Portugal
67 “me gusta”
We live in the heart of Portugal, in Tomar, and are building our house surrounded by 4ha of autochthonous vegetation and trees, part of it is inserted in the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world "Natura 2000". Tomar is a beautiful town, home of the Templars with it's magnificent "Convento de Cristo" and many other interesting monuments not only in the town center but also in the surrounding areas. It's not far from the Zêzere river and "Castelo de Bode" dam, where you can have a refreshing swim during the long warm summery days. Our land has been in our family for a long time (since 1803) and we already benefit from it's olive trees and produce every year olive oil, we have a wide variety of fruit trees such as figs, pomegranate, apples, pears, peaches, passion fruit among others. We have bees but only take honey for ourselves and friends. We have a vegetable garden although we are not self-sufficient yet. Nevertheless, as we are planning to be moving there as soon as our house is ready, and we are developing a lot of projects that we had in mind for a long time. We are building facilities to have more animals, such as goats (to help us keep the forest clean and safe from fire), pigs, ducks, and more hens, which we already have. We had a beautiful spiral with many herbs but was destroyed by the wild boars during one of our trips to South America. We do organic farming but more than permaculture or any other modern concept of agriculture, we use the local and traditional and ancestral methods which respect the local geography and natural nature cycles, without using any kind of synthetic chemicals.
We are rebuilding a ruin to create a space for communitarian learning center. We run an NGO and among other projects we have a circus school/company.
We are a family of four, Julia and Pedro are 36 and 39 respectively, Abril 3 and Artur, a newborn. Pedro's mother is the only one living in the land, and you will live in a small independent studio. Although we still live in the town center, we go there everyday and spend most of our time working in the land and in our projects.
Jardinería
Proyectos de construcción y bricolaje
Cuidado de niños y juegos creativos
Ayuda en una granja
Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos
Ayuda doméstica
Cuidado de animales
Práctica de idiomas
Enseñanza
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
We are Portuguese and have been traveling around the world for some years, collecting knowledge from other cultures. In our land we still use the same methods and instruments from our ancestors, avoiding all mechanization.
Please notice that it is a cultural exchange not a one way relationship. We also want to experiment things from your country and learn with your life experience.
We would like you to understand that this is more of an intercultural experience than anything else. We treat volunteers as friends, we have had volunteers spending Christmas with our family, birthdays, and other celebrations and we love to know about you, your experiences, your travels, your stories. We have two kids and want to give them this sense of universal culture and a welcoming home. So we expect a bit more engagement than just coming here for a free holiday. We love teaching what we know and love showing our way of living but also want to know things about you. This said, I must advise we have a 3 year old daughter who loooooves volunteers and is very sociable. She will be all over you so we hope that is not a problem either!! It's exactly what we encourage her to do, socialize and learn with everybody!
Regardless on the season we always have plenty to do. Besides the daily tasks of a little farm, feeding the animals, taking care of the vegetables and trees, visiting the bees once in a while, we also have daily construction work and regular maintenance in the forest.
Free days are important for you but also for us. Of course it depends on the type of relationship we will develop during your stay but a day or two per week where we can all rest from each other seems like a good idea. So we kindly ask you to respect that and don't expect us to cook for you or drive you to places.
German: Fluido
English: Fluido
Spanish: Fluido
French: Fluido
Italian: Fluido
Portuguese: Fluido
Romanian: Fluido
Sami: Fluido
Swedish: Fluido
We can accommodate one or two volunteers at the same time. You will stay in an independent studio in the farm, next to Pedro mother's house, with a bathroom with hot shower, a small kitchen where you can cook your meals.
We will give you all the food you need for you to prepare every meal during work days or I will prepare some things and if you want (which I hope you will) you can eat with us. I also prepare big portions that you can take home with you and eat later. We give you fresh bread or müesli for breakfast, fruit, veggies and everything necessary for a balanced diet. We also love baking and eat regularly cakes or cookies. However on your free days we won't provide more food, if you still have from other days perfect (you won't need to buy) but please don't expect me to prepare anything else or expect me to bring you fresh stuff in the morning.
So, on working days we provide everything for you. You may have your free days whenever you want and if you want extra free days you may work more hours during one or two days and that is ok as well.
Half the family follows a plant-based diet (we include eggs from our chickens and honey from our bees) and the other has a Mediterranean diet so you can choose from both as you desire.
This is a two way relationship so it would be nice to try some tradicional dishes from your country.
The farm is 4Km away from the center of the town, that you can easily access by bike (which we have) or even walking. We also have cars and do this trip several times a day. There is also a bus from the town's center which you leave close to the land. We might not always be available to give you a ride so don't get moody if you decide to go to the center and then don't get a ride back up!
The land is near the St. James Way "Caminho de Santiago" where you can walk some routes and we'll pick you up by car when you get tired. At a walking distance there is a beautiful roman bridge and a stone stairway in the river called "Açude de Pedra".
Mostly during the summer there are plenty of cultural activities in the town and surrounding villages. Every year, in August, a village nearby hosts a big music festival called "Bons sons" and in town there is a Templar festival with historical recreations. Every four years there is a pagan festivity called "Festa dos Tabuleiros".
As said previously, the river and the dam are pretty close and we go there regularly during the summer.
Our NGO also hosts many seasonal fests and celebrations and cultural events. You will be more than welcome to join us.
Acceso a Internet
Acceso a Internet limitado
Tenemos animales
Somos fumadores
Puede alojar familias
Dos
Max 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
