Cortijo Plata

AVAILABLE SLOTS

Between:

SLOT A
Tue 2nd April 2024 -
Sat 27th Apr 2024

SLOT B
Tue 14th May 2024
Sat 1st Jun 2024

SLOT C
Tue 18th Jun 2024
Sat 6th Jul 2024

SLOT D
Tue 23rd Jul 2024
Sat 10th Aug 2024

SLOT E
Tue 10th Sep 2024
Sat 28th Sep 2024

OLIVES
Tue 12th Nov 2024
Sat 30th Nov 2024

Please state your SLOT or arrival and leaving dates:
Note: If you don't mention the dates when you write to us it looks like you did not read the profile.

Last year we had some volunteers at Christmas. We did fairly hard work chipping olive branches. This would be for about 2 weeks but you have to be fit and strong.

You can request a longer period.
In theory longer stays of over a month are possible but only after a successful short stay.
Last year we had a wonderful Canadian girl who stayed for ages.

You can apply for dates not in a slot but you might be the only volunteer and you would have to be really interested in what we are doing.

NOTE:
Every word of our profile is a true and accurate description of reality. We also require that your profile is truthful.

The volunteers that we might be interested in would have these characteristics: actually interested in growing food, self-sufficiency and alternative technologies. Don't mind about being isolated and in the middle of nowhere. Sociable and fun to be with.

We will be planting, growing and harvesting vegetables and preparing to be as self-sufficient as possible.

We are an English couple who have lived in Spain for over 30 years. We are in our late 50's early 60's. Our business is on-line so we can work anywhere as long as we have an Internet connection. We spend our time between Granada, the coast and our cortijo in the mountains. We are mainly interested in some help up in the mountain house. We have 36,000 m2 with about 160 olive trees, 800 grape vines, 100 almonds, almost all the fruit trees you can think of, a vegetable plot, about 5 springs, solar-powered electricity, solar water heating, and 10m x 5m swimming pool. We are 1300 metres above sea level. The nearest village is 6km up a non-asphalt road. We don't have any children but have a dog named "Shep"and a cat called "Meg".

We have hosted more than 330 volunteers over the last 12 years. We welcome hardworking people who like being in a beautiful remote mountain setting. It is especially important that you are a pleasant sociable person with a good sense of humour who likes good conversation and can appreciate eating good healthy food.

Note: If you are a French, German, Spanish or Italian native speaker we often ask you to do translations into English.

If you have any question about the Spanish language we can give you a good answer because we are fluent in Spanish and also have spent many years as language teachers, if your level of Spanish is good enough you could speak to us in Spanish however the main language at our farm is English. We have our own hiking group and we often organise hikes on the weekends when it is not too hot for hiking, there are usually around 10 Spanish people. You will probably learn a lot about growing your own food and self sufficiency. The most important thing is that you like gardening and helping outside. Here are some examples of the help. Skim the dead insects off the swimming pool, sweep up the terraces, weed the flowerbed, weed the vegetable plot, plant out lettuces, go with me to collect mulch on the tractor, plant trees and bushes, repair the irrigation system, pick peaches and other fruit, staple paper bags around the apples to stop the birds eating them, paint a wall, varnish a door, clean out the barbecue, cut the grass on the lawn, pick walnuts, crack almonds and walnuts for the muesli. Pick broad beans. Plant seeds. Help with fencing. Let the chickens out. Shut the chickens up. Collect horse manure. Teach us something we don't know. Sometimes during the week we go and do chores in a house on the edge of Granada doing painting and gardening help. There are 2 self-contained independent apartments for the volunteers and we shuffle the people around to get the best combination. For breakfast we normally eat our delicious healthy muesli which has our own nuts in. For midday meal we try to eat stuff that we have grown ourselves with either fish or meat. In the evenings in the summer we have gazpacho or other ways of eating the abundance of really nice tomatoes, pepper, aubergines etc that we grow. We often cook outside on the barbecue. We have a wood oven for pizzas, bread and roasting etc. We eat mostly vegetarian food but we are not strict vegetarians. If you have special dietary requirements you must tell us when you contact us. We don't take vegans or people who don't eat eggs. The cortijo is 6km from the nearest sleepy village which has a population of about 1000. We have a good 22 mega per second internet connection. Wifi is available in the main lounge and in outside areas but not everywhere. As the electricity system is solar you have to be careful to switch off lights and not waste electricity. We have 2 mountain bicycles. There are lots of interesting walks all around the mountains. It would be very unsuitable for a city person who hates the countryside. Andalucia is very hot in August, as we are 1200 metres high it is much more pleasant than lower down. Important: There is plenty of time to connect to social media and keep in contact with your friends via internet when you are here. However, if you are so addicted to using your iphone that it prevents you from interacting with new people then please don't come here. Very shy introverted people who almost never say anything don't tend to enjoy it much here, if you are in that category you should choose a less sociable place. We have volunteers to do some work and make life more fun. There is nothing wrong with being a very quiet person but we want sociable people. What you can do on your days off: As most of the volunteers don't have their own transport we have often taken everyone out on excursions. In the past we have taken people down to the beach and a few times we have let everyone stay in a house we have in Granada. There is a lake about 6km way which is good for swimming, we often take everyone down there on Sundays. Most weekends we go on hikes with a walking group. It is is necessary that you like eating vegetables. We don't take people who don't like tomatoes, who can't eat perfectly good things just because of the texture or fussy eaters in general. We don't take volunteers with pets or children. Almost everyone who comes here leaves more healthy, more relaxed, fitter and happier than when they arrived.