Join a small community and help with gardening and DIY projects in Belflou, France

Infos

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  Description

  The project:
  
  The project consists in creating a welcoming place for a small community of people sharing the same interest for DIY projects, ecology, environment, arts, and human interactions.
  Our goal is to develop this beautiful place with a sustainable and joyful approach.
  To us this means :
  - To try and experiment, to learn from our success and our failures
  - To improve our autonomy for both energy and food
  - To reduce our carbon footprint
  - To protect and conserve the local biodiversity
  - To connect with local people as well as foreigners
  - To welcome new comers
  - To organize cultural events for local people and others
  - And, of course, to have fun in all of these activities!
  
  Who we are:
  We are a group of 4 people and 3 cats.
  We are also connected with many people around who often come to help, learn, or simply relax and have fun.
  We now have a lot of space to share with workawayers!
  Rachel and Christophe are both working in environment related domains.
  Sarah and Virgil are establishing their own businesses in natural beverage and wood projects.
  After a 3 year stay in the US, we decided to start developing and improving our place in an eco-friendly manner.
  After 15 years of technical steps (vehicle, energy, gardening...), we think it is time to share what we have learnt and learn from others.
  In the future, we see our place being both daring, creative, collective and intergenerational
  
  
  The place:
  This is a renovated farm located between Toulouse and Carcassonne in the south west of France.
  It seats over a huge lake (4 square kilometers !) and 10 ha of fields and forest.
  
  A cooking dedicated room (the "labo") offers all necessary tools to prepare and preserve all kinds of local food : pork, ducks, orchard fruits, garden vegetables, herb teas, or medicinal plants.
  There are 2 workshops: one for mechanics and wood, one for electricity, electronics and plumbing with many tools
  We also have a movie place and what we call "the loft", a place dedicated to art, music, dance, and partying!
  
  There is a lot of place to park vehicles (vans, RVs, caravans...)
  There is also a nice greeny caravan (when it is not too cold!).
  
  We have a swimming pool, but needless to say that the lake is just a lot more fun in summer.
  And last, but not least, 3 sailing boats and 2 canoes to explore the lake.
  
  On the domain, an orchard gives us plenty of fruits from May to October. And a vegetable garden conducted with permaculture techniques offers many opportunities for growing anything!
  
  From energy standpoint, we use our photovoltaic panels for electricity and thermal solar panels for hot water and heating. Main furnace is ... the fireplace where we use our firewood which makes the global carbon footprint of the house quite decent, not yet in the IPCC target, but working hard to get better!

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Aide dans une ferme

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Aide informatique/internet
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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

  Good fun, good food, good wine, good music, good everything!

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  Aide

  So many things to do here! Workawayers will choose what to create at the beginning of their stay.
  Food? Art? Garden? Low-tech DIY projects? Energy? Carpentry? Building renewals? Social events? Geek projects (may the force be with ESPs!)?
  When it is possible, the idea is to design and realize what to do from the very beginning up to the end.
  
  Globally we would expect from our guests around 4 hours of work 5 days a week. Of course, everything can be discussed!

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Français: Courant
  Espagnol: Intermédiaire
  Allemand: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  It can be cool to discuss with workawayers in any language!
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  Hébergement

  The house offers 3 bedrooms with double beds, 2 bathrooms for our visitors.
  We also have a nice little caravan.
  We can park vans close to the main house.
  For connected people, we have WiFi and solid 4G.

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  Autres infos...

  If needed, we can provide a car to explore our region which is just amazing!
  We have so many places of interest around here.
  Cultural: Museums, cathares castles, Carcassonne, Prehistoric caves, Canal du midi...
  Nature: Pyrenees mountains, Black mountains forest, hot springs
  Sports: skiing, sailing, hiking
  Food: wine tours, local markets, and our network of local farmers (fruits, vegetables, cheese, ice cream...)

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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

  Internet connection is good here. 4G is also available. Bandwidth is pretty decent.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Lot of space to park RVs and motorhomes

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

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

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