Learn about permaculture while surrounded by countless natural beauties and sights in Kaş Antalya, Turkey

Details

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  Description

  We, Murat and Sibel, have been a couple trying to explore alternative ways of living and in the year 2018 we purchased a 4 acre land and moved from Istanbul to a forest village in Antalya, Kaş.
  
  Our land is located on the mountain side of Kaş, on a secluded, peaceful spot within the pine forest.
  
  Our purpose is to live "consciously" as much as possible, be sustainable, grow our own food and be independent as much as we can.
  
  With these goals in mind;
  - We have changed our diet and moved to a complete plant based one.
  - We have found out about Permaculture and how its practices can help us create a sustainable ecosystem .After completing a PDC course we designed our land accordingly.
  - Being settled on a remote off-grid location, we set up a solar system for our energy necessities.
  - We have been building a new social life with like minded people with which we share similar values and interests.
  
  The reason we are signing up for "Workaway" is that we are only two people with limited time and energy. Generally we are only able to take care of "the most necessary tasks in our to do list" .
  
  We definitely love the idea of getting help from like minded people who maybe curious about the path we follow or maybe sharing similar interests.
  
  We have 4 zones on our land that we usually take care of tasks such as below:
  
  Zone 1:
  There is the stone house we built on 2019
  
  There are a few raised vegetable beds in which we grow some vegetables and strawberries.
  
  The rest of this zone is surrounded with fruit trees, herbs, shrubs and forest trees. We built a small pond also here .
  
  There are always unfinished spots around the house like building pathways or steps, taking care of vegetable beds, fertilizing, pruning or mulching the trees, maintenance of irrigation and pipes and of course planting new trees, flowers, herbs etc.from time to time.
  
  Zone 2:
  This zone is almost half an acre, terraced on a slope facing south, behind the house. There are our main vegetable beds and a dome that we built a few years ago and now want to turn into a nursery on this zone.
  
  The jobs that we take care of in this zone are usually about the vegetable beds or the pathways between them. Weeding, planting, picking, mulching are the main tasks that we do.
  
  There is also an ongoing project to make a fenced area on the terrace around the house. We intend to dig holes for fixing posts which will be used for fencing after.
  
  Zone 3 (The Vineyard):
  We have planted around 90 grape vines (3 varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Bogazkere) in spring 2023 for our future vineyard.
  
  The usual tasks to be taken care of in this zone are; for the spring of 2026, maintenance of trellises & drip irrigation, pruning and fertilization of the vines and weeding & mulching.
  
  Zone 4:
  This is another half an acre area located below the house and this part is where we built swales and planned as our main food forest.
  
  On this area, after studying tree guilds in permaculture, we have planted many trees consisting of nitrogen fixing forest trees & shrubs and edible fruit trees (olive, almond, mulberry, juniper, persimmon, quince, medlar, oleastar, peach, pear, apple, walnut, loquat etc.) to create a future food forest.
  
  There are also task to be done yearly in this area like planting herbs like lavender, rosemary, sage around the house and the orchard, pruning of the trees, fertilization, maintenance of irrigation, weeding and mulching etc. There is also the composting bins in this zone and every few days we turn the compost in these bins to speed up the process.
  
  There are other zones in the remaining part of the land such as an orchard of olive and almond trees (almost 150 trees in total) that we created in 2022. These trees do not require too much care. We do yearly maintenances like fertilizing, pruning and mulching in spring and weeding if necessary throughout summer.
  
  Within this orchard, there is a wood cabin called "Ambar" that we restored from an old traditional grain storage and turned it into a guest house.
  
  Our farm is located within an opening in the forest and therefore there are many spots suitable for camping and parking a van where we can provide amenities.
  
  The area is very rich in hiking trails and observing the nature, where you can run into endemic plants and even animals.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Language practice

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Pets

  

  Videography

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Sustainability

  

  Farming

  

  Animals

  

  Art & design

  

  Architecture

  

  Plant care

  

  Music

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Languages

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Carpentry

  

  Cycling

  

  Mountain

  

  Beach

  

  Camping

  

  Nature

  

  Yoga / Wellness
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We propose a peaceful stay in the forest with our friendly animals.
  
  We are always willing to share information about our experiences in life and how we got to where we are if anyones interested .
  
  We started this new life with zero prior knowledge and experience in farming or country life, in the past 7 years we have worked hard and learned a lot. We do have a collection of trials, errors and achievements and we are always more than happy to share them.
  
  We also have hobbies like experimenting in vegan cooking , upcycling clothes, woodworking, making music, stained glass, daily sightseeing, motorcycling, shooting videos etc. and we are fond of sharing our joy and knowledge about such things as well.

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  Help

  The jobs that we usually take care of and need help with are:
  
  - Household chores
  - Building pathways or steps,
  - Taking care of vegetable beds like weeding, adding compost, etc.
  - Fertilizing, pruning or mulching the trees,
  - Maintenance of irrigation and pipes
  - Planting new trees, flowers, herbs etc.
  - Light construction work plumbing, woodwork, etc.
  - Turning compost
  - Weeding
  - Landscaping
  
  We will not charge any fee or payment from the Workawayers. Only help is needed.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent

  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

  There are two different places to stay:
  
  1. Container Home:
  A fully equipped private space including:
  - A dedicated kitchen and bathroom.
  - A sofa that turns into a double bed
  - Internet access (10 m/bit)
  - Electricity and hot water
  - There is a wood stove for heating.
  - Note: we are off-grid and solar-powered, so electricity is available but limited and requires mindful use.
  
  2. Restored Historical Grain Storage (Shed)
  A more rustic option including:
  - A tiny kitchen with a camp stove.
  - A loft with a double bed
  - A folding desk with chairs.
  - Also a folding big chair that turns into a single bed.
  - An outdoor-style bathroom (covered with wooden walls)
  - Hot water
  - The place can be heated with a diesel van heater in cold days.
  - Limited daily electricity(800 Kwh), enough for charging phones, laptops, cameras, etc. Electricity availability depends on sunlight, as the system is fully solar-powered.
  
  Both options suit people who are comfortable with simplicity, camping outdoors, awareness of resources, and off-grid living.
  
  
  We are quite relaxed and flexible people, so the below is not the law but mainly our daily schedule is like:
  
  In winter and early spring our daily work schedule starts around 11:00 a.m. (when the sun fills the valley it gets warm) and we work for approximately 5 hours.
  
  Mostly depending on the weather that sets the rules but if things are normal we usually work for 3 days on a row and have an off day. We can also do the traditional way 5 days work and 2 days off, no prob.
  
  We have two meals a day.
  
  A breakfast in the morning but with no exact time, so we prefer our volunteers to take care of their own breakfast in their homes.
  
  We will provide the supplies for breakfast and any additional meals that you may need to have. For this together we take occasional trips to town for shopping groceries etc.
  
  The second meal is a late lunch for some but an early dinner for us🙂 We eat vegan and prepare only vegan food for this dinner.
  
  This dinner is prepared together with the volunteers at our home. We start to prepare it around 16:30 - 17:00, eat around 18:00 and clean-up.
  
  We value quiet time and privacy very much, so after 20:00, we expect everybody to retire and relax in their personal spaces.

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  What else ...

  Being located on the countryside, we are 20 mins drive away from the Kaş center and 5 mins drive away from the public transportation point. From this point, there is a mini bus every hour to town and back between 08:00 and 20:00.
  
  Our neighborhood is surrounded with ancient historical attractions and Lycian civilization sites like St. Nicholas, Xanthos, Myra, Patara and many more.
  
  Also being located on and around the Taurus mountains, we are surrounded by countless natural beauties and sights to see such as waterfalls, forests with Cedar & Juniper trees, national parks with wildlife preserved areas, canyons, lakes with bird paradise and so much more
  
  Kaş is located on the most beautiful part of Mediterranean shores and it is famously known for beautiful turquoise beaches and activities like diving, paragliding and hiking.
  
  There are also ferries to take to closer Greek Islands from Kaş.

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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

  The internet is available through wi-fi and speed is limited 10 Mbits/sec

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We have 2 adopted dogs(1 male and 1 females) from the sanctuary. They are all friendly and social animals but please beware they are not trained dogs.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Irma

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