Live a simple traditional farmer's life in a rural countryside near Flen, Sweden

Details

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  Description

  Come and build up a forest garden and live on an old Swedish farm. We are at the start of it all, the first year since we got the farm! So this is a great time to learn how it is from the beginning
  
  We are a young couple (Märta and Niklas) living on a farm outside of Flen, Sweden. We are a friendly and open minded couple who likes to meet new people, we love learning and doing a lot of stuff together on the farm.
  Niklas is like the horse of the farm, always active planting trees or digging. He holds a primitive skills school where he teaches nature contact, community in the wild and earth skills. (Actually he spends quite some time on the computer each day doing admin work too).
  Märta loves to sing, tend the garden and do handcrafts such as hide tanning and painting, always looking for something creative to do. She also works outside the farm as a social worker.
  
  We are just starting up our farm so right now there is a lot of focus on:
  
  Forest help (cutting trees, pulling branches etc = physical)
  Gardening (digging holes, planting, harvesting, building fences, watering, picking weeds...)
  Building a house for our two cows.
  Preparing the ground for structures like greenhouse, volunteer huts, parking, etc.
  
  We are inspired to build the cow house, garden fences, etc in a traditional swedish way, and are keen to inspire volunteers from other countries and cultures how it has traditionally been made in our area.
  
  We have got 3 chickens and a rooster and two cows. They are all an old Swedish breed that are indigenous to the land here.
  The farm is both for growing foods/animals and forest gardering but it will also be a place for wilderness experiences, meditation courses and courses in crafts, once the infrastructure is finished for this.
  We have construction workers renovating the barn for this purpose, meanwhile you as a volunteer will help out with our own personal projects such as the garden, forest, animals etc.
  
  We value all skills related to gardening, building simple garden and animal structures (handling tools like hammer, saw, screwdriver, measuring, etc for the garden fences, cow shed etc), and physical endurance for forest help. If you have special skills in anything in particular, please let us know, as we can then plan the work for you according to skills and interest. Also please write to us if you have a car licence (valid in Sweden) and can drive with a trailer (not a requirement of course).
  We value work-efficiency and hope that we can provide the best environment for you to feel motivated and strong to work efficiently and joyfully during work hours and rest and enjoy during your free time to the fullest.
  
  You will be working on your own a lot, so it's definitely a plus if you travel together with a friend, as we cannot ensure that there will be other volunteers on the farm at the same time as you. Märta and Niklas will mostly be working on other things during the days, so you will be working on your own mostly. Same with social life, we are here and will meet you during the days but we will also be doing our project on our own.
  
  The days can look like this: in the morning we eat breakfast together, either you cook your own breakfast with the ingredients provided by us, or we provide cooked breakfast for you. During breakfast we have a morning meeting together where we go through the day.
  You work according to the plan and then we eat lunch together or serve you lunch or serve you the ingredients for cooking your own lunch. Then help continues and we eat dinner together, or separate, depening on the day. You will work 5 hours a day 5 days a week. We try to be with you some of the hours every day, as we want to engage with you, and spread the way we do things in our particular culture.
  
  We eat together at least one meal a day, it can even be two or three common meals. But this differs depending on how much outside work Märta or Niklas has to to. We would rather have you be prepared for a lot of solo time (and travel with a friend), even though we strive to be with you as much as we can and are very happy to get to know you!
  
  In the months of september an onwards, we are looking for someone to assist more in the household with cooking, cleaning, etc, as we will have a newborn to take care of. Please be aware of this if you apply for volunteering in september-december.
  
  In your free time, there is a beautiful troll-forest to explore, big and versatile with a rich wild-life (owls, deer, elk, wolfs (not dangerous), foxes, etc.). Old trees and moss and several different lakes to bathe in.
  Our own lake is a 2 minute walk away and it makes up the view from the farm. We have a wood-burned sauna situated near the houses, so not close to the lake, however still brings the rich nordic sauna experience.
  Because we are located in the countryside, the night sky is full of stars, which sets a magical tone to the farm. In rare cases you could even see the northern lights. It's nice to take one night and sleep outside under the bare sky.
  If you want to get a touch of civilization during your stay, there is a small village with a nice café and wifi a bike ride (8km) away, from which there is also a (rare) bus towards Katrineholm and Flen, a bigger city with stores, etc. (We have bikes you can borrow)
  
  You may also borrow our canoes and kayaks we have, and paddle the lakes in the area as you wish. We also have a small tiny sailing boat you can use on the small little lake, and practice sailing.
  
  It's a real joy to include volunteers from all over the world in our day-to-day life on the farm. We enjoy sharing our knowledge and skills. We are proud to share the Swedish culture and we are very interested in taking part of the culture that you bring. Maybe we will learn a word or phrase from each others' language! We hope that you will feel very welcome and at home when you come to our farm and that you enjoy all the things we and the nature have to offer.
  
  Sincerely, Märta and Niklas
  
  Distances:
  ca 120km from Stockholm Central (train Stockholm - Flen ca 1hour)
  13km from Flen (grocery stores, train station)
  7km from the nearest village with a lovely café. Accessible by bike (many up and down hills but a nice scenic route)
  7km from the nearest bus, which takes you to Katrineholm or Flen (grocery stores, train station).

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  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

  We hope to share a traditional way of living and doing things where we live mostly from what nature gives us. You will come in contact with the life of the Swedish country side, including bathing in the sauna, chopping wood, butchering animals, eating all parts of the animal, harvesting wild herbs and preserving them in a traditional way such as drying and canning, dealing with the elements and natural materials of soil, wood, etc. Possibilities to learn bushcraft skills such as making fire by friction, etc.
  
  Märta is a music lover and knows a lot of Swedish traditional folk songs. It would be a pleasure to share them with you to give a piece of our Swedish history and heritage that is spread by the songs, sung by every day people doing every day tasks throughout times, usually concerning farm life and nature.
  It would also be lovely if you have songs, music or something else to share from your culture. Maybe you want to teach us how to cook a meal from your home, or something else that you are skilled in. We are curious and would love to exchange cultural heritages!

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  Au Pair Help

  Further details can be found here

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  Help

  We think that the best help comes from a place of joy - the kind of activity that you naturally enjoy doing.
  
  Tasks on the farm can be selected to suit your personality, whether you are handy, like heavy activities or more soft and detailed jobs, are interested in food, gardening, etc.(even though some things might be more prioritized to do.
  
  We need help with all things relating to our farm;
  -Garden; picking weeds, watering, digging holes, planting trees and bushes.
  - easy tasks like hammering or screwing planks, etc.
  -painting, oiling, help with windows, fixing stuff etc.
  -Tending the household; doing dishes, cooking, cleaning.
  -Looking after the chickens; feeding, giving water, picking eggs.
  -Wood; chopping (by hand or a simple machine), stacking wood
  -Harvesting food; herbs, vegetables, fruits, wild herbs.
  -Food preservation; drying, canning/pressure cooking, butchering animals and chopping, boiling bone broth, etc.
  -Make parkinglots and fixing/maintaining the road
  
  We love to share our knowledge and also learn the knowledge you bring.
  This is a possibility to share your own skills and knowledge and to learn new skills and experience something you might have never experienced before.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Swedish: Fluent
  Danish: Beginner
  German: Beginner
  Swahili (Kiswahili): Beginner

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  Accommodation

  The accommodation is either a private or semi private space in the common house, or a simple guest room with two single beds, wall to wall with the chickens. You will become best friends with them :)
  Near the guest room is a simple outhouse (no regular toilet, but a dry toilet with bucket and sawdust).
  We also have a tipi if you want to live more wild, which is provided with a simple mattress on the ground and sheets, pillow, blanket.
  Showers can be made inside the big house or simply outside with the hose, the sauna or the lake.
  
  We provide all the food, sometimes we will cook and sometimes you will cook. This is agreed upon in advance. We eat together although you might be eating breakfast alone sometimes. We like eating from wild plants, the garden and also other food from the store that we buy.

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  What else ...

  You will be provided with a bicycle for making adventures, and we can give you a list of nearby restaurants and other things to see in the area.
  
  As with all situations and people, it takes time to get to know each other and get an impression.
  We appreciate reliability.

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  The last road is bulky and steep hills. No electricity to be plugged in.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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