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Farming, teaching and enjoying life on a DIY farm project south of Graz, Austria

  • Favourited 1206 times
  • Last activity: 15 Apr 2024

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: at least 2 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    If you can´t travel the world, invite the world to your home!

    We - that is my husband Niko and me - worked in the field of democratic citizenship education in Vienna when we decided to make a dream come true and move to a farm in the South of Austria.

    Food sovereignity, agriculture for biodiversity and the philosophy of the good life are the bigger ideas that fuel and inspire our daily work.
    Since 2012 we are now trying to establish not only selfsustainment - we have a garden, forest, sheep and chickens - but also an educational project we call the DIY-Farm: We offer and plan to offer different Workshops ranging from hands-on-topics like cheesemaking, leatherstitching, processing of fruits, vegetables and herbs, building and constructing to more philosophical seminars like Eating Meat, Religious Atheism and Lifestyle, Mass Production of Food etc.

    After a couple of years of learning, finding our mission - ah, yes, and raising kids, our daughters were born 2014 and 2019 ;o) - things now start turning out the way we wanted it: our Workshops get great feedback, we gathered quite some routine in farming, gardening and hosting and we wouldn´t want to miss friends, neighbours and colleagues we have got to known to here.
    And still there´s always a project running we need help with, like a tree house for the kids, a new chicken fence, a community garden, renovating the house, building a guesthut to rent... And Niko earns part of our money off the farm, as a coach and in politics.

    Nontheless we try to take enough time to enjoy the pleasures of a self-determined countryside-life - having helpers over from all over the world and discussing life, love, food/cuisine, and politics with them is one of those pleasures.

    We are now hosting since 10 years and gathered quite some experience about what is the best solution for us as family and farmers. We realized that we prefer long-term-stays of 3 weeks and more. It gives us, including our daughters, and workawayers the chance to get to know to each other and to establish a common routine that allows us and guests to plan ahead according to everybodys needs and thus realize bigger projects and have free days also off the farm. However, sometimes we might need more helping hands for a shorter period, so in any case, don´t hesitate to contact us!

    Watch the photos to get an impression of the beautyful scenery!

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Farmstay help
    Babysitting and creative play
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
    Help with Computers/ Internet
  • UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN goals
    No poverty
    Zero hunger
    Good health and well-being
    Quality education
    Gender equality
    Clean water and sanitation
    Affordable and clean energy
    Decent work and economic growth
    Industries, innovation and infrastructure
    Reduce inequality
    Sustainable cities and communities
    Responsible consumption and production
    Climate action
    Life below water
    Life on land
    Peace, justice and strong institutions
    Partnerships for the goals
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    We offer helpers accomodation in our house, so you would live with us and share our every-day-life, which is farm-work, child raising, cooking and household (Isabella is an excellent cook, especially but not only on austrian dishes, including vegetarian and vegan cuisine and dishes with meat).

    We also provide bikes and a scooter if you want to explore the surroundings. If you stay long enough and there is time, we love to show people around the area, e.g. taking them to the nearby organic chocolate factory, panoramic view points, lakes etc.

    Apart from that travellers will be part of establishing our DIY-Farm-Project, which includes selfsustainment (we try to have our own fruits and vegetables, we eat the eggs and meat of our chickens and use the milk and meat of our sheep).

    We have friends and familiy over on a regular basis and we also are part of a local, if yet loose selfsustainment-network, so you could meet quite a lot of people while staying with us.

  • Projects involving children

    Projects involving children

    This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

  • Help

    Help

    The exact tasks change with the projects we deal with at a given moment, but generally we may expect from you:

    - feeding/watering the sheep and chickens (sometimes including bottlefeeding lambs)
    - gardening and work on the fields (including sowing, weeding, harvesting and processing crops, hay harvest)
    - woodwork (we heat with wood and get it out of our own forest)
    - building and constructing
    - babysitting, sometimes household-tasks like laundry, cooking, shopping...
    - depending on our schedule (appointments off the farm) there will be days where Workawayers would be responsible for the daily farm work all alone


    As parents and farmers who do all the back-office-work themselves our days are often rather full. That means you should be prepared to often, yet not all the time, work independently. If you are travelling alone that might mean that on some days you spend the working hours all on your own, unless we host another workawayer at the same time. That depends on requests and if we think that workawayers would be a good match. We have great experiences with any kind of arrangement: some people enjoy being the only workawayer at a time, others prefer more company. If you want to know before you come here what to expect, please feel free to ask!

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    German: Fluent
    English: Fluent
    Spanish: Fluent
    French: Fluent
    Russian: Beginner

    This host offers a language exchange
    This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
    You can contact them directly for more information.

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    We have a spacious room which is very suitable for couples/friends or even families but also for sharing with other workawayers. We and our guests share a kitchen and bathroom. We provide at least one common meal a day and free access to food and drinks whenever you´re hungry.

    Regarding meat in meals, we usually try to eat only our own meat (lamb and chicken), other meat (including ham, salami and that stuff) we just buy once in a while. So be prepared to have more vegetarian dishes than ones with meat! (And don´t worry, also the vegetarian dishes are made to nourish you to be able to do physical work :o)

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    We are a bit far off the village (3 km - so still within walking distance), and as mentioned, we have bikes and a scooter, and it should never be a problem to take you to the village by car. There is a public bus to Graz (capital of Steiermark) several times a day - Graz is not only a city worth visiting, but also has a railwaystation and airport with trains/planes taking you to other places in Austria as well as to international destinations.

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    This host can provide space for campervans.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Host ref number: 387312615877

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