Volunteering at Ermitaj

Every year, we welcome volunteers to help us with daily tasks and work in progress. Here is a small overview of the activities that will be proposed to you:

• Daily tasks: helping us to prepare meals that we share, to maintain and clean buildings and surroundings, to take care of animals, to collect / cut wood …
• To help us in the garden: preparing new plots, planting, weeding, mulching, watering, picking …
• Transforming the crops to preserve them for the winter: jams, sauces, dried fruits, herbs and herbal teas, lacto-fermentation, brine, …
• To help us in the works of the moment. For example: install / renovate fences, renovate buildings (insulation, natural paints, coatings, furniture manufacturing / renovation), build new infrastructure (earth, straw, wood, …), …
• When Philippe stays at Ermitaj, we will ask you to help us to accompany him in his illness, by your presence and your attention.
• If necessary, to help us with logistics and welcoming when we organize activities / events

We prefer to welcome volunteers for a relatively long duration (minimum one month, more is better). We are present on HelpX and WWOOF Romania, but it is not mandatory to go through those websites to volunteer in our place.

• You are highly motivated and you deeply agree with values and vision of the project
• You have basic knowledge in some fields related to permaculture or homesteading…. 
• You agree to live in a wonderful place with limited comfort
• You know that this kind of life is not always easy so you are brave
• You have a  sufficient physical condition (“sufficient” doesn’t mean  “perfect” ;)) 
• You like to live in community
• You are able to take initiatives
• Ermitaj is a place dedicated to experimentation so you agree to experiment with us 😉 

• You are ready to get involved for several months, and you want to take an active part in events
• You have skills in special technics like electricity, plumbering, construction, ingeniering, you touch all
• You studied or developed advanced skills in one or several domains like mushrooms and plants knowledge, forest gardening, preservation of food, natural buildings… 
• Romanian is your mother tongue and you speak also English, you are not afraid to speak with local people or Romanian administration
• You already have a strong experience in permaculture, you designed several permaculture places. 

• You are looking for a place to realize practical parts of your diploma of applied permaculture.
• You want to stay at Ermitaj during the winter

 

Participatory building sites/workshops

As soon as we will have the opportunity, we will organize participatory projects, open to a large number of people over a period of 2 to 3 weeks, maybe longer. The group energy will allow us to make a big move on the work in progress, and will allow you to experiment with ecological construction techniques. Everything, of course, in joy, good humor and friendship 🙂

  

The “clacă” (perma-blitz)

A little bit like the participatory workshops, but shorter and more regular: the “clacă”, or “perma-blitz”!

“Clacă” is a Romanian word, that has lost its English equivalent, which means “voluntary collective work by the peasants to help each other and often accompanied or followed by a little party, jokes, stories, etc.” »(Definition dexonline.ro)

The recipe is simple: with each season’s imperative (get ready with the garden at spring, the haymaking in the middle of the summer, to prepare the wood to warm up the winter …), we will make a call to the willing people to come give us a big hand over a weekend. It is well known that collective power and energy allows us to make giant steps!

 

Take a look at our calendar to be informed of the next projects / clacă, or subscribe to our newsletter to receive the information by email!