Help build our barn and yoga studio in Urshult, southern Sweden

Details

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  Description

  Hej! Our names are Jan and Judith. We take care of our two kids and 8,3 hectares of beautiful lakeside forest ), in southern Sweden, and live in a house in the nearby village Urshult.
  
  We mainly ask for help with construction and forestry projects. Occasionally, we ask for a hand in the garden, the household or with the kids, depending on your talents and interests.
  
  Jan is a professional carpenter and engineer who loves to work with wood and is happiest when he is building things. During the construction phase, he is the one doing most of the work in the forest.
  
  Judith is a yoga and breathwork teacher who loves to facilitate workshops and retreats to see people flourish. She is currently building her local practice while also overviewing the development of our idealistic project and managing our PR.
  
  We have two children (born 2018 and 2023) and so you'll get to experience some of our busy family life as well. If you don't like kids, we might not be the place for you. If you do, all the better!
  
  The forest was originally planted for the harvest of wood, but has not been maintained since. We are protecting and rewilding it, restoring original vegetation while creating a place for humans and wildlife to thrive.
  
  We aim for our forest to be a place where people come to connect to nature and find peace within themselves. We support that by offering outdoor activities, yoga, breathwork, ice baths, campfires (in our sitting pit), wilderness canoe trips, and more. As a volunteer, you are very welcome to join these activities.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Babysitting and creative play

  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

  Jan is from Germany, Judith is from The Netherlands and together we came to live in Sweden. We are very curious and open minded and we love sharing about just about anything.
  
  Jan can teach you all about carpentry. He has some serious skills and knowledge and is always learning new things as well. He is great at improvising and still likes to work very decently, so if you want to learn how to work 'vernünftig' he's your guy.
  
  Judith loves to share (teach and learn) about wild edible or medicinal plants, yoga and breathwork. I can gladly offer you some one on one time to help release emotional bagage and free up a healthy energy flow in a personal breath session, or help you create a personal yoga practice that suits your needs. You are also welcome to join my yoga classes if there are unfilled spots.
  
  Judith has been a very active Couchsurfer, mostly hosting, sometimes visiting, in her years in Utrecht (NL). Look me up if you're on CouchSurfing as well! My profile name there is Juuth. Read the references there to get an impression of me until we have more experience here on Workaway.

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  Projects involving children

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

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  Help

  In 2024-2025, we need help with:
  
  - The construction of the round yoga stuga (wooden yurt-like structure with round roof window) in our garden in Urshult.
  - Forestry work such as creating pathways, collecting branches and mulching to prepare the ground for our food forest,
  - Painting our veranda,
  - Occasional household and gardening tasks such as folding clean laundry and mowing the lawn,
  - Spending time with the kids.
  
  We ask for 5 hours of work per day, generally weekday mornings until mid-afternoon, but times may vary a bit.
  
  We offer full (basic) accommodation, a nordic forest and (swimming) lake at walking distance, vegetarian/vegan-friendly food, cooking facility and often shared meals.
  
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  Some projects we have in mind for the coming years (2025 and onwards), are:
  
  - The construction of our lakeside 'temple', an 80 m2 round structure made from wood.
  - Finishing the construction of our barn.
  - Building our sitting pit on 'base camp'.
  - Building composting toilets and outdoor rain showers.
  - Cutting smaller trees to open up the view from the temple on to the lake.
  - Creating a syntropic food forest for community, harvesting and educational purposes.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Swedish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We can teach Dutch and German (native) and English (non-native) and are eager to improve our own skills in Swedish, which we are still learning.
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  Accommodation

  We have several types of accommodation for our helpers:
  
  - a room in our house in Urshult village (15 mins drive from our forest), or
  - a wilderness tent space, caravan or tiny house in the forest.
  
  Where you will stay depends on several factors, such as your preference, our planning, current occupancy and the tasks you are dedicated to. We love sharing meals and getting to know you and your background!
  
  The ROOM in our house is in the village of Urshult, in a little neighborhood on the hill between forest and lake Åsnen. It is a nice little 'hotel room' with a window, a bed, a desk and chair and an open shelf closet, on the ground floor. Here, you can enjoy our homestead garden, do groceries, take a hike in the nearby forest or swim in lake Åsnen. Forest and lake are both only 150m away.
  
  The TINY HOUSE and CARAVAN are in our own forest, 15 mins drive from our main house. The tiny house has heating and is pretty luxurious. The caravan is an oldie but we love it and it has a big bed/dinner table, a kitchen block and a small bed/table. Both are located only 100 meters from the lake where you can swim, ice dip or even ice skate, depending on the season.
  
  If you prefer to make your own camp and sleep in your own TENT, you are welcome to.
  
  We have certain rules and good habits around soap, cleaning materials etc. For example, we will provide you with a body soap which can be used in nature (not in open water) as well as cleaning agents, and explain the composting toilets to you, and we ask that you use these materials in order to protect nature. If you want to use anything else, please talk with us first!
  
  There is no running water on the land yet. We do have electricity. We provide you with drinking water. You can shower and do laundry at our house in Urshult.

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  What else ...

  We eat mostly vegetarian, often vegan, and sometimes fish. We don't (Judith) or hardly (Jan) drink alcohol. We love to play guitar by a fire, enjoy some good conversation, enjoy the garden, sit on the veranda (or soon in the forest: in our sitting pit). We are good-spirited, open-minded, warm-hearted people and invite you to come as you are. We are a family with young children and especially in and around our house things may get busy, messy and loud.
  
  Please no smoking in and around our house and accommodations or in the vicinity of our kids.
  
  We are located right by the wonderful natural reserve called Åsnen and some beautiful places to see are Lunnabacken / Kurrebo and the famous Oldsmobile graveyard 'bilkyrkogården'. For more information, ask us for the links. The whole area is beatiful with many lakes, hills, mossy rocks, lots of forest and countless stugor (typical Swedish red/colored houses). We are happy to take you with us on canoe tours, bring you to beautiful starting points for your hike, bring you to a bus station if you want to do a city trip, etc. You can bring your bike or possibly borrow one from us. We can offer car rides to and from the forest, our house in Urshult, and the larger nearby village Tingsryd, and bus stations.

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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

  In our house in Urshult we have a decent WiFi connection. We do ask you use technology mostly in your room and sparingly around the kids. We love that they grow up with nature, not screens.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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