Traditional Goat's Cheese Laboratory & Small scale vineyard for natural wine
Ionian Islands
1. Describe your project, your place, and its inhabitants (including animals):
To produce and purvey traditional cheese and natural wine in a small-scale manner.
The laboratory is found next to my house in a very small village with less than 50 inhabitants (mostly farmers and shepherds).
I live with my partner and the potential wwoofers will have a small house to themselves.
2. List the activities that WWOOFers will participate in and what you want to teach them:
The activities are :
-Cheesemaking from zero (raw fresh milk) until the final product (aged goat"s cheese).
The participants will be able to produce real, handmade fresh or aged cheese and everything that process entails: turning over the cheese, washing it when necessary, keep clean the laboratory and its equipment.
-Wine from zero to their glass:
The participants according to the timing of their participation will be involved and learn; how to prune, propagate and treat a vine, how and when to harvest and how to make natural wine on a small-scale basis.
-Traditional dry stonewall making or restoration; the participants will learn how to create low-level dry stonewalls (a very old craft in this part of Greece) either for decorative purposes or farming.
3. What could a WWOOFer's day look like at your site (time slot for participation in activities, expectations...)?
In the wintertime (from January till April) they can actually experience all of the aforementioned (besides wine-making which is in late summer).
From April until late August they can participate in pruning, and treating the vineyard and stonewall building, and finally August and September they can participate and learn how to make in-house natural wine from zero till the final product.
-Cheesemaking usually starts around 10 in the morning and the process ends around 15.00 (the process is not daily but every two days)
-Regarding the vineyard, the timetable is a lot more flexible, but the closer we get to the summer the earliest we tend to work due to the heat.
Usually, we do not spend more than 5 hours in the vineyard per day.
When we have to do wine the days are a lot longer, we start in the morning and don't stop until we finish the process, which usually takes at least 6 hours.
-Finally, dry stonewall building, which is something more demanding physically is an activity that we usually do not do for more than 4 hours per day.
There is no machinery involved, it is a slow process as it was when our grandfathers used to do it.
Being a small-scale farm and laboratory, food, is very important to us.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are concocted from products found by a network of farmers and shepherds similar to our mentality, locally and organically produced.
4. Play the guide! Talk about your own hobbies (music, cooking, etc.) and those possible around (hiking, swimming, etc.):
I am a spear fisherman since I was little, I play 2 different musical instruments and love to cook.
The nature on this island is spectacular, lush, and wild. It is ideal for biking, swimming, snorkeling, hiking, and trekking. Loads of trails and paths for walking around.
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Learning opportunities
Dairy farming
Viticulture
Cheesemaking
Beer, cider, wine, or juice making
Methods or systems
Biodynamic agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
1
Hectares
|
2.5
Acres
Nikolas
Member since 2023
Languages spoken:
English, Greek, Italian
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 85%
Response time: typically within 8 days
Ionian Islands
Argostoli Airport, Port of Sami, Port of Fiscardo during the summer months
Reviews
Mariélli
Brazil
•
October 2023
Unforgettable and beautiful experience with Nico and Claudia! We came as WWOOFers, and we left as friends! It was so much fun and so natural! Thank you so much for all the good moments, laughs, love and care! And thanks for making the dream of Natale come true! We miss you and all our friends from Kefalonia! So much love for you guys!
Reply from Nikolas
Dear Maricota and Natale, we are so happy to have met you and shared time and food with you.
Your mentality is for me what wwoof is about which often is not the case.
Natale you and your dream are very welcome next year.
We hope to see you in Portugal.
Thank you for everything.
Bravo Natale ;)
Grazie mille Maricota
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Lucie
France
•
May 2023
Great experience! We were able to work in the vineyards, make cheese, help in the restaurant, and do other activities always with great pleasure. Nicola is a very enthusiastic host who loves to share his knowledge and exchange with others!
The island is beautiful, especially the north where we were able to live. The locals that we met always welcomed us and Nicola did everything to make us feel comfortable and well integrated. It was a very nice experience! :)
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Reply from Nikolas
Dear Lucie, it has been a real pleasure having you girls around, I can only smile every time I think on any task we all did together.
Fantastic times, loads of laughs and the Panda still misses your driving skills and of course your racing co driver :)
I hope you will return some time
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Benjamin
France
•
March 2023
Nice experience, I did alternate between doing cheese and cleaning the vineyard. The real work was during the cheese days, on the vineyard days we finished very early so I had plenty of time to walk around the small village. On the final day, I had the opportunity to do the cheese all by myself, even without any experience before the wwoofing.
The island is very beautiful, and very green even in the middle of winter.
Also, Nikolas is an excellent cook, be ready to try much Greek traditional food.
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Reply from Nikolas
Thank you for choosing to visit my laboratory Benjamin, it was a pleasure hosting you and I hope you will succeed in doing cheese back home.
Cu next year :)
