CATRIONA BRADY bradycatriona@hotmail.com
le 4 février
Hi Ulrich Cotterlaz,
Sorry for the delay in replying. Thank you for your e-mail. We would love for you to volunteer with us. This year CROP is working with a Bulgarian foundation called Trinoga, their website is www.trinoga.org, have a look at their site. The projects are from April to November. Below is more information about the project and where it is based. Also have a read below about the festival we are hosting outside Plovdiv, you may want to volunteer for this or come along to the festival. Get back to me to confirm your dates for volunteering.
The valley where we are based is perfect, especially if you like horses, living in harmony with nature, peace and tranquillity, hiking and caves.
Below is our standard reply to all e-mails with more information regarding the project.
Please read this carefully, best to print it. Get back to me with your dates.
It only takes 1 hour travel from Sofia to get to Svoge (pronounced Svo-gee) and another half an hour to get to the village of Jelen on the bus (pronounced with a soft J like the s in "treasure") and then it is five minute walk down hill to the project.
When travelling from Sofia please give yourself enough time for bus connections.
Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.
If you book to stay with us, and your plans change, please let us know. Last year,
a number of volunteers did not show up and we had turned other possible guests and
volunteers away. We do not want to charge a deposit for your booking but if this is
repeated this year we may have to. No time wasters please.
The project was started 4 years ago in Scotland, Aberdeen. We took on waste land and created veg gardens and encouraged the local people to grow their own veg. Since then we took on a farm in Italy to help the owner to improve the fertility of his soil and
we created beautiful organic gardens around the house.
www.geocities.com/cropscheme
We worked land in the Rhodopy mountains for 2 years in a village
called Buynovo, www.geocities.com.cropscheme/photos/bulgaria/bulgariaphotos
To book your stay with us please e-mail or call
& 7.00pm to 9.00pm local time. Volunteers are welcome from March to November but
we can have visitors all year round, best to come as a volunteer first.
The house we live in has two rooms upstairs and a very large room downstairs.
We are working on restoring the old house so there will be another room for use
this year. We also have a larger house further up the valley and a very large outhouse.
We have accommodation for 18 volunteers.
We have work for six full-time volunteers, & 12 part-time volunteers or full-time guests.
Each room sleeps 4 and in the other house each room sleeps 6. The barn can sleep many
people and is very warm and comfortable. We also have tents for camping and you can
rent these if you want to go hiking in your time off.
We are also hosting the LILI Festival, "Low Impact Living Initiative Festival" 2007,
17km outside Plovdiv, www.lilifestival.org we are looking for volunteers from 10th Aug
to the 28th September and stalls will be providing information about alternative energy
products, solar, wind turbines and water turbines. The stalls and workshops will be on
many subject e.g. bee-keeping, organics, solar panels, paper making, recycling, traditional
crafts and many more. The volunteers will be helping with set up, crew for the festival and
clean up. Food and accommodation will be provided and the festival will be very interesting.
If you would like to be part of this then please e-mail me. If you know anyone who would like
to have a stall or do a workshop at the festival the festival runs from 7th September to 14th
September and workshops start on the Monday until the Friday. Please pass on this
information to any people you think would be interested. Thanks ;-)
Answers to questions you are likely to have.
How much work is expected from full time volunteers? We expect 6 hours work per day
from each of our full time volunteers for 5 days and then two days off. Hours are
10-2 and 5-7.00pm (flexible depending on season and weather) No payment necessary
for full-time volunteers and full board is given.
Part time volunteers work 3 hours per day, cost 7 leva (3.50 Euro) per day.
What is expected from a full time visitor (non-volunteer)?
Monday to Friday, cost 14 leva (7 Euro) per day. If you only want to be a guest
and not eat at the house the cost is 7 leva(3.50 Euro) per person per night. Camping
is 3leva (1.50 Euro) per person, if you require to use shower and gas stove.
What kind of work will I be doing?
Work will vary depending on the season and weather, but could include: digging,
germinating, planting out, weeding, watering, house maint., feeding animals and plants, preserving food, jarring honey, baking, making eco creams and helping at a Bulgarian festival from 10 Aug - 21st Sep and many other tasks.
What is the diet like?
We can cater for vegetarians, vegans and omnivores. Our diet is close to vegetarian
for most of the year, but in winter we eat more meat. All visitors can expect a high
whole food diet, with dairy products if they want them. We have one resident who is
allergic to milk, so we will always provide a strictly dairy free option for those who
want it. We make good bread and vegan cake. The food is 60% organic, but this should
increase as we source more organic suppliers.
How long can I stay?
All full-time, part-time volunteers can stay 2 weeks. You may be able to extend your stay once you have stayed two weeks as a full-time or part-time volunteer but a full-time
volunteer would have to change to a part-time volunteer or full-time guest. We would
like to give the free option to as many people as possible in the year.
What should I take with me?
Boots, we do have some spare but if you have boots for working/hiking then great.
Slip on rubber working shoes are cheap, practical and widely available in Bulgaria)
3 lev at any of the markets.
Sleeping bag,
towel,
sun cream,
sun hat,
working gloves
and plenty sense of humour.
Oh, a bottle of extra virgin olive oil (expensive here) or a large jar of marmite(can't get
it here). If you can get the oil for less than 4 pounds per litre then please buy it for us.
Keep the receipt and it will be reimbursed on arrival.
Should I arrange my own insurance?
Yes. You will not be asked to do any dangerous work, also you will be
asked to sign a disclaimer when you arrive. I am trying to get insurance
cover for wwoofs(willing workers on organic farms) through the international
wwoof organisation.
When can I come?
E-mail me the dates you would like to come, and I will get back to you as soon
as I can (maybe one week delay. Please email me in advance. Visitors/volunteers
must book in advance. Once I have received your dates I will confirm them.
How do I get there?
We offer a pick up service for those who would like help with travelling to the project.
Please call at least two weeks in advance for this service and we will arrange for you
to met at the airport and taken, on public transport or in the mini bus, to the project.
You will have to pay a 60lev(30Euro) payment for this service.
Travel by
Public transport or hitchhike
Place names are given in the Cyrillic alphabet in brackets. We strongly advise you to learn
the Cyrillic alphabet(www.geocities.com/cropscheme
written down with the equivalent letters in our(Latin) alphabet. This will help you.
Nearest airport: You can get to Sofia by air, rail or road. www.wizzair.com has good price
for flying to Sofia from many airports and Czech airlines are offering flights but they
are more expensive. Easyjet also do a deal on flights from Newcastle to Budapest. If you
find anything cheaper, please mention it on our forum page (link from
http://www.geocities.com
http://www.hostelmostel.com/ is a very good choice. If you have to stay over night in
Budapest, Backpack Hostel is very good, http://www.backpackbudapest.hu/ beautiful and
friendly, Budapest is very beautiful.
Euroline bus services are quite cheap all over Europe, but watch out for extra charges
when changing bus services (many of the routes offered by Eurolines are actually provided
by other bus companies).
From Sofia, take the train to Svoge, ask anyone on the train to help, you will get help
by lots of people who will keep you right about what station to get off. It takes about
1 hour on the train. I can't tell you how many stops because lots of trains stop at dif.
Stations. Once in Svoge walk out of the train station, out to the main road. Turn right
and walk for about 15-20mins straight along the main road and cross the main square.
Ask anyone for the bus to Jelen, (Kude e aftobusa za Jelen�) There are always two busses but
when the children are at school there are three busses running. The first is at 8.30am,
the second is at 2.30pm, if the children are at school, and the third is at 5.50/6.00pm,
the times changes so best to get there for 5.40pm, no? ;-)
Hitching here is good, but be careful if you are a female on your own, and don't get stranded in winter.
If you have any further questions please e-mail me. Hope to see you soon.
Best wishes
Catriona Brady - Volunteer Co-ordinator
- le 16 février
Hi Bruno,
Good to have your booking. Two of the full-time Bulgarian residence speak good French so this should help for your understanding. I have put your dates in the bookings from the 15th of May to the 29th and th both of you will be full-time volunteers. If there are any changes and you are not going to get to us for those dates please contact me. C u soon. Thanks.
Catz
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