Gardening and foresting on sunny mountain with seaview, Algarve

Help a sustainable project: This host contributes to building a better and more sustainable future for all!
Higher chance of approval: This host has recently approved volunteers and is looking for more applications.
Connect with international travelers: A traveler recommended this host to meet travelers from all around the world
Accepts couples and pairs of volunteers

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What you offer

Hours per day: Help out and collaborate with your host only a few hours per week.

Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.

Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens

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What you get

Days off per week: Have some time off for yourself, go explore the city or rest for a while.

Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Support: Get help from the Worldpackers support team in case you need it, at any point of your trip.

Verified Host: This host has been verified by our team before joining the community.

WP Safeguard: Did something not go as planned? Contact our team.; Learn more

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Availability

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Stay at least: 2 weeks

Stay up to: 2 weeks

The Experience

Forest maintenance and fixing fences. We had inroads by boars so we fenced the land, but there is still work to do on this fence. Build/repair wooden pathways. Maintain both vegetable and ornamental plant beds including irrigation, composting and weeding. Perform chicken care and on rainy days home care. Experience the demands of a very remote and widely self sufficient southern homestead with fresh well water and solar energy.

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Requirements

Intermediate English
Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers
Be from outside Portugal

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

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Talk to those who have lived the experience

In our community, you can talk to worldpackers who have already collaborated with this host and get your questions answered directly.

You can ask things like:

a) How was your experience with this host?
b) How was your day-to-day routine?
c) How much did you spend on this trip?

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Join the host in pursuit of these goals and contribute to building a better and more sustainable future for all.

Good health and well-being

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Clean water and sanitation

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Responsible consumption and production

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

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2 Reviews

3.0

Host & Team

3.0

Hours & Tasks

4.5

Farmstay

3.5

Learning & Fun

3.0

How this experience will transform you

1 Meeting international travelers

This host contributes to Sustainable Development Goals

2 3. Good health and well-being

Celine

United Kingdom

Beautiful location, a homestead where they grow a variety of fruit and veg and rear chickens. It didn't feel like much of a host/volunteer relationship as they live very separately to the volunteers. The project is very remote, so it's difficult to get anywhere on days off unless you walk an hour each way to the bus stop. I enjoyed the gardening but felt there was a gender divide where the men were given the forestry and building work and the women were assigned gardening and cleaning - it was implied jobs would be taken in turns but this didn't happen as much as I'd hoped.

over 1 year ago

Ines replied

During your stay with us the forest work consisted of building pathways, which means to hammer stakes into the earth with a sledgehammer and to carve out the wet clay with a hoe. This is extremely hard physical work and is why we did not ask you to work in the forest. For lighter work like pruning trees or even dragging loggs out of the forest, we do actually mix the groups. We did not mean to withhold you from exciting tasks but to protect you from injury and exhaustion. Sorry if that was a wrong approach, we will keep it in mind for the future.

Georgie

United Kingdom

Johannes and Ines are very individual people with a great vision for their land. They are very remote and live, cook and spend freetime completely separately to the volunteers + it's an hours walk to the nearest bus stop so pack snacks and stuff to do as Ines shops for you. Sometimes the language barrier and cultural differences caused a few communication issues, but work hours were always respected. All the work is gender segregated, which isn't for me, but for them it's spiritual. It's a beautiful area but no local contact, and felt like an employer/employee relationship not host/volunteer

over 1 year ago

Ines replied

I would like to clarify that we do not generally "gender segregate" the work and never due to spiritual reasons (what kind of spirituality should that be?), but because we did not want to impose on you the work with the sledgehammer or chopping out stony clay soil. We had mixed groups in the forest for lighter work than building pathways.
As for spending free time with our volunteers, we offer tantric meditations (which you declined), also we offer the hot pool in the evening, which you visited once only.

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About the host

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