Permaculture et coup de main à la maison dans un sympathique village, Yambol, Bulgarie

Infos

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  Description

  Are you interested in permaculture, gardening in harmony with nature? Do you have knowledge and experience, or do you want to learn the practical skills?
  
  We are turning 4 decares of land a permaculture project. We've planted a 'food forest' (polyculture orchard with plums, apricots, peaches, cherries, sour cherries, pomegranates, apples, pears, quince, persimmon, walnuts, raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, aronia, goji berries, tayberries, jostaberries, gooseberries and more... surrounded by a flowering/fruiting biodiversity hedge that will provide food for us, attract bees, and shelter wild birds.
  
  We grow without weedkillers and pesticides. We have raised keyhole beds for vegetables, a drip irrigation system fed by a groundwater pump, a composting toilet and composting bins. There's always a lot of work to be done, especially in spring and autumn. Do you want to help us with this?
  
  You don't need to have previous permaculture or gardening experience (though if you have, great!) because we can train you. However, you have to be willing to do physical work, e.g. turn the compost heap and dig planting trenches.
  
  Some of your help will be in the house. There's always a lot of cleaning and tidying to do.
  
  If you have special skills, we'll be happy to allocate you relevant tasks. For example, you may be able to build a wooden plant trellis, connect gutters to the roof for a rainwater harvesting system or instal a solar energy shower, do small repairs around the house, paint walls, restore old wooden furniture, draw up a plan for remodelling part of the house, teach us yoga and tai chi, groom and train our dogs, do some social media posting, cook (mostly vegetarian) meals, make jams and fruit preserves, give us physiotherapy or create a mosaic from collected ceramics shards.
  
  If you're a couple, you can divide the tasks between you, e.g. one does the gardening, the other the housework.
  
  I'm a writer, and will often sit at my desk to work on a book while you get on with your tasks in the kitchen or the orchard.
  
  It's quiet and peaceful here. The main sounds you'll hear are birdsong, the humming of bees, the chirping of crickets, the 'tatatat' of storks' bills in early summer, the 'toctoctoc' of woodpecker's beaks in the winter, the moo of cows and the meeh of sheep, interspersed with goat bells and dogs barking. The location is rural and ecologically fairly clean (though some rubbish gets irresponsibly dumped). The village economy is based on sunflower-growing, cheese-making and solar energy harvesting.
  
  If you like, we can introduce you to the people in the village, who are really friendly and helpful, though they don't speak English. You can get an insider experience of local traditions the way no tourist ever will.
  
  We can host in the winter months, but most of the tasks during this time will be indoors (housework and cleaning) rather than gardening. We can't plant trees when the ground is frozen. Do you want to give our home a thorough clean? :-)
  
  We have hosted many volunteers over the years (not just through WorkAway) and are quite good hosts to work for :-) However, we won't tolerate dishonesty of any kind. If you pretend skills you don't have, fabricate lies or plan to deceive - don't come here. (We had to ask one dishonest volunteer to leave to protect ourselves and our home. Her review dragged our feedback rating down. :-( The real volunteers have always given us top rating.
  
  Does this sound good you? If yes, tell us what interests you about this placement and what skills you can contribute. Please be honest about yours kills and everything else. We look forward to hearing from you.
  
  
  Rayne

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et projets de construction

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
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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

  We'll be happy to tell you about Bulgarian life and culture, introduce you to local people, and help you in becoming a temporary part of an authentic Bulgarian community. (This depends on how long you're staying.) We can also practice German or English conversation with you. We can train you in practical permaculture and gardening skills (depending on the season).

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  Aide

  Tasks depend on volunteers' skills and interests, on what needs doing at the time, and on the season and weather.
  Housework, DIY, gardening, pet care, social work and more. Tell us when you want to come and what skills you can offer, and we'll tell you what kind of work is scheduled for that time.

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  Langues parlées

  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant

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  Hébergement

  We have a nice comfortable guest room with a large bed, suitable for a couple. There's a shared bathroom.
  If you want to live in your own tent or camper van, there's space to set it up or park it.

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  Autres infos...

  There are several buses daily to the towns of Elhovo and Yambol, but the bus stop is 2km away.
  
  The village itself has two shops, a post office and a library (which stocks a few English and German books).
  
  The landscape around the village is mostly flat with some hills, with a river and small lake nearby. A large nature reserve is nearby. We're not far from the Black Sea and the Turkish border, so volunteers who stay several weeks can go on excursions there.
  
  Internet is overall good with occasional outages.
  
  The assignment would best suit a couple. It's great for a single, too, as long as you like the quiet life, are content to be alone much of the time and don't require entertainment. If you're a group, you would need to be willing to 'rough' it for the accommodation, i.e. bring your own tent or sleep on the floor in the house.
  
  Please don't apply if you dislike (or are allergic to) cats or dogs. :-)
  
  Please apply only if you have an up-to-date Covid vaccination.

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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

  If you plan to work on your own projects as a digital nomad, that's fine - but remember that you owe us 25 hours work per week. Doing both may not leave you with much spare time for sightseeing and leisure. Internet is very good, with occasional brief outages.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  We have space for a campervan, but it's not a dedicated campsite with facilities. Also bear in mind that Bulgaria is very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter.

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  If your cat or dog is used to travelling and at ease in new surroundings, and gets on well with other cats and dogs (ours), we're willing to consider them. The dog will have to stay outside, not allowed into the house.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  25 hours per week, flexible schedule

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