Ivan Heitmann, 27
from United States
(male)
Email: click here
Network: USA
Present Country: United States
Join Date: January 19, 2012
Last Updated: February 10, 2013
Last Signed In: February 13, 2013
Companion Ad:
I usually travel alone, though am not unfriendly to riding together when I meet someone on the same path!
Next Destination(s):
Back to Italy in March.
Helper Description:
Hi there!
My U.S. base has been Minneapolis, MN for the last 5 years, and I'm couch surfing there as of this writing.
Autumn 2011 I spent 3 months WWOOFing in Italy and England. I stayed with 4 hosts and did a variety of work. In England I planned and built a gypsy caravan with my lovely host there. I did a fair amount more construction in Italy, for example, planning and heading up building a long shed out of reclaimed lumber - a rewarding project! I also spent quite a bit of time working in the forest with a chainsaw, cleaning out chestnut trees, and then building a fence to protect native pines. I spent a lot of time doing landscape maintenance at my last spot on a island paradise, maintaining a lemon orchard (digging out dead trees, pruning, etc.), gardening, and plenty of odd jobs.
I've been a painter and a (not great but OK) carpenter for a small business in Minneapolis over summers, and as a result have had to deal with a lot and work outside all the time and learn to think on my feet and work quickly.
I plan to return to Europe in April and May of 2012 to flesh out my knowledge of masonry, learning more about skill-sets like wet and dry stone and brick building methods.
I've also worked for a General Contractor and have a pretty good head for how buildings go together.
I'm also a college grad, if that matters. Hoping to get a Masters in the next 5 years.
I'm a California native, and though I've loved living in Minneapolis, I and 3 friends intend to move to the Bay Area by the end of Autumn 2012. I'm looking to get involved in movements like intentional communities and localism, with my passion being for ecosystems and land strategy and alternative economies and such - I think I'll have better luck plugging into the existing culture in Northern California than in the frozen tundra of MN :-) Thus I want to sort of scout both geography and culture and try to network a little in preparation for a move later this year.
In a host: I'm looking for people to build relationships with and learn life skills from, as well as people who are passionate about the future of where our civilization can go and have a lot to teach about how we can get there. Specifically, building methods, landscape ideas, permaculture, forest gardening, urban planning, land management, etc. I am hungry for knowledge!
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