Help with my young permaculture project in Giarre, Sicily, Italy

Informationen

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  Beschreibung

  *** Looking for only one volunteer in January ***
  Hello everyone! I'm Alberto and this is a young permaculture project born in 2019. I am from 1988 but I was born again when this project has began 😌 a new life 😱
  
  FYI Before you read I would tell I host volunteers for two weeks as a minimum and four as a maximum 🙏 I host one volunteer per time from December to February, two in March and April, three volunteers from May to October, and back again two in November.
  Life here is pretty wild 🙏
  
  I have purchased an abandoned citrus grove that with the help of volunteers are transforming into an edible forest rich in biodiversity.
  I have many dreams to "build", so we spend the time here between giving constant manteinance to the land and building new things all year long.
  I desire to turn this land in a jungle where people must wear safety helmets to avoid being knockout by the fruits falling at anytime 🤣 It would be an oasis with many facilities that are only in my mind at this time 😁
  Just give me twenty more years for that 🙏🙏
  
  The land is 7000 square meters, with many lemon trees, olive, pears, grapes, clementines, grapefruit, avocados and herbs.
  I am few kilometers far from the sea, and some more kilometers far from Etna. We are 160 meters above sea level, and the subtropical climate allows us to grow many exotic fruits and live outdoors 9 months per year.
  Anyway we live outside 12 months per year 😎😎😎
  We are not a company, everything we produce is for self-sufficiency.
  Inhabitants of this land are Acab (the dog), Dima (the big white cat), Azolo (the little black cat), 8 chickens and Alberto (the human) 😁.
  I have friends over often and you'll have the chance to know other good souls 🙏
  
  Some more about me:
  I am an easy going person, outgoing and funny, also empathetic, open minded and caring.
  I behave as a kid when I am happy and relaxed, as an "adult" when we work on priorities.
  
  I Just ask to the volunteers to wake up at time, keep the kitchen clean, and be focused during the explanations I give, expecially for how to use water 🙏🙏🙏🙏
  
  Sometimes thinking about everything is overwhelming and I can lose focus 🙏 that's also why I ask for help 😁
  I like to cook and I do it often. I am not a chef but whatever I make gets finished every single time 😎 I am also happy if someone else would do it❤️
  I am Sagittarius, Acquarius rising, for anyone interested in knowing 🙏
  
  What I'm looking for:
  My first goal is make people feel comfortable, relaxed and safe, then make them independent in the land, punctual and focused.
  There are many little daily tasks that could be done whenever we ask ourselves: "How can I help?" that I will show you the very first days 🤗
  When we are under the same roof we are friends: we work together, talk about ourselves, make food together and help each other.
  There are many tasks and everything can change suddenly because of weather, commitments, or just feeling weak.
  
  The time here is different: days are longer, and weeks are shorter 🤔 Remember It!
  Good travelling everyone!

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  Arten von Hilfe und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Kunstprojekte

  Sprachpraxis

  Hilfe bei Ökoprojekten

  Gartenarbeiten

  Heimwerker- und Bauarbeiten

  Betreuung von Tieren

  Mithilfe auf einem Bauernhof

  Zubereiten / Kochen von Mahlzeiten für die Familie

  Hausarbeiten

  Handwerkliche Arbeiten

  Hilfe mit Computer /Internet
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  Interessengebiete

  

  Leben im Camper-Van

  

  Vegetarier / Veganer

  

  Nachhaltigkeit

  

  Selbstentwicklung

  

  Haustiere

  

  Farmarbeit

  

  Gärtnern

  

  Fotografie

  

  Gartenarbeiten

  

  Heimwerken & DIY

  

  Kochen & Backen

  

  Tischlerarbeiten

  

  Tiere
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  UNO-Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung, die dieser Gastgeber verfolgt

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  Was ist das?
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  Kultureller Austausch und Lernmöglichkeiten

  You could learn that you can feel at home even far from your house :)
  This project is about developing to be off grid, so you can gain plenty of information around permaculture, gardening, building, solving problems et cetera et cetera 😁
  We are totally off grid, with solar electricity and water from rain collection, and whatever we need we project and build by ourselves 🫣.
  DIY is the keyword, you could expect any kind of work here, in depending on what we are building (or fixing 🥲).
  Everyone here becomes familiar with the pickaxe, the shovel, the rake, the wheelbarrow and their proper way of using them without wasting calories 😁 then gardening is a big task, so you can learn prunings, graftings, new plantations ect.. in depending on the season you come here.
  Beside that there is always the weekly maintenance of the vegetable garden, so boooring!
  What else? I do not know yet, but I know will be tiring, that's why I am here 😁
  Life here is as a small familiar environment that turns strangers in siblings, and people here are totally involved in my life, knowing my friends and coming with me the few times I get out from here 😁
  I have used to go with volunteers to many projects around the area, that's why some feedbacks talk about that, but I found this exhausting and I slowed down this a lot 🙏
  I am willing to teach whatever I have learnt about wildlife in these six years outdoor😁
  This project is still rising, so by coming here you'll put your hands in something meaningful that will expand roots and will get bigger and bigger every year 🙏
  
  *Photography: in one of my previous lives I have been a freelance photographer, so I am able to teach everything about whatever camera you'll bring with you 🤗*

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  Arbeit

  Coming to my land is an experience of wild life 😁 It's hard only during the time you need to get used to it 💪
  
  We work 4-5 hours per day in the early morning. Some tasks require also help in the afternoon and the evening (making grape juices, harvest olives...) but in these cases those days worth as two days of help.
  Works are really varius, I cannot make a list 😭.
  Just be ready for workouts 😁 pickaxe, shovel, rake, gloves will be part of your dress code 😁
  I am building a lot, as I said, so we'll do carpentry, woodworking, using lot of clay and sand, beside the mainteinance of the garden 🙏
  
  There are two days off every five of work, doesn't matter which day of the week you choose. It must be comunicate at least a day in advance and it cannot be a day we must do some big tasks dealed in advance 🙏
  I suggest to avoid weekends because there are much less trains running and more crowd 😮‍💨
  FYI I have noticed that often volunteer prefer work 2-3 days then get a day off, so we usually do this 🙏
  
  Daily tasks are clean up the outdoor kitchen, keeping it tidy at anytime,feed the animals and preparing meals togheter 😁
  Once per week we clean the facilities, the roulottes, we sort the garbage and handwash clothes, we clean the chicken coop 😱, and we do maintenance on the vegetable garden 😁.
  
  Almost everyday we work on something different, and those tasks change between hot and cold seasons. Also, every day can change because of the weather 🕺
  
  From late Spring to late Summer we wake up before sunrise to work until 8, then having breakfast and work again till late morning.
  After that we usually go to the sea to chill few hours in the afternoon, coming back to the Land to water the plants in the evening.
  
  From Fall to early Spring we wake up at sunrise and we start the day having breakfast, then we work until lunch, we have some rest in the afternoon and then we do little task for an hour before sunset, including preparing dinner, then we go to sleep 😁
  
  !!!Winter is only for really adaptable people!!! 💪 It's tiring, cold, rainy and with short days of daylight.
  We wake up later for temperatures but we work all day long (sun sets at around 16.30). We'll make always 4-5 hours of work divided in the morning and the afternoon.
  Also shower can be taken only after lunch due to temperatures, to make the outdoor shower experience more enjoyable 💪
  Anyway the fact I'm still alive and healty after six winters should ensure you a bit 🤣
  
  !!!Advice for "northern" people: July and August are crazy hot, with temperatures over 35 degrees for 8 to 10 hours per day, dealing with mosquitos, flies and sunburns (expecially for really light skins).
  This temperatures affect the energies more than you think, and some people from North Europe have given up after few days because of that.
  At the same time ants become really hungry and they are everywhere 😤 Please consider this advice 🙏🙏🙏 and choose another season 😜
  
  The land every year requires some big jobs that I ask for help with:
  January: prune grapes, dig out oaks and blackberry shrubs;
  February: prune olive trees, pear trees, Ivy;
  March: prepare the summer vegetable garden, seedings etc.;
  April: graft olive trees, citrus trees, pruning citrus trees, harvest lemons;
  May: look after the vegetable garden, harvest medlars, weedings, work on safety against summer bushfire;
  June-July: water new plants, weedings;
  August: water new plants, make tomato sauce;
  September: harvest grapes, make grape juice, harvest hazelnuts, harvest prickly pears, new plantations (trees and vegetables)
  October-November: harvest olives (biggest task of the year! Ask for further information), plant onions, fennels, peas, broad beans;
  December: plant new trees; harvest lemons;
  
  ***Ongoing projects:
  - we are making a vegetable garden 😁;
  - we are building a permanent tent 🤔 out of wood, clay and straw;
  - we start building the inside of a shelter;
  - we'll build a 15 mq shed soon 🙏***
  
  ***Projects and dreams for the future:
  - Building a solar system;
  - Building a little greenhouse;
  - Plaster a 5000 litres container for making a pool out of it 🥹;
  - Restore a 3000 litres underground container to make a pond full of aquatic plants;***

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  Gesprochene Sprachen

  Englisch: Fließend
  Italienisch: Fließend
  Spanisch: Grundkenntnisse

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  Unterkunft

  !!Life here is outdoors!! Be sure you're ready for It 🙏
  No comforts, no hairdryer, no fridge, and many other missing things 😛 compost toilet outside, shower outside, then dog hairs, cats and chickens everywhere!
  Dirty nails, dust, seeds and leaves on your hairs, scratches on armpits and mosquito bites are part of the experience 😁 you'll come back home wilder 😜
  
  Volunteers will sleep in a cozy roulotte (with heating system in wintertime) 🤙 It's made for two volunteers (always same gender).
  
  There is a compost toilet, an outdoor kitchen and an outdoor shower.
  
  One thing to know about the compost toilet: I ask to pee in it as less as possible, and pee behind the tree you prefer that day 😁 this drastically reduce bad smells, emptying it is much easier and we do not have to find a way to get rid of tons of urine 🙏🙏🙏
  
  Water is really precious, so we ask to use it very very carefully :) I guarantee a shower per day in summer, and a short one every two days in the rest of the year (october-may). Hot water is avaiable only in sunny days because it's a solar heating system 😁😁😁 wild!
  If you bring shampoos, soaps ect., please look for biological ones, because water goes directly to the trees 🙏 I provide natural soaps and handmade toothpaste made out of clay, essentials oils and coconut oil 😁 If you feel is "too much" for you feel free to use your own products 😅.
  
  Kitchen requires lot of water and I have developed methods to reduce water consumption at his minimum, be sure to follow exactly the instructions I will give 🙏🙏🙏
  
  I can provide you all the working clothes you need (tshirts and trousers), safety shoes (must be used for many tasks), extra towels and extra warm clothes. I have a full closet of all kinds of clothing (sweatshirts, pants, bathing suits, blankets) so pack extra socks and underwear rather than an extra heavy layer 🙏
  
  ***Volunteers must have a head lamp (USB recharge), plastic shoes and one towel for the shower, single bed sheets and a pillow case 🙏***
  
  ***"What else could be useful to bring?"
  These are really useful things to bring that makes everything easier, listed in ordered of priority:
  - a metal bottle;
  - a powerbank;
  - a sleeping bag;
  - something particular that belongs to your country, could be something to drink or eat togheter or something to stitch or hang somewhere 😁 your choice, it's only a suggestion and not mandatory 🙏
  If you have space left in your luggage please fill it with these things 🙏***
  
  We have little electricity obtained throught sun, enough for charging phones every day and other devices with sunny days.
  
  We handwash underwear, socks and tshirts, and we use a laundry machines in a nearby town for all the other stuff when we reach the critical amount of clothes 😜 I pay for wash all the clothes I give to you for working and I would love to have a contribution to wash yours if an extra washing machine is needed for this 🙏
  
  There is no wifi here 🤔 what did you expect? 🤣
  I suggest to travellers outside Europe that stay more than a month in Italy that it's worth buying an italian simcard. It cost around 25 euros with a month of service included. You can use its data keeping your old number 😎 be sure there's space for a second simcard in your phone 🙏
  
  Life's here is totally outdoor and pretty tiring for the body, but also wise and satisfing 💪
  Some tasks in the land are boring, some exciting, some tiring for the body, some tiring for the brain. And they are all chances to know each other and learn something new togheter every day 🥹
  
  We'll always cook and eat togheter (except days off).
  I only buy ingredients like rice, pasta, legumes, flour, sugar, vegetables etc... so every meal comes out from primary food 😁 💪 during cold season we also eat cheese and we make sweets, while during hot season we mainly eat fruits from the land and some tahin 😜 there's no friiiidge! 😱 Also here, if you like to have wine or beer every day you should go buy them 😌 getting dizzy is allowed, getting drunk is forbidden 🧐 among all my jobs here I am also the safety manager 😁
  
  Who desires processed food or something else i do not buy he/she can buy them for himself/herself when we go to the grocery store, but, please, consumption of every food is allowed only in the kitchen area because food attracts ants, wasps, the cats, the dog, mice etc...🤷
  During days off you are also allowed to use the kitchen and eat leftovers, but I do not want to cook 🙏 it's also my day off a bit 😁😁😁
  
  
  In this place animals are completely free, so don't be scared of a chicken try to jump to the table to chase your food, or the dog sitting next to you gently waiting for you giving him a piece of what you are eating 😁
  
  I really need to care about expenses at this times but I share everything I have and I feel Rich anyway 🙏 Happiness is real only when shared (guess the movie!) and I totally believe in it 🙏
  
  So, what are you waiting for? 😎

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  Was noch ...

  We are 30 km north from Catania, not far from the Giarre exit of the A18 highway.
  It is possible to reach us by train from Fontanarossa Airport. The trains go toward Messina and the station where to stop is Carruba (is a minor station, not all the trains stop there, so double check this please 🙏).
  I will come and pick you up there 🤗
  
  Please if you come by plane buy one that lands before the afternoon, because reaching me is easier in the morning and I need couple of hours of sunlight to introduce you to the Land and the animals 🙏
  Walking around the surrounding area is possible but is pretty awkward because the roads are not suitable for pedestrians 😟 using bikes is possible but all the roads here are pretty steep 💪 we are over a Vulcano 😁.
  
  There is San Leonardello Village, only one kilometer far from the land, that has a bar, a bakery, a tobacco shop, a fruit and vegetables shop, and a post office. Much closer to the land there is a chinese store that sells any kind of stuff, good if you need a mosquito spray, a charging cable, a memory card or plastic shoes 😜
  There are two grocery store twice the distance of San Leonardello Village 🙏
  
  I will pick you up and drop at Carruba station when you'll travel by train in your days off.
  You can reach Taormina, Acireale, Catania, Siracusa, Messina and other beautiful cities 😎
  Buses can bring you everywhere in Sicily, they departure from Catania station.
  Hiking in Etna is something we do once or twice per season, but if you enjoy going there I can drop you there and pick you up if someone pays for petrol 🙏
  We are building a big community of people that have lands and help each other, so during the stay you'll participate in parties and meetings with other people who have permaculture projects, also going to their places helping for what they need 😁 some hosts in the surroundings are my friends 😌
  
  Weather:
  Here humidity is high all year long, but you can manage it. Lowest temperatures are in January-February, going less than 4 degrees during the night, and maybe reach 15 at lunch time. The highest are in summer, we can go over 40 degrees...yes! Forty! But we go to the sea everyday when this happens 😁 and days are so long and nice that you forget everyday you have worked that morning!
  
  Mosquitos...we deal with them from February to November, being really annoying in May-June and September-November 🤷
  
  Spring is always the best season, unless you have allergies to pollens 🤣 sun, rain, wind, everything growing fast with colours and parfumes everywhere 🤩
  Summer is very hot, and that humidity makes you sweat all day long. But temperatures at night are just perfect 🥹
  Fall is intense, with lot of various works that change everyday, and is the chance to learn many little things instead of a few but big, as can happen in winter and Spring.
  
  I have hosted more than a hundred people in these years, and almost half of them come from workaway ❤️ I love this site and the wonderful work of moderators, that make everything simple but also efficient and transparent 🙏
  There was a time a felt the need to talk more about myself, now there are these wonderful reviews that do this for me 😌
  Also my description is so detailed because I always ask to volunteers if there was something missing 😎
  I always have times more requests than the ones I could accept, this means that I always can choose good souls, eager to learn and help, and keep a high-vibe mood in this little paradise we are making 🙏
  Thanks for your time reading me 🙏
  
  Alberto

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  Etwas mehr Information

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    Internet Zugang

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    Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang

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    Wir besitzen Tiere

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    Wir sind Raucher

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    Familien möglich

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  Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

  zwei

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  Arbeitszeiten

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

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