Join us and help look after our countryside home with dogs and cats in the hills of Val Trebbia, Piacenza, Italy

Infos

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  Description

  I am a psychologist born and raised in Milan, I lived in a few different places in Italy and a period in Germany. Now I live on the hills of Val Trebbia, near Piacenza (100 km from Milan) in what was a former farm that is now waiting to become something else (still don't know what) with my partner and depending on the days and plans with my parents.
  The place is surrounded by nature, and you can see a few wild animals, enjoy beautiful landscapes and walks.
  I adopted 4 maremma sheepdogs that were once guardians for sheep in this farm and 4 cats (that lived around here) and at the moment I share their custody with my parents.
  I stay here most of the week here and then spend two days a week in the city for work. At the moment I alternate with my parents to make sure there is always someone with the animals.
  I am vegan, so the food I offer here is mostly plant-powered :-) and I love cooking.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  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

  The landscape we have is wonderful and you get the chance to see the cycles of nature.
  The dogs and cats are lovely so you get tons of love from them.
  I used to be a couchsurfing guest and host, and I travelled abroad a lot, so I would be happy to resume cultural exchange and tell you about Italy and hear about your country.
  I still don't know a lot about sustainable gardening but I can share what I learned til now and learn more with you.
  My partner has a good knowledge of the countryside and of the woods, he is also a great cook (you need to speak a bit of Italian to learn from him).
  When my parents are here you have my dad (IT geek) who speaks English and my mom who is a wonderful physiotherapist and great cook. She doesn't speak English but every foreigner she meets gets to learn something from her.

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  Aide

  ***OPTION 1*** CATS AND DOGS
  We request a minimum availability of 2 weeks. It helps us with logistics, with work plans and with the dogs' balance to have someone staying a longer period.
  We look for someone who has a consistent experience with dogs (personally took care of their own dogs and/or worked in a dog shelter for a long period), with some knowledge about how to "read" dogs' signals (e.g., stress, excitement). Our dogs are super sweet but they are big (between 38 and 50kg) and two of them get really excited with bicycles, motorbikes, some cars and wildlife (especially deers and rabbits), thus walking them and managing them requires a bit more care than smaller ones sometimes.
  
  ***OPTION 2*** OUTSIDE
  Help with outside works: picking up/cutting wood, planting trees/plants, cutting the grass in some areas, preparing the soil for the veg garden, DIY works for outside
  In the summertime we look for people who have a good knowledge of the veg garden (e.g., how to tie tomatoes, has an eye for parasites of plants or plant diseases etc.).
  We will love to teach you what we know and share time with you, but we don't have time at the moment to train from 0 someone who stays a short period of time, so you need to be already a bit skilled.
  
  ***OPTION 3*** DIY and General maintainance
  Help with renovating/maintaining the house (painting, fixing, moving furniture, building stuff, renovating furniture).
  
  
  PLEASE NOTE: There is no public transport here, you either need your own transport if you want to go around (we can drive you somewhere sometimes according to our work schedules, but not consistently.
  
  We need help with:
  - taking care of the dogs and cats
  - general maintainance of the house and surroundings, the vegetable garden, some fruit trees, auto-production (depending on the season I do jams, syrups, pick up fruits and herbs etc), and other small works.
  ANIMALS: walk the dogs in the morning and/or evenings (in summer), around lunch time or afternoon too (in the other seasons). Prepare their food.
  GARDEN: watering the plants, keeping the veg garden, picking up fruits and vegetables, stacking wood, small works to keep the garden tidy
  HOUSE: cleaning, tidying up, doing some small works inside the house.
  At times we might need help with some small DIY projects.

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  Langues parlées

  Anglais: Courant
  Italien: Courant
  Allemand: Intermédiaire
  Espagnol: Débutant

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  Hébergement

  You will have a single room inside the house with us with closet, bed and a desk.
  There is a full bathroom upstairs in the floor with all the bedrooms and a bathroom we are fixing downstairs.
  We offer food and a single room with a great view on the Pianura Padana.
  If you are traveling in 2 please check if we are able to accomodate you.

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  Autres infos...

  There is no public transport to reach the house, you will need to walk or to have someone (also one of us when we can) drive you to the nearest bus stop. When you arrive we can pick you up in Piacenza station or in the closest town (Rivergaro, that you can reach by bus from Piacenza). The closest town is downhill, 15 mins away by car (about 8 km), but there is a cafè and bar in the village 10 minutes walk away. There are also a couple of restaurant 20/30 minutes away by walk.
  We are usually more free in the weekend and if we can we like to go in the woods or to the river for a walk, or going around to pick up stuff depending on the period (e.g., chestnuts, fruits). Let us know in advance if you want to come around with us so that we can plan accordingly.
  In your time off you can take great walks in the hills or in the forest and go down to the river (better in summer).
  We live a somewhat quiet life, and like to spend some time here and with the animals. We might have friends over visiting or coming over to eat and drink.
  We expect that you respect people and common spaces, clean up after yourself, help with works and animal care. Everything else can be agreed flexibly, feel free to ask :-)

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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

  Wifi works well besides some problems on cloudy or heavy rainy days

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Cet hôte a de la place pour les vans.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  about 3 hours a day, 5 days a week (if possible it could include the weekend)