Italy
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We are looking for helpers to volunteer for September, October and November 2019 In particular to tear off the wild weeds and keep clean and tidy the flowerbeds, the courtyard and the walkings and fencing off my property.
Hi, my name is Carlotta (56). I live in the countryside 7 kilometers far from Tivoli and about 30 kilometres from Rome, in Italy. I share my life with Marco (63) and three dogs. Our home is a small country cottage with its four thousand meter of land. My job is to keep in balance the wellness and caring of myself, with my man Marco, my house, my animals, my plants and my land.
The property is divided into three, one part is house-courtyard-lawn-laboratory-patio and above and below, especially on slopes, there are olive groves and little paths among fruit trees, bushes, vegetable gardens and flower beds still in the making. Until 10 years ago when I bought, all the land was virtually abandoned and uncultivated. I, with great patience and like a good turtle (tartarughina), slowly try to fix everything, working for the 90% by hand and alone. By myself because we have little money and cannot afford to pay aid, and by hand because the terrain is steep and unmanageable for tractors or the like.
Please bring shoes and clothes suitable to work in the fields in the countryside, it can be hot but it is better to work dressed light but covered and safe. Be shure to have shoes with not slippery sole.
We do require our helpers to have personal travel insurance.
We do not provide any support for obtaining Visas.
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Language practice
I'm reasonably good at cooking, so you'll be able to learn a bit about italian food. There is a tiny village at about 2 km with a bus stop, a bar/pizzeria and a 'piazzetta' where few people meet in the evening. Tivoli (that have 2 UNESCO sites, Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana) is at 7 km, Rome is at 30 km and the railway is at 6 km. Around us you can have nice walks among field of olive's trees. We'll be glad to teach you some italian and you can borrow some of our italian books.
No shorter staying than two weeks at a time, better if three. Long staying - like a month or two - are welcome.
I usually need help with heavy works, with the cleaning up from weeds in my flowerbeds, with gardening in general, in hoeing (or dig?) the earth, and in various specific jobs, such as building small dry terraces or buiding objects with wood. In particular, now I need a great deal of help to fence off the property so as to take out animals that do damage (like a nightmare in previous years we have been plagued by wild boars (pigs?) and hedgehog), so that our dogs can run more, and hopefully even we will stop stumbling in some little cute bordering neighbors of land.
It is important you are ok to work hard with your hands, like hammering while standing on a stair, hand hoe the vegetable garden, plant trees or build dry stone walls. You could be required to learn for example how to use a use a whisk to cut the iron.
In exchange for 25 hours work a week we offer a cute small apartment (not completely indipendent) and meals. We hope for helpers that are not too picky on food, our last helper was a bit too picky, no vegetables, no fish, no this, no that ... ufff. We would enjoy to share our food with people who can and love to eat a little bit of everything (including meat).
Helpers are supposed to help and share breakfast, lunch and supper with us. If from time to time they can cook it will be very appreciated but not mandatory.
If they are good at taking pictures that would help me at tracking the working progress !
On top of the 25 hours per week work in the fields, I'll need daily help fixing meals and tidying the house, the porch and the lab.
Italian, English
An internal staircase leads to a tine loft on the third floor, with bedroom and bathroom for our guest.
The guests, in addition to daily work, are supposed to help to prepare meals and with the clean after (breakfast, lunch and dinner), and they are expected to keep daily clean and tidy everything around them, in the house and outside. No smoking nor food is allowed in the guest area.
We are surrounded by nature, the train station in Guidonia is at about 6 km, there is a bus stop at about 2 km so you will need to walk (maybe we could find you a bicycle). The train take you down town in Rome in 45 minutes, and the busses can take you to Guidonia train station or to Tivoli in 15/20 minutes.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
One
5 hours a day, 5 days a week in the fields, plus a little daily support in keeping the place clean and tidy (PLEASE NOTICE that the two free days will change weekly with little to any advance to be the most raining ones)
