurance that will cover you in Spain in case of injuries or sickness?
- Please confirm that only you yourself are the responsible one for any health problems or accidents occurring during your stay at the finca.
- Are you willing to attend our group meetings like yoga, spiritual talks, music, non-violent communication?
- Do you agree to help with the cleaning of dishes, the kitchen, and toilets/showers additionally to your working time?
- Are you a smoker?
-We have caravans for the guests and compost toilets. Can you adjust to these simple living conditions? It also means being cold or hot sometimes. Please consider that beforehand.
- Please give us an example of severe water shortage, if you have witnessed some.
- Is there any other information that you might think that would be useful to communicate to us?
- How do you feel about the mentioned rules? Do you agree to follow them to the best of your abilities? Do you understand that we will kindly ask you to leave if you (repeatedly) ignore them?
-What is your complete name, email address, skype (if you have) and telephone number? (You are not obliged to answer, but it would facilitate our communication with you).
- Please provide an emergency contact (a close friend or family member who are likely to respond to phone calls) so we know who to inform in case something happens. It is fine to send it to us once your stay is confirmed.
The final questions are just to know a little bit more about you personally, feel free to answer or
not.
- What are your hobbies?
- What has most importance in your life
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
As is written above you can learn a lot about simple life, eco-gardening, cooking of vegan food, spiritual music, yoga, meditation and empathetic communication. You can train your English, German and maybe Spanish.
If there are permaculture-courses or other courses for example on eco-building, music etc. by other teachers than us, you can take part for reduced conditions.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
- We like you to stay minimum 2 weeks or more, less is only exception for specialist people on special projects.
- Please keep us informed about your plans, especially if they change. We get many request and some people take their time in reacting.
We expect you to help a maximum of 25 hours per week in exchange of lodging and good food.
There are special conditions for those who want to volunteer less, please email us.
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Accommodation
Several caravans and a wooden house
What else ...
If you come by airplane you take a bus from the airport to the main bus-station of Malaga. From there you take a bus in direction Torre del Mar. We can pick you up at one of the bus-stations between Malaga and Torre del Mar at the coast-road, nearest is "Chilches" and "Los Rubios". If you come by car we will give you a description that might be a bit more helpful than google maps in some cases.
In your free time (besides reading, doing yoga and getting to know yourself) you can go hiking around in the mountains, visit the villages nearby or go to the beach (by foot or hitchhiking).
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
There is reliable internet (speed via cable 30Mbit/s) and WIFI at a designated caravan.
Space for parking camper vans
One or maximum two vans can be parked. Details can be discussed in person.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Feedback (55)
This was my first workaway spent around other volunteers and it was really quite a transformative journey for me in the sense I've realised… read more
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.8)
Communication:
(4.8)
This was my first workaway spent around other volunteers and it was really quite a transformative journey for me in the sense I've realised… read more
Loving greetings
We learned a lot about permaculture and gardening. Hannes and Maria give you some various tasks and they always explain you why in a very pedagogue way !
The food is AMAZING ! Just raw vegetables with some delicious homemade sauces that Maria make and so much… read more
I stayed with this wonderful family for about two weeks and every day was full of new experiences and nice moments.
I really enjoyed the meditation, chanting of mantra and rainbow songs and the yoga class.
Thank you so much for this… read more
Liepa was with us for about three weeks and we had wonderful, warm-hearted communication from the first moment. She worked with so much joy, responsibility and skill, harvesting, cooking or cleaning. Always smiling and positive, punctual and… read more
It is so hard for me to describe my experiences, but I can only recommend this place.
a pleasure for Body, heart, Soul and… read more
She also likes cooking and did very nice dishes. She was always friendly and ready to help also extra of working-time.
Thank you!
During my four years of traveling I have left pieces of my heart in many places but they have rarely been as big as the one I left at this place. This place turned me into a treeplanter, a compost irrigator, a vegan chef, a raw vegan cake… read more
Really feel welcome there !
I enjoy my time while music , get figues and build some carpenters staff .
It take some time also to go out hahaha.
Thanks Hannes and Maria to share your place with love :)
Damien
Start with the pepole: Maria is such a great mom who always took care of us, Hannes has this high energy that even though he is quite he is very hard to miss, both of them are inspiring, always smiling and has tons of knowledge to share. The rest of us, along with Theo and Karola that live regularly at the finca, had this really… read more
Hannes (the host) was one of the nicest persons I have ever met in my life and was literally always friendly and kind! I was able to talk about any matter of concern with him. Also I learned a lot about dealing with certain situations from him and… read more
its beautiful being part of the project, creating physicaly and energetically more space.
thanks a lot, its beautiful to have good friends with soo many figtrees ;)
Fue una experiencia increíble y muy satisfactoria.
Sin duda volveríamos. Aprendimos sobre la Permacultura y como es su vida diaria.
Una persona con mucha paz e increíble.
Muchas gracias Hannes por cruzarte en nuestro camino.
Namasté
Thank you so much for the time I spent in your finca. I really enjoyed my time and learned a lot of things! There was a permaculture workshop too, with great food and nice people, amazing! We were also doing a bit of yoga and kirtan, nice! I hope I can come back one day, to work as a volunteer or to visit as a friend. =)
The finca is… read more
Loving greetings
Maria
We only spent a week with Hannes but it was clear to see that they have created a beautiful paradise in the mountains. We stayed in one of their little caravans spread around the site and felt happy and relaxed.
It was wonderful to learn more about raw vegan diet and easy to try it out in their abundant finca. We also… read more
I spent my time in the kitchen preparing breakfast and lunch. I learned a lot about food and about preparing food for many people. As a vegan it was amazing to spent time in a place that was vegan and had so many different flavours.
In my free time I worked… read more
Thank you for coming and see you again one… read more
This was my first workaway engagement and it was perfect! I ended up staying 7 weeks, although my initial plan was to stay only 4 weeks. I would probably still be on the finca if work and family didn’t call me home.
My duties included preparing smoothies in the morning and prepare lunch for everyone at 11 am. I used… read more
Beautiful nature surroundings and peaceful rural area with mountains and sea on the horizon are perfect for contemplation if you need to stop and think. Really stunning views!
Its close to Rincon de La Victoria and not that far to Malaga. Easy to get there.
Food are always delicious: fresh… read more
She is also a gifted cook and can draw wonderful paintings.
She loves Mexican kitchen with chili:)
REally a very nice girl!
Maria and Hannes
I hope to see them again and return next year.
Thank you!
We were sad she had to leave so quickly. All the best, Linde!
Lenka helped… read more
We lived in big caravan. We enjoyed working to help them improve their home. There are many types of work to be done around the finca and in the garden but allways it is nice… read more
She can easily pick up new skills after explained and aspires to make things perfect. From making breakfast, preparing lunch, tiling the bathroom, sanding and painting the windows of our yoga house and watering/looking after the garden Sandy… read more
You're a great guy Morten, you're a real pleasure to be together with. You 'served your duty' on the finca in about three month and it was great.
Always friendly, always a smile. Your delicious food gave us energy for working and it even tasted delicious.
We recommend you for everybody who needs a serious… read more
Being up for sunrise above sea and mountain was just perfect to start the… read more
She makes good food too, so a real multipurpose woman.
Thanks… read more
First we want to start off with thanking you so much for your wonderful place, which is filled with even more wonderful people!
Our six weeks at the finca were absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed our work (Lisa really enjoyed harvesting the almonds), the veganfood was spectacular and the music that was played almost… read more
His empathy is above average and he has been a good and enthusiastic worker.
He made a very nice promotional video for our Finca . I can only advice you to invite the him for a position… read more
Firstly there's the mind-blowing beauty! Surrounded by stunning mountains which the novelty never wears thin! It is far from shops etc, but Hans or someone else was always popping out and happy to take anyone along. They also offer use of the Finca car at 30cents a KM, which I took full advantage of… read more
The food is… read more
He took actively part in the building of the straw house, several square meters plastering bear his signature. Next to that he was a good helper in doing several wood constructions where we are building a large water catcher roof.
We were glad Balint was part of our helper team, with a positive… read more
Thanks to Hannes and Maria for establishing this valuable place which is rare nowadays, to Regina for the first class vegan cuisine, to Hans for sharing his knowledge with me,… read more
Besides that, they are good workers, never shy about lending an extra hand, taking an extra hour.
Peter is a strong and good craftsman, he made some good wood work for us. Joanna is a very! good cook. She definitely is in my top 3 with cakes, vegan food… read more
When the owners are not there, there is Hans, the soul and right hand… read more
He has a super attitude, very good input and ideas and typically a guy you would employee as the full manager for construction.
He is open and honest. When he thinks it can be done different and better, he… read more
Coming as a non-vegetarian I was… read more
That's Tom, cracking nuts. We had a lot of almonds and he loved to sit there, listening to some post cast, probably about throwing plastic (Frisbee) or teaching, which are his two main subjects in life.
Whenever you met him, you got a friendly… read more
The Finca is grand, beautiful, and idyllic. Living vegan in the sunshine, working under hospitable conditions, plenty of food, and a long term vegan diet for the first time, a memory, an experience, a blessing to last a lifetime. Plenty of friendly and hardworking people, artisans, jokers, and professional musicians, too. A lot to learn, a… read more
Waking up with the sunrise irradiating the valley, going up the common house and having breakfast all together while admiring the Mediterranean Sea and the peak of La Maroma (highest mountain of the Malaga province). The infinite skies full of stars at night, and fullmoons that let you feel you're REALLY… read more
Jirka took part in the construction of the straw house, specifically plaster work. He is a good guy to work together with and did a satisfying job.
We wouldn't… read more
You need a happy cook? Invite Megan. Her kitchen is very clean, well organized and the food is very good. She has been on our Finca for some 4 weeks, there was never any complains about the food and we all know that is not easy with a bunch of young people.Although vegan food was new to her, she delivered good quality and ask her about her… read more
Is a young guy who, in time, will build his experience. He only was a short time with us, so it's difficult to know his full potential. With the right guidance he will be a good and glad worker.
i volunteered in this for a long period of time.
the hosts are really giving you a feeling of welcoming and home.
even though Maria was at germany i had a good contact when there was a skype conference with her.
it is a place where not only can you help develop the dreams of your hosts, it is also very easy to find calmness there and… read more
He helps to develop ideas about things and is well involved in his work.
He very much likes to join conversations on any subject and knows a lot about many things.
He finds his own things to do and very much likes to repair all things around.
thank you Robby for helping with our… read more
Thank you for all!
it was so nice to have you with us, laughing, working, dancing, making natural cosmetics and learning Spanish from you!
You have become a part of our family and we hope to see you again in future!
Now I am a little bit sad... I think I will never find such a nice place with such a nice people anywhere. Thank you for your understanding, for sharing all your love and for letting me be part of the family...
We wish you all the best on your workaway travel through all Europe!
Maria and Hannes are great hosts, and the neighboors are friendly as well, the food is organic and delicious, I… read more
I had a great first workaway experience in the mountains. They are so lovely and open, treat you like a part of the family. I learned so much this TOO short stay with them. I will never forget the sunrises I enjoyed consciently every single day, the cooking I loved so much, the incredible great dinners we had together… read more
The vegetarian food was excelent.
At the finca… read more
I stayed with this wonderful family for about 2 weeks and enjoyed every moment of my stay.… read more
