Help on a lonely mountain finca on Tenerife, Spain

Details

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  Description

  Hello Challenge-seeker! 🌺🌸🌻🌼
  
  We are Maren & Michiel, 49 and 36 years old. We also have two children (12 and 8).
  
  The Finca (about 600 meters above sea level 🌊) is more than a gardening project. Our long-term vision is to create an ecological meeting place in the mountains of Tenerife: a green oasis where people can reconnect with nature, share knowledge, and enjoy simple living.
  At the heart of this project lies ecosystem restoration. The land was once dry, exposed, and heavily affected by wind and erosion. Step by step, we are working to bring life back to it by planting native species, creating habitats for insects and birds, improving soil health, and increasing biodiversity. We are fascinated by how nature heals itself when given the right conditions.
  In the future, we hope to host small cultural and educational activities such as workshops, drumming circles, nature experiences, and farm-to-table gatherings using products grown on the finca. We believe in biodiversity, sustainability, and creating spaces where people from different backgrounds can meet and inspire each other.
  Workawayers who join us become part of this journey—not just helping with practical tasks, but contributing to a dream that is still growing.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects
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  Interests

  

  Pets

  

  Self development

  

  Farming

  

  Events & social

  

  Culture

  

  Writing

  

  Plant care

  

  Photography

  

  Languages

  

  Music

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Gardening

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Art & design

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Water sports

  

  Nature

  

  Cycling
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Our place is a peaceful sanctuary of natural beauty. We are committed to offering you the opportunity to simply be yourself and find inner peace, far from pandemics, the stress of civilization, pollution, rushing, and pressure.
  
  In the simplest conditions, you can reconnect with yourself and rediscover what truly matters in life, stepping out of a system that is destroying itself and the future of our planet. A system that keeps people passive, hypnotized, and full of fear in their comfortable, entertainment-filled lives, lacking spontaneity, expression, and vitality.
  Here, you can meditate, surrounded by the sound of the wind and the distant barking of dogs.
  
  The place offers a sense of remoteness, but the small village is just a 20-minute walk away. 🚶🏻‍♂️
  
  During your free time, you can enjoy activities like climbing (our finca is near by the most important climber’s zone of Tenerife, "Base camp Ortiz" 🧗🏻‍♀️, hiking, cycling 🚲, and if you go a bit further, you can surf 🏄, kite- or windsurf, paraglide 🪂, dive, visit the beach 🏖️, and explore the beautiful island of Tenerife.
  ❗But please keep in mind that the bus connections are not the best, so it may take some time to reach those places.
  
  There is also the possibility to play guitar 🎸 or djembe and sing 🎶 around the campfire 🔥 with us (only during the winter season due to the high risk of forest fires) if you enjoy that. Just ask! 😉

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  Help

  For what are we searching 🔎?
  
  We are looking for a couple (or a hermit) with scout and DIY skills. The main goal will be creating the Workaway-area. First, we need to build the tent site 🏕️ and the outdoor kitchen. In the future, we will also need help building a chicken coop with a fence, wind protection structures and insect hotels.
  
  Building walls with natural stones from the area, moving stones and earth, making holes with a jackhammer to plant new plants are also current tasks, as well as watering and maintaining the plants.
  
  We are looking for people who embody resilience and simplicity, able to live with minimal needs and thrive in the face of nature's harshest elements.
  
  Michiel can work alongside you, but mainly you will need to carry out independently. For this reason, and since your stay as a Workawayer is quite autonomous, we are looking for people who are independent and do not require constant guidance.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  French: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  If you want to practice one of the below languages, you are welcome. We are a couple, Michiel speaks Dutch, English and quite some German, Maren speaks German, English, Spanish and Italian.
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  Accommodation

  The helper needs to come with his own camper van, we still don't have a workaway- camp build up. 🚐
  
  The Workawayer leads an autonomous life, it's important to understand that he's living on a lonely, sometimes really windy place and the contact to us will be not daily.
  
  FOOD: The helper will receive basic food (rice, pasta, coffee/tea, oat flakes, flour) and can enjoy some fruits (depending from season) that we are growing on our home finca.
  Once the trees on the Finca start bearing fruit (which will take some time), we will have lemons, oranges, figs, lilly pillies, gin berries, plums, papayas, soursops, medlars, cherries, kakis, coffee beans, and olives, as well as fresh vegetables (we have yet tomatoes 🍅, paprika 🌶️ and lemons 🍋).

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  What else ...

  Please be aware that even during winter, the sun can be very intense and hot. 🥵☀️
  
  The helper will live autonomously without comfort, connecting with nature🌿🌱 ⛰️ and, ideally, with themselves.😉
  We can share moments together when it fits, but it is NOT communal living. Please keep in mind that we also have other commitments, such as our children.
  
  Musicians are always welcome. 😁🪘🎻🎤🎷🪗🎶 WE LOVE 🩷 MUSIC.
  
  There is a bus stop 🚍 in the village (a 20-minute walk), but the connections are not so frequent like in a bigger town. But there is a shuttle that you can call that brings you down to the highway, where the buses are coming more often.
  
  ‼️
  We are only interested in people who genuinely want to help, with a helpful attitude, and not just seeking a place to stay while considering work as an unavoidable evil. It is also important to treat the children kindly, being mindful that our child with Down syndrome may come to your space out of curiosity. We ask for kind and understanding reactions.
  
  Working schedule: 5 days a week, 3 hours per day (10:00 am - 1:00 pm).
  
  
  A 10-minute walk 🏃🏻 to a mini supermarket.
  A 20-minute walk 🏃🏻 to the next small town with a supermarket, bank, post office, 2 bars, a bakery, a butcher, a hardware shop, and a medical center. 🏘️ A 30-minute walk 🏃🏻 to Base Camp Ortiz (climbing area). 🧗🏻
  
  
  LGBTQ+ friendly. 🏳️‍🌈

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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

  You can park your camper on an open space on our finca. We also have our own mobile home parked there (it's called 'Gari,' like the 🐌 from SpongeBob 😄).

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Please note that the fences around the finca are not fully enclosed and may not prevent animals from escaping. You are welcome to bring your pets, as long as they are not aggressive, do not harm the cultivated plants, and do not dig or roam in the flower beds.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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