Off-grid caravan welcomes independent souls to help maintain and develop the land in Benifallet, Spain

Detalles

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  Descripción

  Hello!
  You can find us in the grounds of what was a functioning five hectare fruit farm and olive grove up until we started growing our own family a few years ago. Its now a bit more of a growing wilderness that sits in some quite epic landscape between the Ebro river and two mountain ranges (Caro and Cardo) in Southern Catalonia. We are still planting, chopping, growing, creating, collaborating, initiating, inspiring, being inspired or just chatting and planning over a cup of tea. We just have lots less time to develop our ideas and need some help. We are not a commercial farm though and so far we just have the aim to eat and use whatever we manage to produce between us.
  
  For two and a half thousand years the rock that the finca sits on has been inhabited in some way, the ancient ruin of the hill fort is a less than a hundred metres from our door. Its elevated position allowed the settlers to keep an eye on the river traffic and the surrounding terrain. These days that means we have a great view and feel a pinch of magic.
  
  The farm itself and our ideas about what to do here have been constantly evolving since we arrived nearly ten years ago. At first we didn’t have a plan at all, we just loved the land and we were full of dreams, the kind of unpractical ones only townies could bring to the country. Our main intention was and still is to share this magical place with others and use the land in as many ways as we can think of. The first part of the transformation of the terrain was a resting and healing process. The farm had previously been traditionally over-farmed for many years with crop spraying and weed killing and the natural diversity of the plant and wildlife had stunted by the monoculture systems. We let the land breath and recover, putting a comma into the the timeline of the land, nurturing the soil, naturing the soul. We have tried to apply common sense to each part of the rebuilding process and it has become clear that the principles of permaculture is a cornerstone to this. We also love aesthetics and our farm has become a hybrid between those two principles.
  Another thing that has become very clear is that we cannot do it all on our own so we are now looking for some extra hands that would like to tuck into and enjoy this piece of land.
  
  We have harvested Olives, Oranges, Mandarins and Carob. Much less today than before. We have held events. We changed the lanscape to make it more welcoming and less like an intensive fruit farm but it feels like we've only scratched the surface and that there is a huge amount of potential for this land in lots of different ways.

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  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Trabajo de caridad

  Proyectos artísticos

  Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos

  Jardinería

  Construcción y bricolaje

  Ayuda en una granja

  Cuidado de niños y juegos creativos

  Mantenimiento general
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  Objetivos de sostenibilidad de las NU que intenta conseguir este anfitrión

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  ¿Que es esto?
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  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  There are lots of things to learn around here aside from general land clearing and maintaining skills. Terraced wall repair, basic construction, pruning and plant tree maintenance, working as a team bringing in a harvest is a great event in itself. For at least three months or more every year learning to juggle with what can become extreme heat can be high up the list of new skills too however.
  Spring and autumn are the busy months, summer is mostly about keeping things alive and well.
  The land is beautiful and very tranquil and this is the first great benefit, finding a comfortable balance between working and living off grid to the point of near self sufficiency is one of the greatest and most important things anyone can do these days.
  We are both creative people and are very happy to share and encourage artistic endeavours on the finca too. We want to create a very wonderful place that can host many people safely.

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  Proyectos con niños

  En este proyecto podría haber niños. Para obtener más información, consulta nuestras directrices y consejos aquí.

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  Ayuda

  We are now looking for some very independent and gentle souls who would like to come and stay and help out with maintaining and developing our land. Bush clearing to create access to the various terraces, building or maintaining existing pathways and borders including stone wall terracing and their repair and Irrigating our trees and plants are a primary concern. We may harvest while you're with us though we haven't been able to do this yearly. We would love to create spaces that can be used by our visitors, building outdoor kitchens and showers and communal areas just to sit and enjoy the multitude of magical nooks and crannies we find whenever we walk the land.
  
  You will have to be very independent and self-driven though as we cannot spend as much time as we would like on the land. We are 4 km away from the lovely riverside village of Benifallet, a small part of that journey is on a fairly rough track so the first part of the jigsaw is to have the possibility for independent travel that's preferably a decent mode of transport of some kind.
  
  We are using river water for irrigation and filtered river water domestically but it's not drinking water so one of the elements of living on the finca is to transport drinking water there. This may be something that you may have to do as part of your weekly routine as well as visiting the recycling area in the village when you need to. We can also help with this but prefer you to be self sufficient. Incredibly there is a drinking water outlet in the village that provides 1000 litres for one euro. Please note we don't provide food and you have to be pretty self sufficient. Therefor we really don't expect you to contribute with more than 15 hours of work a week as well as with a lovely attitude and energy.

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  Idiomas hablados

  Inglés: Fluido
  Español: Fluido
  Francés: Fluido
  Swedish: Fluido
  Catalan: Intermedio

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  Alojamiento

  Off-grid Swedish caravan from the 70s.

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  Algo más...

  We are in the middle of an incredible area between mighty rivers and mountains and beaches and coastline, The Delta! We are in fruit country , everything grows here so the food and wine are also very good and not expensive. The wine actually is superb. So are the beaches. And the menu del dia's (€12).
  
  The history of the the region is also visible everywhere , the moors, the templars, the civil war ended here. Cycling along the via verde which was an old train track that is now a bike way running through incredible scenes, walking and trekking opportunities are abundant, canoeing the river, kayaking the sea, eating ...lots of eating, fishing for catfish bigger than yourself, sewing on a quiet moment , drawing your imagination, painting what you feel like you see, beading, playing, splashing, singing enjoying.
  
  The roads and transport systems here are very good and also not expensive. Hife run coaches from the airport, renfe run trains to nearby Tortosa and Mora La Nova. Buses run to those destinations from the village but having your own transport is a great bonus here. It can get a bit rugged on your way to the exotic wild water swimming lagoons or just to our friends finca's.
  
  The wildlife here is really stunning. migrating storks visit the delta in their thousands. Birds and insects so brightly coloured you can't quite believe them. Eagles, huge eagles!
  
  Yes and flies and mosquitoes and black fly and wasps and all that boring stuff too but hey just don't seem so bad when your gazing off into the endless layers of silhouetted mountain ridges and clouds that make patterns from the cat in the hat books

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  Un poco más de información

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    Acceso a Internet

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    Acceso a Internet limitado

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    Tenemos animales

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    Somos fumadores

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    Puede alojar familias

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  Puede acoger a nómadas digitales

  Unlimited internet access

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  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  We have got space to put your own living vehicle if you prefer.

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  Podría aceptar mascotas

  We already have a cat but are welcoming more friendly animals

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  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Más de dos

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  Horas esperadas

  15 hours/week , 5 days a week

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