Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
1 Apr 2024
Reply rate
85.3 %
Usually responds within 6 days
Feedback
4
Email verified
Details
Description
Hello lovelies! We are Sara (31 - oops - 32 now) and Luka (37) and we own a small farm in a very rural setting in eastern Slovenia. We've hosted our first volunteers this year and loved the experience, so we're looking for volunteers to join us this spring & summer to help us with the horses, farm maintenance and renovations.
From our initial experience with volunteers we've learned that we prefer volunteers to stay a longer time and we're ideally looking for 1-2 people to spend the whole summer (2 months or more) here. That way we can get to know each other better, work on your horsemanship skills (if interested) and really get immersed in our wonderful local community.
We have a herd of 4 horses and an old farm that we've been renovating with the vision of turning it into a rural community/youth center. There's an old barn that we're turning into a tiny indoor riding arena & a common space where young people can hang out in their free time, a few guest rooms in the house & a lot of overgrown land that wants to become a permacultural garden, and then some more land that's been waiting to become a track system for the ponies.
Our family also consists of two cats and two dogs, and there are always super-friendly locals coming for a visit and a cup of coffee - so it's a quiet space, but full of animals and a sense of community.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
In exchange, you get your own room, food, access to a car, the possibility to learn horsemanship skills - or just spend time with our wonderful herd - and the chance to be a part of a very rural, welcoming community surrounded by nature (and animals - our animals love to smother volunteers with love 😍). We'd love to eat some meals per week together and we don't mind catering to different food preferences.
Horsey experience is not necessary as our herd is quite low-maintenance, but we learned from the experience with volunteers so far that we don't always have a lot of time to teach you the basics of riding and working with horses if that's your goal. If you're comfortable around horses, you're welcome to go on rides in the forest on your own or with the local volunteers and to play/train with the horses on a daily basis. For pony nerds, I'm fascinated by approaches such as Centered Riding, Academic Art of Riding, building a paddock paradise, and our horses go barefoot and bitless.
Help
Your main tasks would be taking care of the horses (poop-picking, weekly training if you have experience with horses) and helping out with various renovation & gardening tasks around the farm depending on your skills and wishes (there's guest rooms that need painting, clearing out forest undergrowth, help with barn renovations, natural building, tree planting, fencing, a permacultural garden, etc).
We've four horses who live freely on about a hectare of land and the poop-picking is max. 1h/day, and the rest of the time is spent on various projects around the farm. It's physical work, but not overly hard.
We also appreciate you cocreating the living space together with us and sharing cooking and housekeeping duties.
If you have skills that would be interesting to the local young people and community, we'd be happy to organise events and workshops together as well! :) We've just organised an 'English tea party' with our UK volunteers for the local community and it was a blast.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Slovenian: Fluent
French: Beginner
Dutch: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
The local kids & teens are always happy to practice their English with our volunteers and they'd be happy to teach you Slovenian in exchange!
Accommodation
We have three guest rooms and you'd have your own room. We've just renovated them with natural materials (wood, straw, clay) and they're lovely, and we share the common space together (kitchen, living room).
What else ...
You're welcome to use one of our cars in your free time - we're close to Hungary, Austria and Croatia, and we live in a beautiful wine region full of little charming places to see.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
There's optic internet on the farm and volunteers have their own room, which offers enough privacy to work. The working hours are totally flexible and can be adjusted to your other responsibilities.
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
We have two dogs on site and they're part of our family. Dogs are welcome as long as they get along with other dogs, children and strangers.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (2)
The work was fairly basic but gave us a great opportunity to visit an area of rural Slovenia that would otherwise be unknown to us. It was… read more
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
The work was fairly basic but gave us a great opportunity to visit an area of rural Slovenia that would otherwise be unknown to us. It was… read more
