Traveling to and helping out at fruitful places?

Dear fellow fruit lovers!,

I recently adopted the 80/10/10 way of life and LOVE it!

I've had a nagging feeling from the age of 12 that something just wasn't entirely right about how we -western society- are living life. 20 years education - 40 years working - 10 to 20 years on your bum, all while getting your food from the supermarket instead of the place it really comes from - Nature!

Went on a backpacking trip to Australia last year. The whole experience and the awesome people I met have had a lasting impact on me.

This feeling has been increasing a lot lately and right now I'm quite sure I would love to be living self sufficient in a tropical climate. In a Garden of Eden, so to speak.

So since my paid work will be ending this month and I do have some savings, I was thinking about hitting the road again and visiting people who are living this way. To help them out in exchange for food and accommodation while simultaneously learning from them and experiencing what it will be like!

I'm looking around for places to visit (anywhere!) and I think I might have found some interesting looking ones, but since doing things together with like-minded people is WAY more fun, I'm writing this message here to ask if there is anybody who wants to join me? Or maybe who is already doing this and then I could join you! :)

My view of it: traveling to farms / communities / homestead of people living -mostly- self sufficient the high-carb raw vegan way and practicing Permaculture / sustainable food growing techniques.

If you are interested to join me, let me know!

And if you know places which I should definitely go to, let me know as well!

A little about me:

- male

- 21 years of age

- 'from' The Netherlands

- university drop-out (this whole system....)

(Any tips on books, videos, courses (PDC?) raw vegan style very much appreciated as well :) )

Kind regards,

Daan

Currently: The Netherlands

Willing to go: anywhere

Hello everybody!

I'm back home again from Spain since a couple of days and want to share my experiences and the places I stayed at.

So after the PDC in Orgiva I hitchhiked to this raw food community close to Nerja. The people there all ate raw, but not really high on fruit, though they had a cherimoya orchard that at the time (January) was partly feeding me and my fruitful friend and they had other fruits from which we could take. Doable, but not ideal if you ask me. The exchange was 1 euro and 3 hours work / day or 5 euros / day and no work. There were caves to sleep.

I didn't feel it was a place for me, so I left after 3 days along with my friend. Though conditions might have changed after I left. http://fresh-food-family.webnode.com/

So we hitchhiked to the farm were my friend had been staying before he came to the PDC and were he had followed a high-fruit diet and I was welcome to join him.

I got a caravan to sleep in and there where oranges, bananas (mostly gone before properly ripened...), apples, dried figs, dates, almonds, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchine and greens from the garden.

I helped in building a strawbale house and it was a nice place to stay and very nice people.

www.fincalasacristia.com is their website. Not that much fruit production going on on their own land, they are also quite spiritually focussed.

And after that to Flores de Vida. GREAT place. A beginning raw food / high fruit place close(ish) to Barcelona. The man of the project is a fantastic happy French and we had a lot of fun building a house of straw, mud stones and wood, picking LOTS of cherries in a nearby orchard, 'hunting' for wild fruits, swimming in the lake, singing and making music, doing yoga and improving little things on the property. In the 6 weeks I was there, lots of cool and interesting people stayed and helped for various periods of time and the place is slowly but surely starting up it's own fruit production. Grapes, figs, apple, pears, plums, peaches, cherries.

The only downside of the place being it can get some light frost in winter and can be quite hot in summer.

But if you are in Europe: this is a place for you to go to. No question.

FloresdeVida.com (english website accessible through the little flag on the left)

So hopefully somebody that was looking for the same thing I was 6 months ago can find this information useful.

Kind regards, One Love,

Daan

Replies

Cédric September 16, 2014 at 9:10pm

Salut Daan !
- Daan > Cédric September 17, 2014 at 9:34am
  
  ;) Hi Cédric!
Thomas July 21, 2014 at 3:49pm

Hi Daan,

What you're doing seems super cool and is exactly what I'm hoping to do! Right now I'm living in San Francisco and am looking for a more local raw farm until the end of September, and then I'm thinking about going abroad.

I'm thinking probably Australia or Asia, probably Thailand, but have no idea how it'll play out yet.

Travelling with friends is a lot more fun, so I hope we could meet up some day.

~Thomas
- Daan > Thomas July 22, 2014 at 7:11am
  
  Hi Thomas,
  
  Yes, it's a lot of fun :) Maybe Hawaii is sort of near for you? Lots of cool projects there. kanekiki.com is one of them.
  
  And for Australia: get in touch with Jesse Radja, he seems to know the places :)
  
  Indeed, maybe we'll meet someday. Who knows ;)
  
  Daan
  - Thomas > Daan July 22, 2014 at 9:17am
    
    Thanks for the info :)
    
    Ideally looking for something in California, but Hawaii is close enough :)
Daan July 3, 2014 at 7:11am

Hello everybody!

I'm back home again from Spain since a couple of days and want to share my experiences and the places I stayed at.

So after the PDC in Orgiva I hitchhiked to this raw food community close to Nerja. The people there all ate raw, but not really high on fruit, though they had a cherimoya orchard that at the time (January) was partly feeding me and my fruitful friend and they had other fruits from which we could take. Doable, but not ideal if you ask me. The exchange was 1 euro and 3 hours work / day or 5 euros / day and no work. There were caves to sleep.

I didn't feel it was a place for me, so I left after 3 days along with my friend. Though conditions might have changed after I left. http://fresh-food-family.webnode.com/

So we hitchhiked to the farm were my friend had been staying before he came to the PDC and were he had followed a high-fruit diet and I was welcome to join him.

I got a caravan to sleep in and there where oranges, bananas (mostly gone before properly ripened...), apples, dried figs, dates, almonds, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchine and greens from the garden.

I helped in building a strawbale house and it was a nice place to stay and very nice people.

www.fincalasacristia.com is their website. Not that much fruit production going on on their own land, they are also quite spiritually focussed.

And after that to Flores de Vida. GREAT place. A beginning raw food / high fruit place close(ish) to Barcelona. The man of the project is a fantastic happy French and we had a lot of fun building a house of straw, mud stones and wood, picking LOTS of cherries in a nearby orchard, 'hunting' for wild fruits, swimming in the lake, singing and making music, doing yoga and improving little things on the property. In the 6 weeks I was there, lots of cool and interesting people stayed and helped for various periods of time and the place is slowly but surely starting up it's own fruit production. Grapes, figs, apple, pears, plums, peaches, cherries.

The only downside of the place being it can get some light frost in winter and can be quite hot in summer.

But if you are in Europe: this is a place for you to go to. No question.

FloresdeVida.com (english website accessible through the little flag on the left)

So hopefully somebody that was looking for the same thing I was 6 months ago can find this information useful.

Kind regards, One Love,

Daan
Claire&simple January 29, 2014 at 10:43am

Hi Daan!

There is a FREE permaculture class online (you pay for the certification if needed - this is how they stay afloat, 450$) but if you just want to learn it seems to be quite a complete program!

http://www.permaculturedesigntraining.com/

:)
- Daan > Claire&simple January 30, 2014 at 9:41am
  
  Thanks, but I just did a real PDC this month :)
h2om January 28, 2014 at 9:46am

hello Daan!
(Congrats to the lady below me, Jadey for her life path! I've considered that route too!)

SO manny routes. It is comforting to see this discussion. I have also discovered I want to live in Eden after a backpacking trip! Bahaha, Texas is nice and I feel geographically blessed.
I have farmed 2 summers in a row and loved it. What I can tell you now though, is in Nicaragua-isla de omtepe- and in the even more magical Guatemala--farming is rewarding, but I can't wait to teach English to Spanish speakers. I want to connect to the lovely kids as well as land.
As a single traveler-and not pissing my parents off too much--I will go to the Spanish immersion institutes, for 3 weeks at a time...para hacerme más útil... and to "get my feet wet" then when that time is up, do farm internships, plant tree internships for the UN, camp on the beach, teach English...all as cheaply as possible because my parents do not support that!
Right now I am working every drip drop I can, because ultimately-after surfing world class spots- I would love to take a bus to Peru and work in the Amazon for 6 months (that stuff is free work-trade)

So choose a location, that your intuition sings true to, plan to stay, and put attention into the un-seen :)

Best Travels and Happy Packing!
Hell Yeah,
-Hula
- Daan > h2om January 29, 2014 at 8:58am
  
  Go for it!
  
  I'm on Spain right now, building as a volunteer and just did a Permaculture Design Course. Life's good :)

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