Live 100% off-grid and help in our organic almond and olive tree farm. ** Last minute OK **
Tarragona
Hello there and welcome!
** Last minute OK **
*** PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND FULLY BEFORE APPLYING ***
*** Minimum stay is 3/4 weeks, ideally longer stays ***
We are Carlota and Marc, a couple in their early 60's living in the Terra Alta, Tarragona, a remote region of our small country, Catalonia, taking care of our olive and almond trees. We have an entrepeneurial background and we are now organic and regenerative farmers. We live 100% off-grid.
We left the big city and came to the Terra Alta where we set foothold 19 years ago, got our land into production and ended up also rebuilding a couple of houses in a small village and a couple of cottages in the countryside of Gandesa.
Carlota has a law degree (University of Barcelona) and I am a neuroscientist (University of California, Berkeley). Both have been working in major corporations all our lifes, and we have created several companies. We have two sons, one is an architect now living in Barcelona designing and building all over the world and the other is a physicist specializing in data science and data architecture living and working in Berlin. We are both sailors.
We have hosted volunteers from many countries. Wherever you are from, you are welcomed.
Our preferred language is English. We are fluent in Catalan, French, English and Spanish. But we ask volunteers staying with us to speak in English, even if English is not their native language.
Please read our profile carefully and fully before messaging us. We like to get requests from volunteers that tell us why they think they can specifically contribute to our endeavors and why they want to come to our place / area. Please do not send us a standard message. We will reply to you promptly.
We need help in the outdoors taking care of our olive and almond trees and general farm help. Farming experience valued. Work can involve using a hoe to dig holes, using a bushwacker, rebuilding dry stone walls, wood splitting and stacking, clearing the fields of stones, pruning olive and almond trees, planting trees, taking care of the vegetable garden, house sitting, etc. It all depends on the season and the needs of the moment. The work will, or could, be physical.
We are looking for fit, self motivated, organized, handy, resourceful, clean and tidy people.
Expect a full 5-hour help during the morning. We ask volunteers to bring along a cap, working clothes and water resistant boots.
We have breakfast, which we cook for you, at 7 (Summer) or 8 (Winter) and work goes from 8 or 9 to 13 or 14. We cook lunch and eat together at 13:30 or 14:30.
We have available to you a fully rebuild small cottage, with a kitchenette and an independent bathroon 125 meters nearby. We provide limited internet access. We are off-grid so electricity and water need to be used very sparingly, with guidelines we will give you if you come stay and work with us.
So you will have your own cottage, with total privacy and space. We look for volunteers that will commit to treat our places as if they were their own, or better. The cottage needs to be kept clean and tidy throughout your stay.
No smokers please. No drugs. No alcohol. No pets. Only very tidy and clean people.
Our farm is in the middle of the countryside and 5 km away from Gandesa, Tarragona, Catalunya. You will have access to a bike to move around.
You will also have a guitar.
We will provide ingredients / food for all meals. We cannot cook everyday and every meal for you so you will have to adapt daily to what we can do and be ready to cook for yourself. We like volunteers to cook dishes of their own regions / countries and share them with us. Notice we do not eat meat. We also do not drink alcohol.
Afternoons are free time so you can relax, hike, bike or do whatever you want.
We like to welcome people from abroad to learn about Catalonia (a nation with no formal state) and its heritage and to share meals and conversations with people from other countries.
The area where we live was the scene of the most cruel Batalla del Ebre, a crucial part of the Spanish Uncivil War, where many international brigadiers from countries such as Germany, Norway, Canada, Japan, USA, Mexico, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and many more came to fight fascism and the Spanish dictator. Many died nearby.
And we also like to share our experience in organic tree farming in an area with very little rainfall.
Please reply to these questions in your request to us:
- We are looking for volunteers that have travelled internationally. Please list the countries you have visited.
- Please confirm you have read our profile completely.
- We require volunteers to bring along working clothes and water resistant boots. Do you have them?
- Please let us know if you have any dietary allergies. We cannot host volunteers with gluten intolerance and those that do not eat eggs.
- Please let us know if you have any medical condition that would not allow you to do physical work outside for 5 hours (i.e. back problem, physical disability, mental issues, etc). Please do inform us if you are taking any medication.
- We are primarily looking for volunteers with several prior work exchange volunteering experiences. If so, let us know about your experiences.
- Do you have experience with the skills required for this position? If so, let us know about your experience.
Read more
Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Wild foraging
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Green Building
Renewable energy production
Mechanics / tools / technology
Methods or systems
No-till farming
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Certified organic
28
Hectares
|
69.2
Acres
Marc
Member since 2025
Languages spoken:
Catalan, English
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 1 day
Tarragona
Bus station in Gandesa (preferred), train station in Mora la Nova.
