Organic Farming in Spain

After a lot of exciting travel through Portugal and Spain, Kristi and I decided to settle down for a week with some old fashioned manual labour. When we envisioned this trip, we always wanted to include some kind of interesting / different volunteer experience and there are several organizations that help facilitate farmstays, which basically provide free room and board in exchange for 5-7 hours of manual labour (daily). We found this farmstay through Help Exchange.

Our farm was located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 10 km from the Mediterranean Sea (approximately 20 minutes from Orgiva, a small town).

We were close to 3,000 feet above sea level, so needless to say, there were incredible views in every direction.

The farm we stayed at was owned by a Brit who had moved to Spain from London about 5 years ago in search of an easier life. His property is over 40 acres and is currently scattered with olive and fig trees, but he is in the process of digging / planting beds to grow vegetables. Since we were basically unskilled labour, our main job was going to be to dig a giant bed. Since the property largely consisted of rocky hillside, we had to sift through significant amounts of weeds and rocks during our digging, so it took us all week to dig a bed that was about 30 x 25 feet. It was actually very refreshing to be outside in the fields all day and while we were both extremely achy each morning (especially Jon), our Tiger Balm (purchased during the honeymoon) came in extremely handy.

Outside from our laboring, we loved hiking in the nearby mountains (although one 5 km hike turned into a 15 km hike after a few wrong turns) and we also loved the food - our host was a great cook and always managed to keep us full.

Outside of all of the activities, Kristi and I definitely loved playing with the 3 dogs on the farm, Patch (pictured above with Kristi), Saff and Rocky. They definitely kept us smiling and entertained the whole week.

Following the farm (additional pictures available here) we traveled to Granada for a long weekend (post to come) and are currently in Barcelona until March 5th.