Help us grow our little paradise in Sicily in the countryside of Noto, Italy

Infos

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  Description

  NOTE: at the moment we are full until February, unless you come with your own van/camper/tent!!!
  
  Ciao! We are Maaike and Bram, a young Dutch couple who only recently decided to leave the well-organized Netherlands behind to start a totally new adventure in Sicily. While travelling in 2024, we came to Sicily, fell in love with this island and then... well, we actually just never really left. We stayed for two months at this agriturismo campsite, so in a moment of enthusiasm, we decided to buy the terrain next to it :).
  
  About us:
  Bram is a certified European Tree Worker (ETW) and worked with large trees in the Netherlands for several years. Here in Italy, he takes on jobs for private individuals (cutting and removing big trees and palms). I (Maaike) have a bachelor's degree in Sport Studies and worked at a physiotherapy clinic. I also love being creative and working on all kinds of creative projects around our farm, and I sell my watercolor paintings in the city of Siracusa. We both really like being outdoors: hiking, discovering, visiting cities, swimming and working on our land. Since we bought the place very recently, we ourselves are also still exploring Sicilian nature and culture. We love cooking, but even more the eating part. Since we are used to Dutch food, being in Sicily is a food paradise for us. Oh, and by the way, we both LOVE playing board games!!
  
  Our little place is located in the beautiful countryside near Noto, in the mountains of Monti Iblei. We are surrounded by olive trees, carob trees, some almond trees and lots and lots of nature. We are renovating our house, so we ourselves are living in a caravan. We have a vegetable garden, have planted a lot of fruit trees and are surrounded by terrain that needs maintenance. We are looking for volunteers to help us with some everyday tasks around our private home and garden.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage d'entretien

  Projets DIY créatifs

  Aide dans une ferme

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Petits travaux d'entretien
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Animaux de compagnie

  

  Événements/vie sociale

  

  Vie en van

  

  Ferme

  

  Soin des plantes

  

  Art et design

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Jardinage

  

  Dessin et peinture

  

  Animaux

  

  Nature

  

  Camping

  

  Montagne

  

  Plage

  

  Activités en plein air

  

  Randonnée

  

  Sports d'aventure
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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

  Bram is a certified European Tree Worker, so if you're interested in trees, this could be a great opportunity to learn more about them. We've also planted lots of different fruit trees and try to grow as many vegetables on our own land as possible. We'd love to expand our vegetable garden, so you could learn about the whole process, from preparing the soil and planting seeds to harvesting your own vegetables.
  
  We use different permaculture methods, such as no-dig gardening, mulching, natural pest control and composting. We're also really interested in learning more about water management to help us deal with Sicily's dry climate, and we'd love to keep bees and produce our own honey in the future.
  
  We have quite a bit of experience and knowledge about caring for the land that we'd love to share with our volunteers, but we'd also be really interested in learning from you! We're always happy to learn from other people's experiences and skills. But don't worry, you don't need to have any previous experience to come here. As long as you're curious, willing to learn and good company, we'd be more than happy to host you!
  
  Our project is still very new, and we both grew up in big cities in the Netherlands, so we're discovering this countryside life as we go. And that's part of the fun! Hosting volunteers is also new to us, but we're really excited to start welcoming people to our little piece of land and show you the beauty that Sicily has to offer!

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  Projets impliquant des enfants

  Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.

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  Aide

  We are looking for people who get excited about being outdoors, working on the land and learning new things. The tasks will vary from day to day, depending also on the season you're coming and what needs doing at that moment. We're pretty flexible and would much rather find tasks that match your interests, skills or things you'd like to learn.
  
  If you'd like to know more about specific tasks, feel free to send us a message and we can talk about it! But just so you know... we're not big planners, so we usually don't know exactly what we'll be doing until the day itself :).
  
  Some examples of tasks you could help with:
  - Helping in the vegetable garden; expanding the garden, harvesting, weeding, planting and mulching.
  - Collecting from our land. We try to make the most of what grows here, so we collect fruit, carobs, almonds and olives to process and use.
  - Improving the area around our home; planting new trees and plants, making paths and weeding.
  - Restoring our overgrown land; clearing overgrown areas, restoring dry-stone walls, removing rocks, clearing away dead plants and trees, and picking up litter.
  - Helping around the house; clearing out the barn or doing a bit of painting.
  - Building practical things for the farm; helping us build things like a wood storage or chicken coop.
  - Taking care of the animals; looking after our chickens and cats, feeding them, cleaning chicken coop.
  
  We're simply a private home with a large piece of land that we're gradually developing and maintaining. Any help from our volunteers is focused on everyday tasks around our home, garden and land, rather than business-related activities.
  
  We don't expect you to work all day or do things you don't enjoy. We'd like to find a balance that works for everyone and makes this a fun experience for both of us :). In general, we ask for around 4–5 hours of help per day, 5 days a week. We're flexible, though, and can arrange the hours differently if that works better for you. For example, you could do one longer 8-hour day and have an extra day off instead.

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  Langues parlées

  Anglais: Courant
  Hollandais: Courant
  Italien: Intermédiaire

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  Hébergement

  ACCOMODATION:
  For our volunteers, we provide a separate, private caravan with its own little space around it. The caravan has a double bed and a seating area inside. There's also a small outdoor space in front of the caravan, with a beautiful view of the land and olive trees. It has a heater for the winter and a fan for the summer.
  
  The house we're renovating is very old, but for now, we've turned it into a temporary kitchen and living room. This is where we cook and hang out inside when it's cold. It's a shared space where you can also relax, play a board game or have a beer. The caravan has been renovated, but don't get your expectations too high when it comes to the rest of the house. It's basic. Outside, we have an outdoor shower and a composting toilet, which we share with our volunteers.
  
  And a big, big plus: there's a very old pizza oven in the house, so we're always up for a pizza night!
  
  We have running water and electricity, but internet connection has to be stolen from our (very nice) neighbours.
  
  FOOD:
  We will provide 3 meals per day. We will usually eat together, but when we are not there, we will always provide ingredients for you to cook for yourself. We are not vegetarians, but we don't eat meat often, so we have no problems cooking vegetarian if you don't eat meat. Vegan cooking is a little more difficult for us, but if you are willing to help with the cooking and plan meals together, we are happy to make it work.
  
  We like cooking, so we don't mind cooking for our volunteers, but we would prefer more of a roommates' vibe than a host-guest vibe. As we will be sharing our daily life, we appreciate everyone helping out with simple things like cooking, setting the table and doing the dishes. We are not here to clean your room or bed or do your laundry :).

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  Autres infos...

  There is plenty to explore nearby. If you like hiking, it's a great place. There is caves and canyons within a 30 min walk from our terrain, and within a 10min car ride you arrive ar several good hiking spots. There are also some climbing spots (which we are not into, but we can show you where the spots are). There is 1 bicycle that is for use, but we would also enjoy showing you the surroundings in our free time. We love going to this nature reserve "cava grande" which is close by and really beautiful!
  
  Also, we are very close to some beautiful cities like Siracusa and Noto. The closest small town (Cassibile) is 5km away and here you can find everything. The closest beach is about 6km away.
  
  Thursday nights we often like to go to the "balfolk dancing of Siracusa" where we (try to) dance traditional dances with a small group in the main square of Siracusa.

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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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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Yes, we have many great spaces for you to park the van or put up a tent. Within the terrain you could stay anywhere you like, close to the house, or under the trees. If you have a 4x4, there are amazing places to stay.

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  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  Yes, but we have cats and there is dogs in the area too, so if the animals are ok with this, we are too. Please note that there is not closed off/fenced area. Dogs not allowed inside the caravan.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Mes animaux

  

  Unox

  

  Tosti

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