Help on a self-sufficient homestead with olive harvests, bee-keeping, goats and enjoy the good life in Sardinia, Italy

Details

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  Description

  Update spring 2022...April is here, the weather is heating up and so is the work to be done around the farm. We are creating a new perma vegetable garden, finally one closer to home after more than 10 years farming nearby in Isili. We loved it there, produced some amazing food and it was nice because there was a direct water source. But easy water access means the presence of other farmers who are not at all interested in the health of the food they produce and who are concerned just with wealth at the expense of your health! Our energy is firmly rooted here and everyday, with every volunteer, with every student that comes here, our project grows and so does the feeling of gratitude and hope. We need help right now for field work, getting the garden planted, building and construction at home and for the upcoming hay season. We still have our goat tribe who are happier and bigger than ever. We are also actively looking for a dynamic and energetic couple to run the farm for 10 days in June when we have to be in a wedding in Spain. It would be a great experience for somebody who is trying to get the feel if country life, a self sustainable life is right for them. Ps...It's going to be necessary to milk the goats so either previous experience or a desire to learn how to milk is fundamental. Ideally, we would spend some time together beforehand to get to know each other and then if the feeling is right, we would leave the place in your hands for ten days. Contact us if you might be interested!
  
  New Update May 2021...How things have changed in the past year! Well, we are all going to have to pick up the pieces and keep dreaming, keep working to make the world a better place and for us here at the place it means that we continue to be as determined as ever to be self-sufficient and share these experiences with a world that is waking up to the need to get back to our roots, to our true selves which can best be reached through coming back to the natural world and getting in touch with things that are hands on and giving our minds a break. We have lost almost all of our bed and breakfast traffic but we are trying to redirect what we do through other channels and continue to offer the Country Living School experience albeit in another format. Our life is based around the work to do in the countryside and the needs of our children, Fabrizio 6 and Julia 4. An exchange with us this summer could mean helping in the fields, planting, pulling weeds, harvesting, we hope there will be honey to gather from the hives and it could mean helping with improvement project at our home and in our two pieces of land. Of course if any of you have special skills that could be of use those would always be greatly accepted. We homeschool our children and dedicate a large amount of our time (just becuase its so much fun to be with them) and we ask that volunteers, the ones who are still kids at heart to be able to lend a hand in teaching or playing with the children when needed. Overall, an experience here in 2021 means a place where silence and the sounds of the countryside reign, see a part of traditional Sardinian life that is disappearing, where you can eat healthy, organically and quite well if I may say so myself and where you can have an up-close look at a self sufficient life and get an idea if a similar project could be right for you.
  
  
  Update March 2020! We are back home looking for help with the restoration and finishing touches in a historic house which will host our school and an art collective in the nearby village of Isili. We will be back in forth between the countryside and the village home and will need volunteers interested in following the day to day chores on the farm as well as ones that want to help with renovating, design and management of our project. Or a little bit of both...artists and builders will be most appreciated!
  
  Update Nov. 2019 We are in the States until mid January doing promotion work for the School. While we cant host anyone until we get back we are happy to provide assistance in your own travels through Sardinia or to coordinate for exchanges for next year when we get back.
  
  Update September 1st....We proudly announce the creation of our school. We will be bringing people here to Sardinia to experience first hand the Blue Zones, the natural way of living that stretches back milennia, the cooking secrets of italian grandmothers, bee keeping, all that has to do with life in the country. Come help us to improve the school and you can share your own skills and learn others. In March our first group is arriving and there is much to do with planting, building work, firewood and of course lots of space for your own innovation and talent to find its place here.
  
  
  Update: October 2018
  
  As always there iare plenty of tasks to do around. There is the big vegetable garden to tend to in October, preparing the rest of the provisions for this winter, cutting wood, doing some natural building work and if God gives us the gift this year of an olive harvest...there will be olives to harvest which will be the primary work to do here from the middle of October into November. Normally, we only accept people with previous gardening/outdoor/manual experience but during this season if someone is really passionate about it and willing to learn we make exceptions. Write us!
  
  
  
  As Willie Nelson said: "One person can't change the world but one person with a message can."
  
  Nine years ago we decided to take a major step to bring about the change in our own lives that we wanted to see in life itself. We left behind two stable jobs, comfortable lives and went out on a limb to create a self-sufficenct life for ourselves. We decided to make life itself our first priority. We chose to give a voice to places like this, still uncontaminated where the most wholesome values of our societies are still honored and cultivated. We wanted to find a place where children can still ride bikes in the street and one can take a walk and find clean and healthy food to eat and uncontaminated landscapes. While we had all the heart in the world, we had to struggle and toil trying to learn on the run all that our ancestors had learned through milenna of society, culture and tradition. Sardinia seemed like the natural place for this project on account of the older generations (blue zone) who still preserve those precious bits of information that are fundamental in self sustainable living. As the years passed, we found that power and freedom came through getting in touch with this forgotten part of ourselves and it became natural to share it with those who we came into contact with.
  
  Why the need to create this project? The world is changing rapidly and even though we are taught that progress and change are positive and for our good, we believe that we need to learn from nature and country living in order to be complete human beings. We hold it true here at the school that there are things that are being lost with time which must be collected and transmitted not only to future generations but to this one as well. We are guided by values such as solidarity, group work, a reciprocal love for life, nature and living beings. We also believe in the importance of manual and physical work to keep us mentally and physically sharp in an age when our bodies are continually more and more sedentary. Through this physical work we hope to help our clients develop new skills or hone exisiting ones; in a world searching for meaning, for us that’s finding something that we love doing. Our meditation is our daily work that keeps us in step with the seasons and the earth.
  
  For nine years we have dreamed of the creation of a school to transmit the simple and rich way we live with others and with now we finally have a way to offer it to people all over the world. Through effort, experience and hard work we continue to expand the change we want to see in the world through our school.
  
  Sara is Sardinian and I was born in Virginia, USA. Through these years of hard work we have been blessed with our son Fabrizio Tashunka 6 and Julia who is a big four. It's been so rich sharing this life with them and they love it when other families come to share our space, learn and teach along with us. We have organized improptu schooling, there are lots of things to see in the surrounding area and you can find here a meaningul, pleasurable work exchange or a life changing experience. In no small way, the volunteers that we have hosted in the past have brought so much love and effort to our project, I don't think it would have been the same without them.
  
  So know that coming here is beautiful, it's serene, the food is delicious but it's also hard work. We expect cleanliness, responsibility and mutual respect. We hope that Workaway puts us in contact with volunteers who are interested to see for themselves what an alternative to a "normal" life might look like and maybe even be inspired to take the idea and make their own someday.
  
  The ideals sound good but wait now comes in the hard part, the work! What's part of the daily life here like? As part of the Big Experiment project as we call it, we grow our own food, milk our goats for milk, cheese and yogurt, make honey and dedicate ourselves to recuperating old traditions and crafts that are becoming ways of the past like basket making, weaving, manual labor, carpentry and much more. During the summer we grow vegetables in a large field and used to sell our produce in the markets of nearby villages. Now, we are studying ways to improve our production and get it out to clients who are looking for it. Sara's passions are weaving, art, bee keeping and education. If anyone is interested in learning how to weave don't miss out on this once in a life opportunity. I love bread making, wood working and all building work. I also love to tend, eat or propogate any and all the plants and trees that I come into contact with.
  
  Our dream is to give an example that its possible to live today without depending on a big corporation, exploiting mother earth or being trapped in a job that we don’t like, all you need is a little bit of creativity and a lot of hard work. Ciao!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  There is a lot to see and do locally, beautiful medieval villages, we have two bikes for our workawayers to take and explore this unexplored and off the beaten path part of the Mediterranean, on your days off you could spend the weekend at the beach, visit the beautiful wooded forests of Barbagia, explore for yourselves the ruins of the ancient Nuraghe civilization or go horseback riding in the wild Giara plateau, home to Europe's last wild horses. There is plenty to do and a great place to spend time for yourself connecting with nature and learning new skills or perfecting and sharing them with a couple that needs help and is doing something truly special with their lives.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  Remember agricultural tasks can be strenuous! We need somebody that can keep up with us as we do our day to day tasks with our animals and with our agricultural produce. We want someone who is responsabile, can follow instructions and then do it on their own. An idea of a typical day's schedule would be to feed, milk and take the goats out, feed the chickens, clean the coop, spend the afternoon with us in the fields while we are in growing season during the summer and help with cleaning, building and gardening projects around the house. I won't lie, it can be very demanding but its satisfying and stimulates you helping with your hands instead of your head, doing things manually, is good for the soul, mood and the body.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Arabic: Intermediate
  French: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  We have a double room apartment with a private entrance and a bathroom/shower. Very comfortable and peaceful.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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