All that a summer can be. Moinhos do Dao 2010.

What a summer!! The summer of 2010 at The Moinhos do Dao was one to remember. The experience of running my mom’s rural tourism business on the Dao river in Portugal could not have been more positive. The Moinhos was beautiful as ever, and the work that has been done on our accommodations and facilities like the kitchen, made the place even more welcoming. The highlight of this summer’s experience was the way the team of volunteers got along and did their work. We were in a flow together and that amazing to observe.
Having fun doing this work is very dependent on the people you work with and also who you work for: our guests. Also that aspect could not have been better. What fun, interesting and relaxed people visit the Moinhos! And how easily everyone got along!

Clockwise from top left: George, Rebecca, Sophie,Kkaty, Jan, Eva, Noor, Marcel, Paulo.

We had a great team of volunteers. Many thanks to all of them for making it such a fun and relaxed summer together!

Almost everyone here!! (Jan & Marieke are missing)

We had a Ping Pong tournament…

and Mama Lou, a kitten during the tournament, that we named………

Ping Pong tournament with guests and team.

Ping Pong, Mama Lou's kitten

We had an evening with poetry from Petrarca (Italian) and Pessoa (Portuguese)

Eva reading Pertrarca in Italian, Hugo reading the Dutch translation afterwards.

Paulo reading Pessoa in Portuguese, Jan reading the Dutch translation afterwards.

We came a little too close to loosing the Moinhos in a fire….

We were caught by surprise driving back to the Moinhos after grocery shopping........

Fire on the hill right accross the river.

We had fabulous food!!

Grill masters Paulo and Hugo preparing for the BBQ dinner at the restaurant.

Dinner with the mayor of Mangualde Joao Azevedo, and his team.

We had volunteers organizing great crafts and activities for guests.

Mozaik craft activity for kids. By Sophie and Eva.

Dam Building activity by Paulo and Hugo, for guests at the Moinhos.

Volunteers for ‘a Summer in Paradise’.

Dear network,

I am planning to spend 2 months this summer in Portugal managing the rural tourism business Moinhos do Dao (Mills on the River Dao), and am building a team of good folks who have a sense of hospitality, and don’t mind working. Moinhos do Dao is a, what I call, ‘vacation paradise on the river Dao’, with campsites, accommodations and a restaurant under a giant fig tree. Over the last 20 years my mother Ria has, together with many others, worked hard here and created an authentic and hospitable place. This is the link: Moinhos do Dao. Do take your time looking around on the site (reading texts and clicking on pics.) so you can get a real good sense of the place and style of the business.

I am looking for team members for the Moinhos in the period between June 29^th and August 23^rd. For a work period of 4 weeks we can offer room and board, and a small part of the travel expenses (within Europe). The daily jobs (some are combinable) at the Moinhos are: cleaning, gardening, driving for shopping and guest trips, hosting, preparing breakfast and lunch for the crew, bartending and serving small snacks, kitchen assistant (incl. shopping), dishwashing, general maintenance (plumbing and construction), and campfire supervision. The busy period is between July 5^th and August 5^th, and then we’ll be working with about 7 people. Before and after those dates, with 4-5.

Crew members have 1.5 days off per week and we have siesta time between 1:30 and 3:30. We have a number of beds in the old farm house, two small trailers, and crew members can camp on ‘the island’; an untouched piece of nature on the premises with lots of privacy, shade and ‘wild nature’.
If you are interested, or know people who might be: I’d love to hear from you and/or them!

Important to know if you’re interested:

The Moinhos is situated in a valley about 2 miles away from the nearest village. The road down into the valley is a bumpy dirt road, which can be a little challenging for some people. There are many small villages at hiking distances between 2 and 5 miles. If you don’t have a car, hiking or hitchhiking with one of the guests are the only ways to get somewhere (larger towns, interesting sites). Usually this is not an issue because the hikes are gorgeous, guests drive in and out all the time, and we also make many trips to towns or other locations. On the no-work days crew members can also use our Van to drive to the beach or another location.

Most of the guests that stay with us are Dutch because we do most of our marketing in NL. We also have guests from other places, who usually have read about us in the Lonely Planet or hear about us word to mouth. Most of our guests are able to speak English. During the busiest weeks in the summer we have about 60-70 guests staying with us, of which one half fills up our various accommodations. and the other half camps.

Being a crew member at the Moinhos is for people who are not shy, who take initiative, are good listeners (guests and crew), and can look across the borders of their own task. Because the Moinhos is a beautiful and relaxed place it can sometimes be difficult to ‘pick up speed’. I’d advise you therefore to be a guest at the Moinhos before you start working. Take some time to get to know the surroundings and daily flow of things before you take on responsibilities.

Summers in Portugal can be hot (80s-90s) (hotter than the Bay Area around the water). The last few summers we did have at least one refreshing shower per week, and it always cools down at night because we are on a river. You have to be able to deal with heat and know how to use your energy when it’s hot. Off course we do have siesta between 1:30 and 3:30. Besides the heat you have to be able to ‘deal with people’, and better yet, like being of service to people. We want our guests to feel welcome, heard, and well taken care of, so that they would want to come back and/or tell friends and family about this wonderful place they visited in Portugal.

Working on the Moinhos is a ‘social affair’, we collaborate closely as a team, constantly interact with guests, and eat together with the guests at diner time. This means we want to work with people who are aware of the social context, mindful of how they spend their social energy, and are good at teamwork. Because we do carry quite a responsibility together, for a 2.5 acre terrain with lots of facilities and many guests, a good atmosphere amongst the crew is crucial for all of us and the guests. This might all seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning because I know that working at the Moinhos has a strong social component, and everyone that considers working there should ask themselves if they are ready for that.

My motivation to spend time at the Moinhos this summer is because I enjoy spending time in paradise (that is what it is for me), and because I want to figure out if I can give the Moinhos a place in my future. It is a very special place: nature, history, the shape of the premises with dams, mills, streams, otters, the Portuguese language and culture, etc. etc. I look forward to making this a memorable summer at the Moinhos with a great group of people

Questions?: Let’s talk!
freyavandien@gmail.com
I look forward to positive responses!

The Ruth Bancroft Garden

The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a 3.5 acre, 37 year old garden with only drought tolerant plants like cacti, palms, acacias, and many different types of succulents like Agaves and Aloes. The garden is named after it’s founder Ruth Bancroft, who started collecting succulents in the 50’s and 60’s, and has build a collection that was famous in the US amongst succulent lovers. Since April 2009 I work here as Volunteer Coordinator and Event Management Assistant.

The mission of the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Inc. is to preserve this exceptional example of garden design and to continue to develop its collection of water-conserving plants for the education and enjoyment of the public.

Handimals

Our hands have ‘animalesque’ qualities, and are a versatile base for creating animals, and creatures that can come to live by moving our hands. I have started experimenting with various animals like birds, a crab, cat and just eyes, creating a more abstract creature. The first time I executed this craft was for Crab Cove Nature Center in Alameda California. It was a very successful first try although I learned that, unless I bring pre-drawn cut-out shapes, this is a craft for children in 3^rd& 4^th grade (8+).

Adventure Playground & Instruments from Recycled materials.

Since May 2008 I work at the ‘Adventure Playground’, a unique Building and Craft playground (there is only one other like it in the USA). Kids come here to work with tools, like hammers and saws, and work on small and large projects with their friends and family. In the playground most permanent structures (we call them forts) are built by the kids. Children work in an environment where parents, camp counselors and staff, supervise play and assist in projects when necessary. This playground is a rich learning environment where children encounter their own limits and possibilities and learn through experience. When people ask us how safe a playground like this actually is, we can tell them that research has shown that more accidents happen in ‘normal’ playgrounds then in Adventure Playgrounds.
For the Adventure Playground I have designed two instrument-building projects and executed these with the children. For these instruments we used recycled materials.

The Music Tower is a larger than life percussion tower that children and parents can play on together.

The hand instruments are simple objects made with everyday trash.