Become ESC volunteer

about the ecocenter Divočina

In 2017, we founded a community garden and ecological center called Divočina in Malešov, just 6 km from Kutná Hora. We created this space with an emphasis on ecology, community, and social connections. Our community garden is a place where people of all ages and social backgrounds come together to garden, participate in lectures, workshops, community baking, cultural events, or even evening campfires.

We regularly prepare interactive and practical workshops for kindergarten, elementary, and high schools. These workshops include gardening and biodiversity support, recycling, sustainable households, vegetarian and vegan cooking, and workshops on medicinal plants. We are very happy to cooperate with a nearby children’s home, whose residents often come to help us, and together we enjoy pizza or campfires. Once a week, we also open the Divočina café, where we offer seasonal and local refreshments.

LIVING THE PLACE – PERMACULTURE & HOMESTEADING LIFESTYLE

Living the Place is a European Solidarity Corps volunteering programme offering an immersive experience in permaculture-based living, homesteading skills, and community life. Volunteers are based at the eco-adventure centre Divočina, a community space surrounded by nature, where sustainability, biodiversity, and alternative ways of living are part of everyday life. The project combines practical volunteering with structured lifestyle training focused on self-sufficiency and local resilience.
Volunteers participate in the daily life of the centre and community garden, supporting environmental education for schools, kindergartens, and homeschoolers, assisting with gardening, maintenance, workshops, events, and eco-adventure camps for children. They also contribute to informal English teaching and take part in long-term practical training in permaculture, food production, food processing, sustainable household management, and community-based activities. Volunteers live in an international team, share responsibilities, cooperate with local community members, and gain hands-on experience of how a small, community-oriented project functions in practice.

Training During the Activity

Volunteers are welcomed through an on-arrival orientation focused on the centre, the garden, the team, and the values that guide Divočina. Learning is embedded in daily routines and hands-on activities: gardening, food production, cooking together, hosting visitors, and maintaining shared spaces. Regular mentoring and reflection sessions support personal development and skill-building. Volunteers are encouraged to explore practical homestead skills while connecting with nature, community, and sustainable living.
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Main Projects This Season

This season, volunteers will take part in a variety of hands-on projects, including natural building with clay, hemp, and wood, and the creation of a natural swimming lake guided by a permaculture expert.
The community garden is expanding, and volunteers will help produce vegetables for local families, bake bread, make preserves, kombucha, pesto, and other seasonal products, applying practical homestead skills. They will also participate in community bread and pizza baking, support the outdoor café, and prepare seasonal meals from the garden, learning sustainable, local, and plant-based cooking.
Volunteers assist in eco-programmes, workshops, permaculture courses, meditation retreats, and school activities, sharing their culture, European values, and promoting volunteering. They also visit external permaculture projects to gain inspiration and practical insights. Daily activities involve physical work in the garden and around the centre, providing both skill development and resilience-building.

Divočina Café

As part of our main project for 2024, we worked with international volunteers to set up an outdoor café. Every week, we host conversation sessions for anyone interested in chatting with the volunteers. We also have weekly community bread baking events. The café is open once a week, and we prepare local, seasonal dishes, with all proceeds going to support the Divočina Eco-Center.

events

In the summer, we organize ecological suburban camps, where we use fun and informal methods of teaching English. 

We also organize several ecological courses, such as a permaculture edible forest course. In June, we arrange school trips for students from various schools.  During the year schools come to us for ecoprograms. There is community bread baking every week going on in our Café. 

What will volunteers do at Divočina

Volunteers will actively engage in all activities at the Divočina ecological center. They will learn practical skills, such as chopping wood, and gain knowledge of organic permaculture gardening. They will also try out various crafts. Participate on the Recycling Workshop project. Volunteers will take part in both online and offline promotion of the center and will also give presentations in schools, sharing their culture, volunteer experiences, and information about the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) program.

Once a week, we have an open outdoor garden café in Divočina, where morning conversations with volunteers take place for interested participants as part of the „Language Café,“ and in the afternoon, there is community baking. Volunteers will help run the café and have the opportunity to prepare homemade cakes, lemonades, and other refreshments.

Once a month, we organize two-day trips with the volunteers to interesting places to gain inspiration for our ecocenter.

We strive to consider the individual preferences of each volunteer, but it is important to understand that some essential tasks, such as washing dishes, mowing grass, or watering plants, need to be done, even if they are not really exciting.

teaching English

Organizing Workshops and Camps for Children

Volunteers will assist the English teacher in teaching young people. Together with the children, they will carry out small projects, such as setting up compost. The goal is to overcome language barriers and agree on the steps needed for implementation. Volunteers will improve their communication skills and learn how to work with children and youth.

Additionally, they will assist instructors in ecological programs for schools and during summer camps at Divočina. Their main task will be to help prepare materials for educational activities and assist children with group projects, such as building birdhouses or making natural repellents. Volunteers will gain valuable experience in organizing activities for children and have the space to implement their own ideas.

teaching English

at schools

Volunteers will occasionally visit local schools, where they will help teachers with English lessons and present their country and culture. In September and October, they will also have the opportunity to present their volunteer experiences and share what they have learned during their stay at Divočina.

Food and Homemade Production

Meals at Divočina are an integral part of community life and homestead learning. Volunteers have a food budget from the programme, which is used to purchase high-quality ingredients, mostly organic, from local farmers and zero-waste stores whenever possible. Cooking maximizes the use of produce from the garden, orchards, and surrounding wild plants, and includes preserving, fermenting, and preparing seasonal foods.
Volunteers actively participate in making bread, bagettes, cheese (e.g., paneer), jams, juices, fermented vegetables, and kombucha, and in preparing meals for the community. They also learn to produce simple household and cosmetic products. This approach develops practical skills, self-sufficiency, and sustainable kitchen practices.
Within the centre, alcohol is not part of everyday life, creating a safe, inclusive environment for all, including children and people who may have experienced addiction. Special celebrations may include local drinks by agreement. Volunteers are free to make their own choices regarding alcohol outside the centre. Tea, coffee, and other non-alcoholic beverages are always available.

We aim to eat as much food from our garden as possible, but for items we cannot grow, we purchase from local farmers or source from a zero-waste shop. Every Monday, we come together to plan the weekly menu, and each day we prepare lunch as a group, keeping the meals simple and wholesome. Monday is also our shopping day, where volunteers can add any specific items they need for the week.

For breakfast and dinner, volunteers are responsible for preparing their own meals using the ingredients available in the community house.

 

Volunteers engaged with schools to present their culture, discuss European values, and promote volunteering. They also visited other permaculture and community projects, gaining practical insights and inspiration, including introductory permaculture courses delivered in English.
Digital tools are part of the project activities. Volunteers contribute to Facebook and Instagram by creating posts, photos and short videos documenting events and daily life at the eco-centre.
Overall, the experience combined hands-on learning, community engagement, cultural exchange, and digital competencies, providing volunteers with practical knowledge, personal growth, and professional development in sustainable living and homestead practices.
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