Help building a small community space and work on sustainability projects and gardening in Frohnleiten near Graz, Austria

Infos

• 

  Description

  Hello there,
  
  we just bought a beautiful little stone house on the main square of Frohnleiten (near Graz) to set up a small community project and are looking for open hearted and easy going people who are interested in communities, renovation, sustainable building, Zero Waste lifestyle, gardening and working with kids. We mainly sleep in the house but commute back and forward from Graz about once a week. At the moment, only our family lives here (Guido 45, Beli 40, Johann 9, Artur 8), but we are considering to create a temporary or permanent living space in the backyard house.
  
  As soon as the house is ready, we are about to set up a meeting place where people can just get together, share facilities (e.g. coworking space, wood workshop, atelier), help each other with different tasks, find prepared learning environments for children and share looking after the kids. All of these activities are based on the principle of sharing , as lack of time and increasing costs (especially for living / renting places) are where we see a lot of problems of modern society are rooted, even for those who try to make a difference. We also see a huge opportunity in shared spaces as far as sustainability, sealing grounds and the current building boom are concerned and actively network with other people and groups with the same idea. Our space is not big, yet there are plenty opportunities for sharing and we are going to make the most of it.
  
  Frohnleiten is a small and friendly country town, the main square is very lively (especially in summer) and everything you need like supermarkets, doctors, hairdressers etc. is just a stone-throw away. For more culture and a diverse night-life, Graz is only 20 min. by train and trains run regularly. Around Frohnleiten a lot of opportunities for hiking, biking, climbing can be found, you are welcome to use our bikes including the cargo bike.
  
  We have a tiny but cosy Guestroom, our small bathroom is shared but the second one is under construction, some rooms are ready and comfortable but the house is still a building site and will be a few more months. We can also make room in our flat in Graz, at the moment we have a guest from Australia staying there.
  
  As our boys do not attend school, they are around a lot (as well as other kids) and we let them participate in whatever needs to be done as much as possible.
  
  Our house is very open, people often pop in throughout the day or hang out in the backyard, especially kids, we often don't know for how many people we are cooking for and always have a plan B for doubling up the food in case its needed :-)
  
  We are at the very beginning with all of our projects and are looking for people to help us with all kinds of things: working in the garden, helping with renovation, household routine, looking after the kids, collecting wild herbs, cooking, making learning materials for the learning environment, making Zero Waste stuff etc. . Also the room for the learning environment is ready, the craft room for the kids still needs to be finished.
  
  We can usually offer some space on the floor for people just traveling through on their way to somewhere else, train station is only 5 minutes on foot.
  
  Our boys are really very lively, homeschooled and we are letting them grow up as freely as possible, so helpers who join us should be very tolerant to noise and chaos. I'd like to point out that we really mean it and don't refer to the typically Austrian "Oh I´m sorry it is so chaotic" - while things are actually sparkling clean and tidy, when we say chaotic we mean CHAOTIC.
  
  Also we really appreciate it if helpers show initiative and are able to find things to do on their own from time to time. We love to spend time with our guests and do tasks together, but sometimes things around here get so crazy that we don´t have time to explain every project in great detail or do tasks alongside our helpers. At the same time you are welcome to structure the time you spend here freely, we agree on the things that need doing and you do them whenever you like. We have a list of projects you can choose from and a list with daily routines to help you structuring your stay here.
  
  We are a household of "mixed eaters" from everything-eater to vegan, we like good, organic food and of course can buy whatever our guests like to have.
  
  We speak German, fluent English, ok Spanish and know some basics in French, Hungarian and Italian. Guido is a technical Engineer and I work in addiction prevention and freelance as a photographer, but have paused all this top focus on this project. We have both travelled quite a bit and used to do a lot of hosting, as well as volunteering, so I hope we know what it takes to make somebody feel comfortable and also what is a fair load of tasks in exchange for food and accommodation.
  
  Looking forward to meeting new people, don´t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions!
  Beli
  
  (-: *** FAMILIES WELCOME, we just need to check if we can make room, slightly depends on the current building-phase** :-)

• 

  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Bénévolat

  Projets artistiques

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Enseignement

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
• 

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

  ×

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
• 

  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We enjoy passing on the knowledge and skills we have and love exchanging ideas - in fact exchange is what we like best about welcoming travellers and so far it has been just great to have company from all around the world in our home.

• 

  Projets impliquant des enfants

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

• 

  Aide

  Garden season is over but we are happy about help with preparing the beds for next year, weeding, starting some winter vegetables and planing new plants for next year as the garden is still pretty wild.
  
  We are thinking about setting up a Pop-Up Store with local produce (hats, upcycled clothes, natural cosmetics, gifts etc.) in town, any experience with similar projects is welcome! It also involves setting up the room and coming up with a good marketing strategy, so illustrators, social media people, photographers and other creative minds are welcome! Our participation in this project is through the sustainability club, all money goes directly to the club, so we are not operating like a business but for a good purpose.
  
  We just had a water damage and had to clear the ground floor of the house, so the new play- and learning environment is not finished yet, but we´d love help with setting it up again.
  
  In the second house which will serve a a community workshop room and tool workshop, we are getting ready for major construction (roof, heating system etc.), next on the list is taking the old floor boards out.

• 

  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant
  Catalan: Intermédiaire
  Français: Débutant
  Hungarian: Débutant
  Italien: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
  
• 

  Hébergement

  At the moment we have a small guest room with a 90cm bed that extends into a double-bed available for you. More guest rooms are under construction and we can use the neighbors house where nobody lives at the moment, with two more bedrooms, one double, one single :-) Upon request we can also make room in our flat in Graz, if you want to stay there for longer, we can also find projects there as we are about to renovate the flat.

• 

  Autres infos...

  We are founding members of the local sustainability club (Nachhaltig in Frohnleiten) and volunteer quite a lot for the free shop across the road that is part of it. Our helpers are always welcome to volunteer there too, it´s fun :-)

• 

  Informations complémentaires

  • 

    Accès Internet

  • 

    Accès Internet limité

  • 

    Nous avons des animaux

  • 

    Nous sommes fumeurs

  • 

    Familles bienvenues

• 

  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  Our coworking space is under construction. At the moment we can offer a desk, a printer and some office supplies like cutters, laminator etc. ...

• 

  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  Guido is allergic to cats and dogs, but if it would be o.k. with your pet, it could just stay downstairs in the courtyard / garden / tool workshop and hallway area.

• 

  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

• 

  Nombre d'heures attendues

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Feedback (3)