Small community of Orthodox Christian nuns on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia

Detalles

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  Descripción

  This is a small community of Orthodox Christian nuns (monastery) on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia, which supports itself mainly by gardening and otherwise cooperating with nature.
  
  This place is a "daughter" of a monastery in Thessaly, Greece, near the village of Anatoli on Mt. Kissavos that also supports itself through organic agriculture, mainly by cheesemaking. Counting the nuns both here and at the mother monastery, thirteen nationalities are represented, which gives the community certain advantages for welcoming visitors of various backgrounds.
  
  In parallel with communal and personal prayer, the community on Saaremaa keeps a substantial garden. The rhythm of the day is marked by church services (mostly in Estonian and with the Byzantine style of chanting, early morning and mid-afternoon in the chapel, except for Divine Liturgy later in the morning, usually once a week, in the Church of St. Andrew,) and meals (normally taken separately by nuns and visitors), punctuating periods of work and rest.
  
  Approximately 5000 visitors come here each year, mostly during the summer months. The place supports itself mainly through the sale of various agricultural products, and by producing its own fruits and vegetables, bread, and dairy products using milk from a nearby farm. Herbal teas, soaps, and salves are also made here.
  
  During the quiet months of winter (December-March), besides carrying firewood, shoveling snow, etc., the nuns practice various handcrafts, translate spiritual and liturgical texts, and arrange melodies for chanting in the church services. Because outdoor work is so limited during this period, visiting then probably only makes sense if someone is seriously interested in the monastic life.

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  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Jardinería

  Ayuda en una granja
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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

  Staying here means being immersed in rural Estonian culture --
  
  the sounds: songs of swamp cranes and nightingales, breeze through aspens, buzz of grazing bees, church bells;
  
  the smells: an ever-changing mosaic of blossoms, mowed hay, occasionally the manure and diesel that make it all possible;
  
  the tastes: bread from grain grown and milled by the neighbors, eggs from down the road, fish from off the coast of Saaremaa, dairy products made at the monastery from milk from the same cows that eat the silo grown on the monastery's fields, fruits and vegetables from the monastery garden;
  
  the sights: a mind-boggling variety of wildflowers, everywhere trees with personality, forest creatures of all kinds, an old and very actively maintained cemetery, homesteads from different time periods and in varying stages of decay or renewal
  
  Just contemplating all of that is a huge learning experience in itself, and participating in this "ecosystem" even for a short time -- by gathering herbs or weeding, meeting the residents of the leaf compost pile, etc. -- lets it sink into one's skin much more deeply than any touristic encounter with a place.
  
  It also offers the opportunity to interact with Orthodox Christian monastics, who correspond on the human side with the centuries-old churches that dot the landscape.
  
  While Workawayers have their own living space and can arrange their daily schedule as is comfortable for them, work together in the garden offers the opportunity to share techniques and experiences with growing the following vegetables and fruits in this type of climate (hardiness zone 5): potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, leeks, garlic, tomatoes, basil, kohlrabi, green peas, green beans, mint, apples, red and black currants, strawberries, raspberries, plums, pears, cherries; and also harvesting various wild-growing herbs. Workawayers will have the opportunity, depending on the season, to participate in all phases of the process (planting, pruning, protecting from diseases and pests, harvesting, processing) and trade tips with the nuns on how things can best be done.

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  Ayuda

  Visitors can help with all the work that takes place outside the monastery's main building, which means gardening (planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, compost and fertilizer production and application), landscaping (mowing with a riding and/or push mower, using a trimmer), gathering cultivated and wild-growing herbs for tea, salves and soaps (for example mother-of-thyme, St. John's wort, calendula).
  
  Rainy day activities include packing seeds, soaps and herbal teas; fashioning wicks for oil lamps out of Greek horehound blossoms; various tasks in the workshop.
  
  Visitors may also participate in seasonal tasks such as making firewood (splitting with a hydraulic splitter, stacking, transferring dry firewood to woodshed) and working to restore the wooded meadow landscape, either with hand tools or a chainsaw or trimmer, depending on the visitor's level of experience.

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  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Greek: Fluido
  Inglés: Fluido
  Estonian: Fluido
  Danish: Principiante

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  This is an ideal place to work on learning the Estonian language, as some of the sisters are native speakers and the others have been through the learning process, so that each can help in their own way. In the height of summer, there is little time for formal lessons, but in general opportunities for language practice are abundant.
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  Alojamiento

  Visitors stay next to the monastery's main building in a tiny but comfortable two-bed guesthouse with heating, hot water, insect screens, and a refrigerator and cupboard stocked with bread, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, etc.
  
  The midday meal is cooked within the monastery; eating at other times is organized independently. Fish is sometimes served, otherwise the food is either ovo-lacto-vegetarian or vegan, depending on the Orthodox Church calendar. Strict vegans would do well to consult that calendar when considering a visit.
  
  Bed sheets, blankets and towels are provided. Laundry is done within the monastery once a week or as needed. Visitors normally clean the guesthouse themselves once a week.
  
  Note: camping of any kind is not permitted on monastery territory.

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  Algo más...

  Getting to the monastery by bus is cheap (14-18 euros from Tallinn) and very easy.
  
  Local buses, free of cost, can take you to the most interesting sites on Saaremaa (Kuressaare with its castle, Kaali crater, Panga cliff, Mändjala beach, Sõrve peninsula, Koigi bog, Vilsandi nature preserve, several medieval churches). The monastery also has bicycles available, and already within walking distance there are some very beautiful areas, including Reo cemetery and the Reo-Tahula nature preserve.

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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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  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Dos

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  Horas esperadas

  Expected is certainly not more than 25 hours/week, though in the atmosphere of the monastery the line between working and resting is very blurry.

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