Sitter for dogs and horses on a family farm near Hamburg, Germany

Details

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  Description

  WANTED: Only Vacancy: September 1st till September 26th 2024, plus / minus a few days.
  
  Hello and welcome to our farm’s profile! Please also check out our photoalbum.
  
  Enjoy nature and farm life with horses, dogs and cats without being stuck in the middle of nowhere!
  
  Our farm is located just outside of the City of Hamburg and is home to our 2 large dogs Zuma & Anubis, our cat family Finocchio, Oreo, Cookie & Fluffy, our 3 horses Bobbie, Lucky & Castello, our 4 rabbits Pumba, Dottie, Smokey & Honig and us humans. On our 12 acres property we have a little pond with fish, lots of pastures for the horses, the barn housing the stables and the indoor arena, the rabbits enclosure and of course our farmhouse with it's big garden and our greenhouse.
  
  Who is “us": We are a family of four, all enthusiastic travelers, more or less fluent in English with German being our native language. We have been workaway hosts since summer 2015 and had many folks from all over the world staying with us - England, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia. With some we are still in touch, one even comes back every year to visit.
  I’ll start the introduction with myself as I’ll be the main host: I am Colleen, soon to be 30 years old, I've done workaway in the USA, Ireland and Portugal. I’ve always loved traveling and have explored many European countries by myself. I can communicate both in English and German fluently. My passion is my greenhouse with all the different vegetables growing in there. While gardening I love listening to the radio or my audiobooks - Peter James’ Roy Grace series is my favorite. I work in the office of a construction company. With me in the upstairs flat lives my boyfriend Adrian, he’s 30 years old, an avid reader, a passionate cook and a dog lover. He works in at ALDI as an assistant store manager. With us live Finocchio & Oreo, the only indoor cats we currently have. They're absolutely not a fan of the dogs.
  
  Downstairs the dogs are living with my parents - my mum Gisela, 64, and her husband Olaf, 59. My mum retired from public services four years ago, Olaf still has to work roughly a year till retirement from public service. Both love traveling, Greece and Spain are their absolute favorites. My mum understands basic Spanish and speaks good English, my stepdad however understands quite a lot but doesn't like to speak much (in any language). He loves to work in the garden after work and enjoys his evening with a glass of good wine in front of the TV. My mum on the other hand basically lives outside, except for winter. Then you can find her in front of the fireplace in the living room. Her passion are the horses, she has a ton of experience around the whole topic of everything horsey.
  
  The horses have been with us for a long time now: Lucky was born on our farm in 2015, he’s a special horse with a lot of personality, not quite broken in yet, but loves attention of any kind. Bobbie is our second horse, she turned 22 recently. She’s adorable and does lots of mischief. When we’re not careful, she’s the first to escape through an open gate. She rarely gets ridden due to health issues. She loves to splash and dunk her nose into the refreshing water of the lake nearby. Castello is around 23 y/o, he belongs to Elena, a young mother of 2 who is a great help around the farm whenever we need a helping hand. She lives in a neighboring village.
  
  The photo album is updated with recent pictures and more detailed descriptions.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Possibility to learn German, explore the area and make lifelong friends.
  
  You can improve your English / German as well as learning plenty of new vocabulary.
  
  You'll learn a lot about horses, cats and dogs including feeding, mucking and everything involving these animals.

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  Help

  We are looking for one or two workawayers, who speak a basic level of either English or German and are willing to look after the farm, while part of our family goes on vacation.
  
  Our main reason for hosting with workaway: Someone who looks after the animals, assures their wellbeing and simply spends time with them.
  You will not be left alone with the farm. Elena will come and help with the horses, Adrian and Colleen will also be home in the evenings and at night.
  
  daily chores:
  - horses: mucking the barn & yard, grooming, cuddling (no training / riding!)
  - rabbits: feeding, cleaning their hutch / yard
  - cats: cuddling
  - dogs: taking them outside the house, grooming, cuddling, keeping them company
  - barn: cleaning, sweeping
  - household: basic tasks, watering plants
  - garden: watering the plants, cleaning after the dogs
  
  This list is not complete, the tasks may vary on a day to day basis. Not every tasks needs to be completed daily. Adjustments or additions are possible.
  
  You'll have plenty of free time to explore the area! Free time may vary every week, as the tasks vary.
  Between 4 to 6 hours a day is an estimated amount of time, depending on your own speed!
  
  Experience with animals preferred, no riding skills required.
  No smoking or heavy drinking!
  
  We can host up to two Workaways, but unfortuanately no families with kids!

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We speak English on a good level, but one never gets too old to learn new words :D The same it is with Spanish, we're happy to take time and learn from you! We can teach German in exchange.
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  Accommodation

  Accommodation, food, snacks & drinks are provided by us in exchange for your help.
  
  We offer a fully furnished room with a queensized bed in the house, very quiet and cozy, to whoever is staying with us.
  The farmhouse has a large kitchen, 1 bathroom + 1 extra WC, a huge living room with a fireplace & TV and a room with some exercise / sport equipment. The dogs and two cats are living inside as well.
  When everyone is home, bathroom will be shared.
  
  If needed we can also offer a German SIM card for your phone with some data and free calls within germany.
  Fast WIFI is available around the house and most parts of the garden.
  
  We have one or two bikes you could use, they're save and good to drive.
  
  If you have a driving licence and a couple of years experience driving on the right side of the road, you might take one of our cars out, if neccessary.
  
  Large patio, nice garden and pastures to roam around, large fields and a lake within 5 min walk.
  
  Depending on your plans, ambitions and work attitude we can talk about pocket money and other benefits.

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  What else ...

  Pickup from the airport or central train / bus station is Hamburg possible.
  
  Müssen is a small village, it has 2 bakery shops, 1 little farm shop, a train station and a very nice lake with a beach.
  The next towns are 10 minutes by car or 5 minutes by train (4€ single ticket), Hamburg is the closest city, it can be reached within 30 minutes by car or train (14€ day return ticket)
  Berlin, the capital of Germany, is 3 hours by train or bus (30€ for a return ticket).
  There's also the possibility of getting a monthly public transport ticket for your stay with half the costs covered by us. That ticket is valid for all public transport in whole Germany.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have a steady fiber internet connection. We also have plenty of sitting areas inside and outside for working on projects.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Between 4 to 6 hours a day

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