Be part of our permaculture community project with syntropic agroforestry in southern Germany

Details

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  Description

  Hey nature lovers out there!
  
  *** Outlook for next season:
  Starting in February/March, we will get busy planting further rows on our syntropic agroforestry field!
  Please join us for some serious planting fun! There is nothing more satisfying than planting new life! 🤗 ***
  
  We are a community of people, who partially grew up together or found each other through travels and other joys of life - . The core of our group consists of:
  
  Lilly grew up on this farm, went away to the big city of Nuremberg with some stops living in Santa Cruz, CA and Bogotá, Colombia and lots of fun traveling time all around the globe, and finally decided to follow her roots back to the little countryside village "Kleinsendelbach". She studied Socio-economics and has now fully embraced the potential that syntropic farming can bring to feeding us while regenerating the planet. Her big passion is to create a sustainable and regenerative way of life through this type of farming and share it with others through her role in TERRA Network as teacher and consultant. Also she is acitivly involved in agriculturaly/feminist acitivism.
  
  Cori, a long term friend of Lillys and Leos, studied Geography in Bonn and recently just finished her studies to become a natural practitioner. Her vision to live in a sustainable way led her to fulfill one of her dreams: to co-found this place. Through the combination of her geography study-related knowledge and her medicinal knowledge she sees how the syntropic way of farming has the biggest potential not only to regenerate and heal land but also the people working the land.
  During some traveling time with Leo, they gained some wonderful workaway experience, which let us to invite you to our exciting project.
  
  Leo finally also became a full-time part of the project in 2024 after being closely involved with it since the beginning. She is Cori's all time best friend as well as Lilly's sister, which means she also grew up here alongside Lilly. Before moving back to the farm, Leo was living in Berlin for many years and spent a lot of her time traveling and exploring. She has a background in film, journalism, and culture/media management. You can often find her with a camera in her hands, as she is the one taking lots of pictures and filming all the time. She is also handling the project's social media channels. Apart from all topics syntropy and farmlife, she is very passionate about arts & culture, storytelling, queer feminism, long distance hiking and the outdoors.
  
  Moritz, Lilly's partner and veggie growing enthusiast is also occasionally part of the project as well as the mechanical and farming knowledge expert Georg, Lilly's and Leo's Dad. He knows how to fix every problem with almost zero money and quite inventive ideas.
  
  But now, let's get to the actual project:
  This is a family-owned farm dedicated to regenerative agriculture and building a future in harmony with nature. Our core focus is syntropic agroforestry—a forward-thinking farming method that mimics natural ecosystems to regenerate soil, increase biodiversity, and produce abundant food. Over the past several years, the farm has evolved into a hub for sustainable agriculture and regenerative living. Initially envisioned as a “permaculture paradise,” we spent years experimenting with field designs, compost strategies, and mixed cultivations. We also explored ways to integrate the farm with the broader community, running a donation-based veggie subscription for our “veggie friends” and hosting educational tours such as “Permaculture in the Veggie Garden” and school programs.
  In recent years, we’ve shifted our focus to syntropic farming. In 2022, we made significant progress by establishing a dense and diverse fruit and nut system on our main field as part of syntropic agroforestry workshops with Felipe Amato and the TERRA Network. The last years we have been expanding on that foundation, experimenting with annual syntropic vegetable systems to sustain both our farm and the weekly veggie program. This involves keeping on planting thousands of trees, shrubs, and bushes in complex systems to create 100% self-sustaining ecosystems.
  
  While the farm itself remains at the heart of what we do, this is also a place for connection, learning, and inspiration. In the past, we envisioned a community farm complete with a café, seminar spaces for creative and educational workshops, and even a small hostel. Although these aspects remain part of our dreams, our primary mission today is to heal the land, nurture sustainable practices, and create a space where people can work together and thrive.
  
  This is a space where volunteers can join us in meaningful hands-on work, where the focus lies on experiencing this way of living together through the daily work on the field. Whether you’re interested in regenerative farming, sustainable practices, or the joy of collaborating with others, this offers an opportunity to dig in, grow, and be part of something extraordinary.
  
  If you want to come stay with us, please write us a message including why you want to stay with us, what makes us a perfect fit for you and you a perfect fit for us - also a phone number would be helpful so that we can get in contact with you. It is very important to us to have people staying here who really want to be part of our project and with whom we can enjoy every day working in our own little paradise. :)
  
  Also please keep in mind that we are primarily looking for people who want to come stay with us for a longer time to really become part of our community. In our experience it is mutually more beneficial to stay here 1 month and longer to first learn the ropes and then apply the knowledge right away. This way our volunteers are also empowered to take on responsibility within our project!
  
  At the same time we are looking for people who fully want to immerse themselves in our farmlife and want to stay with us for multiple months/the whole season!
  
  If you want to find more info on our project, please visit our website - ask us for the link or come find us on instagram/facebook/youtube!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  One thing that all of your many volunteers who have stayed with us have in common: they all said that they learned so much here! First of all you will definitely learn how to grow and care for plants in an ecological, natural way using knowledge from all centuries and different methodologies, mostly permaculture/syntropic and be confronted with health aspects and preservation of veggies. Also, you can enjoy a tractor ride or two, learn the skills of ancient (who knows from which century) machines and tools that have been collecting dust here, creative solutions to practical problems and will experience using all your muscles everyday.
  Of course we are our own language exchange melting pot, since we also have some international friends staying over from time to time. If you want to dig into German language and culture, there are many opportunities awaiting you.
  Most importantly, we want you to experience living in accordance with nature and open-minded people who honor honest, non-violent and deep communication.

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  Help

  What Volunteers Will Be Doing
  Volunteers here will experience the rhythm of life on a syntropic farm, engaging in a wide variety of tasks depending on the season. Here’s what you can expect:
  • Early Spring (February/March): We kick off the season with preparatory soil work, pruning of woody species, planting trees, shrubs, and bushes for our syntropic agroforestry system. Volunteers will help prepare planting patches, work the soil, and sow seeds to set the foundation for the year ahead.
  • Late Spring (May): Our main (veggie) planting period begins, where we transplant seedlings to the fields. This includes delicate tasks such as pricking out seedlings, caring for baby plants, and maintaining the health of existing systems.
  • Summer (June–August): This is when the farm bursts with life! Volunteers will assist with tasks such as weeding, mulching, harvesting, and preparing vegetables for our weekly “veggie friends” program. You’ll also help with farm maintenance, building projects (like tomato houses and birdhouses), and caring for our chickens. Processing surplus produce for winter storage, such as making jams, sauces, and fermented goods, also becomes a fun focus.
  • Fall (September–November): As the season winds down, we return to planting new syntropic rows, including edible forest gardens and experimental timber systems. There’s plenty of harvesting and preserving during this time, ensuring that nothing goes to waste.
  Beyond these seasonal highlights, there are always small, creative tasks where you can contribute your unique skills—whether it’s building, crafting, or brainstorming ideas for new projects.
  Volunteering with us means working closely with the land, getting your hands dirty, and experiencing the satisfaction of seeing the systems you help nurture flourish. It’s an opportunity to learn, grow, and connect—with nature and with others who share your enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture.

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  The farmily lives in a 18th or 19th century (nobody knows exactly) farm house.
  We have a designated area in the veggie garden especially for our volunteers. We have two caravans which are situated right in our veggie garden together with a composting toilet and a rainwater shower/sink.
  This means that your accommodation will be as well close to nature and you should be open to this kind of living/stay. There are no heaters in the caravans and the wifi only works close to the house.
  There is a volunteer kitchen in one of the farm houses, that is fully equipped with a stove and cooking oven and all the cooking equipment that is needed to whip up all kinds of delicious dishes from our farm-grown produce. The kitchen is also where you can connect to the wifi.
  All in all, living with us is a very close-to-nature experience. We want to close cycles and promote a life in symbiosis with nature. Therefore, we only eat what we harvest here on our farm (we buy little things such as flour and oat milk from our neighboring farm/store).

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  What else ...

  Even though this is definitely a countryside location, we are just a 30 minute ride away from the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg, which offer many cultural and historical sites as well as some music venues and bars if that's your thing. On the other side we have the Franconian Switzerland, which is a climber's paradise with many nice hiking trails and the famous brewery track.
  
  The local transport brings you to us from either Nuremberg or Erlangen on an easy ride. The bus to the next village, that offers some grocery shopping leaves every 20 minutes just a short 3 minute walk away.

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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 very stable internet connection.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  There is space in our courtyard to park a campervan. However, it is not the biggest space.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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