Thomas

Travel information

I am currently

Description

Hi! I'm Thomas, 40, from Belgium.

The times I've felt most alive have always been times of shared, simple, useful work: planting trees, building with whatever is at hand, harvesting, cooking for a crew, and ending the day tired, dirty and happy. That's exactly what I come looking for here. I've learned that about myself: I'm steadier when I'm outdoors and useful than when I'm clever and indoors. What drives me is simple too. At my own scale, wherever I can actually have influence, I try to bend things in the right direction, toward regenerating ecosystems and toward gentler, fairer relationships between people. More peace, more justice, more equity. And I don't believe that happens from a keyboard; I believe it happens with our hands, locally, alongside others.

That's not theory for me. Community life is where I've always felt at home: youth nature camps, flatshares, scientific expeditions, and many participatory building projects over the years. Then, about ten years ago, it all clicked during a four-month Workaway adventure in the Canary Islands, building with upcycled materials and a lot of DIY spirit. That experience led me to start my own project on La Palma: a piece of old terraced farmland we bought as a collective and planted with trees, where I lived off-grid in the mountains for three years. No running water, no grid electricity, and a volcanic eruption along the way. More recently, I spent six months in Portugal helping a reforestation project. Back in Belgium, I built a yurt with my own hands, and it's where I mainly live now, within a collective in the countryside. I've also done quite a lot of wwoofing and volunteering in Belgium and France, mostly on farms: gardening, eco-construction, harvests, whatever needs doing.

A bit of background: I'm a geographer who spent fifteen years as an environmental scientist, including scientific polar expeditions drilling ice cores in the Arctic and Antarctic. Today I work freelance as a developer and cartographer in the environmental sciences (maps, data, code), which pays the bills and leaves me free for the rest. The thread behind all of it is old and simple: I grew up spending every free moment outdoors, and I never stopped marveling at the living world. I just kept looking for ways to make that wonder my life.

The other big thing in my life is music. A huge passion, electronic music especially, but far from only. I craft custom playlists to create the perfect sound atmosphere for a mood or a place, and I'm an amateur DJ.

What I bring: reliable hands, a scientist's curiosity, mapping and data skills if they're ever useful, music, and listening. I think listening is one of the most undervalued skills there is. I'd rather have one real conversation than ten polite ones, and I've learned that most projects (and most groups) run better when people feel genuinely heard.

I'm looking for places working on regeneration in any form: farms, forests, eco-construction, community projects. I'll show up curious, adaptable, and ready to get my hands dirty.

See you soon maybe!

Interests

Plant care

Carpentry

Camping

Dancing

Adventure sports

Writing

Sustainability

Self development

Politics / Social justice

Nature

Outdoor activities

Music

Mountain

Hiking

Gardening

Farming

Events & social

Cycling

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Dutch: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I can help you learn French and I'll be happy if I could improve my spanish

Find a language partner

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Life at a Farmstay

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Some knowledge of:  

Light gardening

Creative DIY projects

Eco Projects

Languages

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Able to teach about:  

Helping with Computers/ Internet

Teaching

More details about your skills

- gardening (heavy work, chainsaw, ...)
- building( painting, masonry, carpentry)
- computer work (web development, code, Linux)
- French/English/Dutch and basic Spanish knowledge
- like to work in a team
- map-making
- writing
- video-editing
- djaying

Age

41

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  No

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  Special dietary requirements
  No