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Description
Are you a Plant person and nature enthusiast?
Do you love spending time in a natural environment full of beings more than in cities stuffed with loads of people and pollution?
Are you able to see the Divine surrounding the universe and living in every creature?
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Looking for committed and somehow experienced people to stay along the season from January to April (minimum 4 weeks max 3 months) since we will have to leave the farm one week a month to participate to markets in the north of Italy and between march and April Salvo should go to India for a permaculture training.
Main practical activities of the season:
general maintenance of the common spaces and of our veg gardens and orchard, seasonal fruit harvesting eating, processing and drying.
Urgent need of web designers support
Please when writing us tell us specifically what interest you in our project and your relation and interest in the Spiritual path.
💧we don't have a washing machine, just hand washing 👐🏽
🐟All the waters flow into the phytoremediation so please don't bring soaps, toothpaste and chemical products that are not biodegradable.
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After several years of up and down, having more that 100 people per year visiting, learning, building, transforming and giving back space to life for Mother Nature to express her power, a new wave, more into intimate reconnection, is flowing in the project.
Now besides farming as lifestyle our inner goal is to live and promote spiritual awareness and practices. Someone called it Spiritual ecology, but let's not stick to labels please!
Salvo is committed in a path of worship of the "invisible" trough the "visible", and veneration, meditation and devotion towards the spiritual teachings of the Sufi master Shirdi Sai Baba and the manifestation of Nature in the visible aspect of Mother Kali trough the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
Welcomed are spiritual seekers as friends, to share the practices and live it into the daily communal life.
For this reason the possession and consume of Alcohol and Tobacco, and all intoxicating substances, activities, practices and philosophies that can drive us towards selfishness, materialism, violence, lust, anger and untruthfulness, cannot find a space in here. It's not a taboo or a prohibitionist attitude but rather a way to detox from worldly dilemmas that slow down our specific paths towards the Oneness of Self.
Please be honest with yourself and us and avoid applying if that doesn't resonate with the kind of experience that you want to live.
Our PROJECT
Our project started in June 2011 from a 15000sq meters abandoned orange orchard in a typical sicilian monoculture citrus production area.
The project takes its name from the traditional Arab irrigation channel that runs through our land and carries water slowly and thoughtfully to nourish all forms of life in nature and fuels our purpose to regenerate!
Through the Permaculture design model and thanks to the important help and energy of many friends and volunteers, it grew to become an oasis of biodiversity and one of the main hubs of the Italian and Sicilian permaculture network. It is well known as a model for production and experimental-oriented farming project, obtaining crop yields and still being a center of active learning and non-formal education. Over the course of the years, the experimental field also grew in size and the core team evolved around the project foundations and its life values.
We chose Permaculture, because it can be considered a systemic approach and it includes many aspects of life, following in an harmonic way the different interactions within ecosystems. This system is based on three ethics: earth care, people care and fair share (also declined as future care), and a growing number of design principles!
For us it's a conscious choice of life. Sharing spaces, emotions, time and elements, looking outside and inside of ourselves.
Still Permaculture is but One possible choice, and not necessary the best one, and that has to be understood and lived trough a more conscious relationship with all the Other than Human beings.
We aim to develop within ourselves and those coming to join us, this deep Divine connection within Nature, sense of the Place and of the animate spirits living within us.
We want to host people with a REAL feeling of Curiosity, Care, Stewardship, Desire of Presence, Spiritual attitude and Active sense of Responsibility.
THE PEOPLE living here:
|Salvo,38
Linguist, social worker and permaculturist farmer(not as a trademark!) , fond of meditation and world music. He bought the land back in 2011 after 10 years of travelling and doing voluntary work around the globe. He lives and works semi-permanently here. He's fond of nature’s intimacy, anthropic silence, group working, reading and sharing his knowledge and experiences in everyday life, courses and events.
He's also into Sufi remembrance practices, Advaita Vedanta-non dualistic hindu spirituality, world religions, anthropology, and loves to feel inebriated by Earthly and Divine Love.
|Nuri, 9
Salvo's son, who spends here a part of the week or some longer periods depending on school and holidays! He loves growing little plants in pots, climbing trees, swimming in the pond, getting muddy, finding toads, playing with the people he likes and have his own space for relax and reflection. He goes to a "normal" school to be in touch with "normal people and kids" in order to experience how life is lived by the 90% of people out there.
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And living just on the other side of the road our friends with which we collaborate and randomly organise activities, works and mutual help moments:
|Angelo, 32
Music teacher, farmer (working mainly with olive and orange trees), and passionate for eco-building. He plays sax and loves sharing music, especially Jazz, Cumbia, Gospel and world music!
Apart from those mentioned above, we're part of a small but growing network of Salvo's friends and ex-volunteers of our project, that over the time decided to invest and do a deep life change, buying land in the nearby areas and deciding to create new collaborations and co-productions!
This is an important point because we promote and support long term commitment, collaborations, new neighbours settlement in the area to extend and promote the value of our work as much as possible. So, if you're looking for a place where to move, this could be an option!
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The work-learning exchange:
Being a volunteer or a collaborator doesn't strictly mean working a certain number of hours in exchange for food and stay, but a co-living within an environment where we try to keep humans within Nature's boundaries, where Plants and Animals share the space and time, energy and life, with and for us.
We sometimes eat local meat but mostly plants, we respect them and nourish them while they do the same keeping us alive and healthy.
The right attitude towards the activities that we do is taking a selfless Political and Spiritual action into this limited lifespan.
During the seasons shared here you might be LEARNING BY DOING on these and many more aspects:
- Concepts, politics, philosophy, tools and techniques of gardening in permaculture design and regenerative farming, Agroforestry, Ecology;
- Food production from the vegetable garden, from seed to harvest and back to seed saving;
- Growing fruits and plants for the Food Forest and for the Forest biology in itself;
- Plant selection and propagation;
- Food processing and conservation, fermentation, baking, eating!
- Observing and respecting natural cycles in humans and all around us;
- Medicinal plants, herbs, tinctures extractions and oils;
- Water conservation, treatment and recycling;
- Soil and forest ecology;
- Mushroom growing, reproducing and consuming;
- Animal integration and interactions;
- Aquaculture, ponds, earthworks, swales and ditches;
- Ecological waste management;
- Natural building;
- Social systems, social Justice, de-Colonisation, Food security, activism;
- Financial strategies and surviving within capitalist state dominion😅;
- DIY, manual ability from art to artifacts;
- Spiritual ecology, deep reconnection and Faith.
But you have to express yourself, ask questions and define your interests to get as much as possible from the experience!
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beside this we might need your help with:
-keeping the place if we're away to our other farm or for other reasons (we cannot leave the farm on it's own, animals and gardens never go on "holidays" !)
-cleaning all around and keep the space tidy and neat!
-play with Nuri and teach him your language and your culture.
Please apply if you are able to stay from a minimum of 3weeks to up to 2 months and have previous knowledge or deep interest in the fields above!
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Arrival/Departure
Once your stay is confirmed we will send you by email or telegram/wapp message a pdf file with the directions to reach us.
You are welcome with your car or your van, and if you come with public transportation we can come pick you up in the town near-by.
Note that there is limited to no public transportation on Sunday and on Saturday and that we can't come to pick you up in Catania (airport nor city center).
STUFF TO BRING
Flip Flops or similar : you will appreciate having a pair for inside common areas
Gloves : if you like for working in the garden or building things
Rain boots : in autumn it can get very rainy since the climate is changing
Sleeping bag : in winter (Oct - April) you might need to bring it, we do supply blankets but you will appreciate the extra warmth. Even in Sicily winter gets cold at night to -4 C
Seeds & plants : to increase the biodiversity of our place you can bring seeds or babies of your local vegetables and trees. We are especially looking for every avocado types for a new project
ANIMALS
There are cats, chickens, fishes and a lot of wild animals (spiders, mice, snakes, gekkos, lizards, frogs, foxes, rabbits). For their sake and respect we cannot host other pets or domesticated beings.
VISA OR CITIZENSHIP PERMITS
Your papers need to be in order for us to host you, unfortunately we are not in a position to be able to help neither with your visa situation nor with your citizenship process.
Borders are there as the result of capitalism and human supremacism.. let's keep it in mind firmly and imagine alternatives.
YOU!
Please take a little time to introduce yourself, who you are, why you would like to come, what are your experiences and projects, and what skills and knowledge you can share.
Beyond the daily work and our current projects you will be helping on, you are welcome to contribute in your own way. We are open to new ideas and love learning new skills (building stuff, auto-production, art, well-being…)!
Once you commit we expect you to come. The running of the project relies on people and it causes us a lot of difficulties when someone doesn’t show up. So please be transparent, let us know if you are not sure.
We hope you'll be able to:
-recognise and develop your own skills
-work collaboratively, share ideas and know how to contribute to the wider community
-be inspired and visit great projects across Etna and nearby
-have fun!
-bring and promote Love.
-being able to work and be also on your own if on that particular moment you're the only volunteer.
If you fear silence and solitude, maybe wecan suggest you other friends farms around sicily without any concern ☀️
We check emails once a week, but we always reply.Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre
Projets artistiques
Aide avec des éco-projets
Jardinage
Bricolage et construction
Aide dans une ferme
Cuisine/repas pour la famille
Aide à la maison
Entretien général
Aide informatique/internet
Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre
Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre
in our project you might learn (depending on your curiosity, your ability to ask and study):
- How Permaculture concepts can be declined and how we live out of farming
-organic farming
-learning the techniques of Market Gardening - bio-intensive faming
-how to grow your own food
-how to cook the food that you produce and how to store it and preserve it
-how it is like to be living in a small farming community
-how to harvest, prune and care of fruit trees and vegetables
-water management
-how to elaborate good quality compost and fertilizers
-how to feed the soil in order to feed humanity
-how to swim in a pond
-how sweet blood oranges can be!Projets impliquant des enfants
Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.
Aide
THE WORK
all the timing can change depending on season and weather to adapt our time and body on the rhythm of the seasons
ideal timetable that seldom we're able to follow...😅
Sunrise morning meditation warmup (optional)
7.30 breakfast
9-11.30morning check-up walk and practical activities*
11.30 cooking lunch and dinner together
13.45 lunch
15-17afternoon practical activities
17.30-19.30 individual time
*practical activities are all the scheduled manual works of the season
You can choose 2days off whenever you feel like as long as we manage so that someone among us is at the farm, since chickens and gardens require our constant presence!
Volunteers can stay from a minimum of 4 weeks (to a maximum of 3 months ) and those having previous experience in the upcoming works and living in communities are especially welcome.
Remember that You might be working on your own, in a couple or in group.
|All year round
Managing the garden from seed to harvest, with water and love
Feeding the chickens, and give them water and love
Implementing and maintaining structures and projects : wood houses, lanes, water systems, swales, ponds
Cooking is organized in turns, feel free to share your favourite recipes
Cleaning regularly, everyone takes on the responsibility to leave things and spaces as clean as found or even cleaner
find out new stuff to experiment!
|Orchards seasonal work
January, February : pruning fruit trees (other than olives and citrus)
January to March : picking blood oranges
May, June, September : pruning and grafting citrus
October, November : picking olives
October to May : picking lemons & spreading manure and compost fertilizersLangues parlées
Anglais: Courant
Espagnol: Courant
Français: Courant
Italien: Courant
Portugais: Courant
Romanian: CourantHébergement
Accommodation
You will be hosted in one of the two tiny houses where you might be sharing the space with another guest depending on the moment and requests
The bathroom and the kitchen facilities are all shared and in a separate space.
There is no wifi.
There are 2 different compost toilets.
Pets are not allowed.
Food
We eat mainly what our garden offers us : delicious and organic fruits, vegetables and eggs. For everything that is not (yet) auto-produced, we supply ourselves directly from local and biological producers.
Sometimes we might eat meat for specific celebrations but never Pig or Fish/seafood.Autres infos...
GOOD TO KNOW
Expenses contribution
We suggest a 25€ weekly contribution per person to cover the common expenses like externally supplied goods (rice, pasta, cereals, legumes, coffee, sugar, toilet paper and soaps, gasoline to go and get drinking water to the town and so on, no stupid low quality food, just the basics because we try not to support as much as possible iniquous systems) , electricity and gas.
Over the course of our experience of 10 years hosting, this is the amount we calculated as an additional cost per person that we cannot cover on our own.
We're not a "business oriented" project, we don't work with tourism so the help you give as a volunteer cannot cover extra expenses like this because this would mean extra costs that we're not able to cover. Nothing is compulsory because we can understand and support travellers with economical problems 💚. There's no shame or fear, together we grow.Informations complémentaires
Accès Internet
Accès Internet limité
Nous avons des animaux
Nous sommes fumeurs
Familles bienvenues
Espace pour garer des vans
we do have space for 2 campervans but let us know the size first! We cannot accept guests with pets.
Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?
Plus de 2
Nombre d'heures attendues
depends on the task and period! 25 hours, 5 days a week
Cet hôte fait payer des frais
en savoir plus
Feedback (39)
She has a beautiful soul walking a long journey , and having her with us was a quiet but important add on in both paths.
Wishing her to continue the travel opening the eyes over the infinite, we send everyone hosting her a warm hug!
We're very thankful… read more
The weather was stormy at the start, so the lovely community of Salvo came to help repair the damaged things.
I really… read more
The place itself is like a jungle overlooking Etna. The days consisted of morning chicken feeds, garden work, lunch preparations, the… read more
Feedback
Ce sont des évaluations supplémentaires en option lorsque les membres laissent un feedback. La note moyenne pour chaque option est affichée.
Exactitude du profil:
(4.9)
Échange culturel:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.8)
She has a beautiful soul walking a long journey , and having her with us was a quiet but important add on in both paths.
Wishing her to continue the travel opening the eyes over the infinite, we send everyone hosting her a warm hug!
We're very thankful… read more
The weather was stormy at the start, so the lovely community of Salvo came to help repair the damaged things.
I really… read more
The place itself is like a jungle overlooking Etna. The days consisted of morning chicken feeds, garden work, lunch preparations, the… read more
I was looking for a place where I could help and learn/practice permaculture and I found much much more:
A peaceful shelter where I could live in harmony with human beings and nature, while the world outside was getting mad… read more
Salvo is an infinite source of inspiration, just listening to him is like reading a book, so much to… read more
A big hug from all!
We wait you back amelie!
I can say that I also really bonded with people that live in the community. It was both emotionally and intellectually… read more
Wish you guys all the best.
It was a real pleasure to have here here, share emotions, work and friendship along a period that litteraly run away too fast. hope to see her again and again!
it was very nice to share our stories and travel experiences, strong workers at picking, digging and building..hope all the best experiences and wonderfull travel experiences! a big hug guys!
Happy to share and relax in a perfect summer mood!
hope all the best for her!
I had an amazing time at your place. Really inspireing to see how people are able to live their dream!
I´m very grateful for this time.
Thx!
we're very happy that he stayed at our farm for 3 weeks and hope him the best for his future! ciao Miché!
Nice at work and nice at the moment of sharing opinions, ideas and previous travel experiences wich their'e full of!
we definetly reccomend them at your place!
thanks so much!!
hope you all the best!
Salvo, Roby,… read more
Ricardo you're great and we all hope to come and visit your farm!
hasta pronto querida!!!!!
thanks you so much big boy!!
First days wasn't easy for me. But then I caught the right feeling. And all the other time was perfect. Family is really friendly and nice as well as other volunteers. I learned new things and expanded my horizons.
Hope to see you again Salvo!
Is nice to ride the bike around the place to take a fresh breath.
Thank you guys!
Very generous, friendly and patient and their little boy is gorgeous!
Beautiful piece of land, lots happening.
They are open to suggestions and ideas and a,ways looking for new methods and your opinion and thoughts are valued and welcomed.
Lovely place to stay, one of my most favourite places I have ever done… read more
she is very sweet and passionate about work and everything that she does, nice, calm, strong and friendly that whomever leaves her some bad feedback should be asked...hey what's wrong with… read more
natasha you're great!
come back soon please!
Their lifestyle is so inspiring and comfortable, and Salvo is willing to teach anything you want to know about permaculture and sustainable living practices. He filled my head with all kinds of future plans and ideas. I honestly didn't want to leave.
I hope to go back one day… read more
take care girls we miss you!
take care girls we miss you!
thanks for all!
Deina, Nuri and Salvo are really warm, funny, interesting, interested, curious and hearty people and I felt… read more
we hope to have them back here!
Lets try:
This is a beautiful place, with a lot of great people. Salvo and Deina are lovely friendly and really funny! We learned a lot, the work was very diversified and we eat a lot of good italian food. (hopefully we dont ate to much).
We fall in love with… read more
Great with our 2 years old son wich still calls her name, great tree planter, happy to learn and fast to help!
Alice a Bientot!
Thank you Salvo and Deina for let me stay with all of you it was a very big pleasure !! :)
If you have any problems out there, you can be sure, that Deina, Pepe, Salvo or Nuri will help you.
They trust you and you can… read more
great empanadas, good hearted, politically clever, our son is already missing her songs!
miss u!
In the meanwhile was such a nice experience to talk with Vivien and sharing our experiences that we just hope to meet her again soon!
i definitely recommend their presence in your farm!
take care guys!
Hope to… read more