Opening up land for those in need

I'm Andreas from Germany, since several years I live off grid with my Romanian wife Ioana in the Carpathian Mountains, in Transilvania, Romania. Our life is increasingly centered around the permaculture principles since I made my PDC, my special interest being community and fair share right now. The project is pretty settled in, the big structeres set... so I would love to share our little paradise.

We already do that by offering volunteering since last year, also we host paying guests to earn some dough (even offgrid life is not for free, actually its pretty much a daily hustle here). What we do have although, is loads of land, situated in a picturesque mountain valley next to a natural reservation. What would a sensible model of sharing and opening up some of it to other people be?

I thought of offering a small parcel of land for city people, so they can come over on weekends, spend some time in our beautiful nature and also do some projects in a permaculture context. We would just provide the land, give some guideline, and then let the people enjoy the opportunity, bring their own tools and ideas and be creative.
BUT I do realise this could come with several dangers, like liability in case some accident happens, loads of started and then abandoned projects, conflicts among people using the land. Are there any similiar projects already running we could get some ideas from? What woul your advice be?

Some pictures attached so you can get an idea of our place.

Wow, Andi, what gorgeous views!  Nourishment for the spirit!
Good luck with your projects!

Some refugees would love the chance and you will gain some very good friends

Roger Engstrom wrote:Some refugees would love the chance and you will gain some very good friends

Unfortunately we are too far off from anywhere you would find refugees. But it's a great idea 💡

Emilie McVey wrote:Wow, Andi, what gorgeous views!  Nourishment for the spirit!
Good luck with your projects!

Thank you so much Emilie ✌️

What a beautiful project and a beautiful setting. Congratulations on your efforts.

From my own experience, I have used WWOOF, Workaway and HelpX as a volunteer. With two exceptions, out of more than 30 projects, I have felt very welcome and left wiser and with very positive memories. I only ever stayed for 10-30 days but I know some people that use those services stay with hosts for 6 months or more - it is, of course, up to the host and volunteer to decide.

You could consider listing your project on those services if that appeals to you. The mindset varies for different volunteers but it seems that most fall into one of three categories:

1. those looking for a way to travel cheaply and have an "authentic" experience of a place
2. those wishing to learn about sustainable agriculture/forestry/etc, often with a mind to setting up or joining a similar project themselves
3. those who want a break from city life

I'm sure there are many more reasons too, but that is a broad (and opinionated!) categorisation from the people I have met.

You could also consider reaching out to projects in nearby cities and offer them use of your space. They could then pass this information on to the people involved with those projects and they might help with the admin and even the insurance.

In London, I know there is a Permaculture Network, a 'Permablitz' and countless smaller projects such as community gardens, foraging groups, herbalism, natural dyers, etc. I'm sure that many of the members of those projects would appreciate the opportunity to visit a project such as yours and feel welcomed. Whether there are equivalent projects closer to you is another question.

Concerning insurance, we have public liability insurance for our land for claims up to £2,000,000. It costs us ~£250 each year. We don't have a large number of visitors but it does mean that we are protected in the event that someone does hurt themselves and decides to sue - or if a tree falls onto someone's car, for example!

If you are hoping to have members of the public on your land regularly it is something to consider and weigh up the cost/benefits of. As I mentioned earlier, you might be able to receive a contribution to cover insurance costs from those benefiting.

I hope there is something of use there.

Luke Mitchell wrote:What a beautiful project and a beautiful setting. Congratulations on your efforts.
...
I hope there is something of use there.

Wow Luke thank you for sharing all of this valuable information! Regarding volunteers, we started it last year via Worldpackers, we had really great experiences and will keep that going for sure. It's so much fun to see young people appreciate nature, having an interest in the environment and even helping (some more, some less) with the daily tasks.

Contacting abroad organisations and inviting them over actually never crossed my mind, that could be so interesting. Definitely gonna dig a bit into that idea. As for contacting local organizations: that also might be worth a shot 😃 although there aren't really a lot around here I fear.

The liability insurance sounds like a great idea, especially since we already host guests and volunteers 😬 better to be safe than sorry. Thank you so much for all of this info🙏

Hi Andi, I see your last post was a few months ago so I'm posting to check in on your progress.

Unfortunately, I only found out about permies recently as we were in Romania not far from you this summer and it would have been nice to meet. We have a house near Sighișoara and are considering moving to Romania if we can't find anything rural in the US. (My wife is Romanian) Our kids had the summer of a lifetime and my wife is now on board with getting out of the city.

Are you having any success in finding help?
I took a look at the website and it's very well done and the photos are absolutely gorgeous. Luke already beat me to the ideas that I have recently found (wwoof, etc) that would be of any help. Since you are not far from Cluj you might want to visit the high schools and Universities there to see if anyone would want to help for a time. Even family day trips to your area would be beneficial for both parties. I have some friends in Cluj that I'll alert to your presence to see if they want to stop by.

I would love to hear how everything is going for you now and how things have progressed since your first post.
And of course, I would love to meet up with you the next time we are in Romania.