Join me on my community farm in Travanca de Lagos, Portugal

Infos

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  Description

  I am in my early 60s , fit and healthy and have two wonderful girls in their 20s who are at university in England and who visit regularly to help out. I am developing a community syntropic/agroforestry farm in Central Portugal. The land is 8 hectares of terraces, oak woodland and river front and overlooks the valley with a view of both the Caramulo and the Serra da Estrela mountain ranges.
  
  In Portugal there is a lot of land that is no longer cultivated. My aim is to bring the local community to the farm and grow food together for all, what we refer to as "feed the village". The community farm aims to solve an number of issues:
  1) There is a lot of uncultivated land following many exoduses from the countryside since WW2 and production has moved to highly intensively produced, low nutrient food.
  2) The struggles with mental health and loneliness of many, across generations, where working in nature with others has been proved to bring tremendous benefit.
  3) The impossibility of making this sort of farmland in this area profitabe at scale (too far from the markets opf Porto and Lisbon)
  4) The need for healthy nutrient-rich food for all at affordable prices
  
  Do come and join me as volunteers in our journey to bring people back to the land!
  
  I have been working on the land now for 2 years and have made a lot of progress in transforming the land and planting 1 hectare with productive crops and trees and planting over 2,000 forestry trees. The land was devastated by fire in 2017 with over 5,000 pine trees burned to a cinder. When I bought the land it was, for the most part, covered in 3.5m high broom and had been untouched by the huge fires of 2017. I have removed this with the help of a mulching machine to both reduce the fire risk, bring goodness into the soil and to provide room to plant.
  
  I looking for up to 2 volunteers at any one time to work on the farm with me for 5 hrs a day in return for food and board.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage d'entretien

  Projets DIY créatifs

  Aide dans une ferme
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Politique/justice sociale

  

  Technologie

  

  Ferme

  

  Culture

  

  Photographie

  

  Langues

  

  Musique

  

  Histoire

  

  Bricolage / artisanat

  

  Livres

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Jardinage

  

  Écriture

  

  Dessin et peinture

  

  Menuiserie

  

  Activités en plein air

  

  Randonnée

  

  Cyclisme

  

  Danse

  

  Montagne

  

  Nature

  

  Fitness

  

  Camping
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  The core of the project is to bring local Portuguese to the farm to grow food for all. I am increasingly integrated with the locals and there are lots of opportunities to meet and talk to local Portuguese, many of whom speak languages other than Portuguese such as Spanish, German and English.
  
  In the surrounding area there are many markets at weekends and festivals in the summer with music and stalls and activities. There is a diverse international community of all ages and backgrounds. There are also other farms that we will visit from time to time. We can specifically arrange visits for interested volunteers.
  
  On the farm itself you can learn about every aspect of farm life from building to watering to planting. What we don't know we find out from locals or online and are always learning.

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  Aide

  The work will involve helping to plant, water and crop and to finish the natural build waterhouse (kitchen, showers and loo) . You will learn all about permaculture, syntropic agroforestry, water management and building projects.

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  Langues parlées

  Anglais: Courant
  Français: Courant
  Espagnol: Intermédiaire
  Portugais: Intermédiaire
  Allemand: Débutant

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  Hébergement

  Accommodation is in a large bell tent or caravan (your choice). The waterhouse is a communal area for chilling, cooking, showers and a toilet.
  
  All.bedding is provided.
  We will provide a self service breakfast, lunch either on the farm or at a local restaurant and a light dinner.

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  Autres infos...

  Oliveira do Hospital is a 20 minute cycle, largely flat apart from the initial 400m to the local village Travanca de Lagos. We have two very nice mountain bikes. We go into Oliveira most days by car as it is only 8 minutes away.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  The internet is excellent and based on 5G and 4G routers. I work remotely and have never had a problem.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Campervans are welcome

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  You are free to bring your pets

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Mes animaux

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