Help in maintaining, weeding and building in an eco-friendly, off-grid, sustainable camp to experience nature in Sicily, Italy

This is our instagram profile to have a look to the camp life

Instragram: http://instagram.com/campo.serro?utm_source=qr

We are looking for volunteers to help us take care of the lands that have been in our family for several generations. Unfortunately, our daily tasks do not allow us to dedicate as much time as we would like, so we are always in need of help. We are fortunate to have welcomed in the last years passionate and interesting people from around the globe that have been coming to help us create and improve the facilities of our camp.

If you consider yourself an enthusiastic and adventurous traveler, a nature lover and you think it is a good plan to sleep for several weeks in a tent in the middle of green and beautiful surroundings, this is for you. In addition, if you are not sure this is ‘your thing’, we encourage everyone to try it. Sometimes the best experiences in life happen when we are outside of our comfort zone :-)

The lands are up on the Sicilian hills, facing the beautiful sea, surrounded by an amazing landscape where peace and silence reigns (silence and of course the sounds of birds and crickets singing) and you can watch the sunrise from the seaside and sunset above the mountains, looking at the stars with no light pollution.

We started some time ago to create this camp to make the volunteers have the full experience in direct contact with nature.

We have fruit trees to keep clean from weeds and we can collect some fruit when the right time comes, we also have a vineyard and olive trees (the work that needs to be done depends on the season).

Because we do not sell our produce, we do not make any profit out of it, it’s mainly for family consumption. We do this activity to preserve our cultural heritage, to keep alive the traditions that we have learned and to be grateful and take advantage of what the earth provides.

Because we do not make any money with this project, we are not able to provide food to our volunteers: no meals are included.

In the camp, there are always things to do, build or improve to make everyday life more comfortable for all the volunteers that are coming to stay there. It is all about getting creative, working and also having fun and enjoying.

This perfectly fits for those who love nature and want to experience living far from the city but not very far from a small village, a secluded place with a sustainable living vision. We are passionate about nature and the process of creating a sustainable living space by using natural and recycled material, protecting all the trees that surround us and helping nature regenerate itself.

The season starts around the end of spring with the cleaning of the land from grass and bad weeds and collection of wood for the fire in the evening.
By the end of the summer or beginning of the fall, we have the grape harvest to produce our wine and just after that is the olive picking to make olive oil. When possible, we do everything in the traditional way, without the use of big machines.

The nearest village is at a 45 minutes walking distance and the beach is one hour and a quarter walking distance (nice downhill hike to get there and quite steep when returning).There’s a small stream with really fresh water at a 40 minutes walking distance.

We are looking for volunteers to make this place more amazing and comfortable. Minimum 3 weeks or longer, but it is open for discussion.
If you are interested but have any doubts or questions, feel free to contact us and we will be happy to be in touch.


Cultural exchange and learning opportunities:

Living in the cities with our everyday routines, we forget what it means to just stop and watch a landscape and just enjoy that. It’s easy to be tempted to be looking for constant stimulus (social media, buying stuff etc).

What we offer with this experience is to enjoy the simple things: working in a team and getting creative with basic resources, taking the time to prepare a good meal in the openfire, going for a hike, appreciating silence, just admiring the simplicity of life as it happens right before our eyes.

Depending on the time of the year, volunteers will have the opportunity to help and learn how to make wine, liquor, olive oil and classic Sicilian tomato sauce. This is always made immediately after the harvest /recollection of the fruits, so you can check beforehand with us in case you are interested in participating in one of these activities.


Accommodation:

The accommodation at the farm will be in a tent. There’s an outside dry toilet. Outdoor shower, sun heated.
Please bring Eco-friendly soap/shampoo/detergent, as we cannot supply these items. You will need your own tent and sleeping bag and work gloves (we might have a tent to provide).
We can provide extra blankets.

We follow a natural circle to make the camp working, using what we have around and to create the lowest wastage possible.We cook on an openfire to use the ash for the toilet and collect the water from washing dishes, clothes and showering to water the plants.

To have in mind: there is no electricity; we use some solar lights for the night. To charge equipment volunteers must use power back or recharge at the nearby villages at the bar.


Things to do:

In your time off you can go for a hike, visit Alì and Fiumedinisi, the nearby villages, go to the beach and if the weather is good, swim in the beautiful sea of Sicily. We are 15 km from Taormina, easy to reach by train or bus. In addition, there is a 35 km trekking trail called “Anello del Nisi” which is highly recommended, at least to do a part of it. It is possible to find information online about this trail.

The lands are up on the Sicilian hills, facing the beautiful sea, surrounded by an amazing landscape where peace and silence reigns (silence and of course the sounds of birds and crickets singing) and you can watch the sunrise from the seaside and sunset above the mountains, looking at the stars with no light pollution. We started some time ago to create this camp to make the volunteers have the full experience in direct contact with nature. We have fruit trees to keep clean from weeds and we can collect some fruit when the right time comes, we also have a vineyard and olive trees (the work that needs to be done depends on the season). Because we don’t sell our products, we don’t make any profit out of it, it’s mainly for family consumption. We do this activity to preserve our cultural heritage, to keep alive the traditions that we have learned and to be grateful and take advantage of what the earth provides.