Active skill exchange & turning a tiny farm from junkyard into paradise in southernmost Sweden

Details

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  Description

  When you see a perfect photo of a beautiful enviroment, it's probably taken here :) ... except for our mini farm though :( At least so far. We're about to change that now )
  
  But before anything else: we would LOVE to see you LOVE being here :)
  
  
  -----WHAT WE OFFER-----
  
  - No dorms. You have a room for yourself or with your companion - unless you _want_ to sleep in a dorm of course.
  - Lending out our cars, motorcycles, bicycles, electric bicycles - whenever they are serviced.
  - Taking you out on pic-nics, events, creating some music together perhaps.
  - Giving you other experiences above the ordinary like painting or carpentry, be it in field
  of housewife such as food cooking etc, chocolate tasting and praline making (yes, I have been a chocolatier), sewing,
  of farmlife such as basketry, cultivating, animal husbandry (chicken, rabbits) and more,
  of handyman such as basic plumbing, electricity, car service, tree felling etc, reversing with trailer (yes, veeery usable :)
  
  While some skills of ours are professional, others are only on a more daily used level but non the less valuable.
  In time though we hope to have gathered so much knowledge from WorkAwayers too in our turn so we eventually will be a formal knowledge hub.
  
  We will also in general try to create an as enjoyable stay for you as we can think of - or as you can suggest to us.
  
  
  -----WHAT WE WISH FROM YOU-----
  
  * EDUCATE US!!! *
  Yes, we would actually LOVE TO LEARN FROM YOU TOO. Knowledge is a big thing for us here and if it is sufficiently interesting or requested by us, that might be what we want you to do instead of pushing lawn mowers or other more simple tasks.
  
  So what education or skill do you have that you can pass on to us?
  
  Any experience in microscopy to share?
  Skilled in car/truck engine repairing? Fine carpentry? Blacksmithing? Chemistry? Electronics? Fysics? Biology?
  Any knowledge in field-/traumasurgery? (yeah, why not? We intend to sail over oceans a year or two from now so you may just save our lives by this :)
  Do you understand financial ratios and company evaluations? Or can you 'at least' train us in bookkeeping/accounting?
  
  Together we will try to cover your great knowledge and transform it from academic expressions to something that even a child (like us :) can grasp and be excited about. But that transformation may rather be a job for me, so no worries. I will just ask you what I don't understand and as long as you stand my many questions - once again, like from a child - then everything will be just fine :) We'll see how it works and how to develop this systematically.
  
  Or do you have some odd and in best case useful interest like ... dunno ... knife throwing? Creating a sound with your mouth of opening a bottle of beer? Just surprise us with the unimaginable, even unnecessary or ridiculous :)
  Things like that may however rather be subject for our leisure activities (Lawnmower! Here he/she comes :). We just wanna encourage you to bring it on.
  
  * CONSTRUCTING, PAINTING *
  We have a tiny farm of 1+ hectare, consisting of a living house from 1930 something, a stable from 19'th century and some other buildings of which one third have collapsed and the rest is in need of a "whole lotta love".
  
  * PICKING LITTER *
  The surroundings are absolutly charming, only spoiled by our farm which - still after 6 years of ownership - is littered with fallen house parts, some vehicles and alot of other crap - more or less useful. This is one of many things we aim to handle this year. We simply want to move it from this junkyard towards the paradise it deserves to be.
  
  * FIXING VEHICLES *
  Since the vehicles (crane truck, excavator and much more) will be of good use in this endeavour, it should be easy to understand why a mechanic to fix them is of highest interest right now.
  Also less demanding tasks like cleaning and painting them is something to do.
  And giving service to all the things you yourselves will use - bikes, mc, cars - is on the list.
  
  * ENVIROMENTAL PROJECTS: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES & POLLUTION ISSUES *
  Who can possibly not be not stressed by the enviromental mess we have created?
  We did convert a petrol car to ethanol over 20 years ago but have forgot how to do it now.
  We drive some vehicle on biogas.
  We have begun our path to run diesel engines on used fry oil and did last year collect a huge batch and bought an old separator, to be tested and used.
  We have so many plans, be it solar projects (not electrical sun panels but the more effective and simple vacuum heaters combined with turbines for electricity that way), production of biogas (fermentation), hydrogen, a pond for natural sewage of 'gray water', and what not.
  
  What of all this is reasonable to manage at this year?
  Well, at least fermentation (if you are a biologist) and sewage (if someone can fix our excavator). We'll see. Sooner or later though ...
  
  * ORGANIC CULTIVATING & ANIMAL HUSBANDRY *
  We grow different organic vegetables, have a growing amount of fruit trees.
  
  But we also embrace the way our ancestors lived and survived and the way nature works, so we eat meat for sure.
  Therefore we are about to once again get chicken as we've had before, as well as rabbits. But to be clear: at this moment of writing the info here, we only have a cute scared cat. This info will be changed the second we get the chickens and rabbits her, I promise :) Although we would love to even have our own cow to get milk from, we are far far from there yet. However, we do get our milk directly from a cow anyway at a farm close to here - unprocessed creamy yummy yummy :)
  
  * HELPING OUT WITH OUR WATER MACHINE? *
  We actually have an old machine for water development (the green machine on one of the pics). Don’t know the english name for it but it’s not a modern compressor driller, that's for sure. Rather something with a wire which bumps a rod up and down like two times per second. Obviously antique and crazily violent haha.. but not necesarily obsolete. It is said to be 10 times as energy efficient as a modern one (but then again also probably 30 times as slow :). Electric, though. It's our hope and plan to work with it during 2024 (cross our fingers - the ones we have left after dealing with this crazy machine :).
  
  This is an old place. The dug well is since long dry so we fetch municipal water from another place in a 1 cbm IBC-tank for the dishwasher and laundry while we normally take showers at a sports area some distance away. We will in time make a primitive shower here though and fetch a full IBC every second day - maybe even before you get here. But please be aware that it is a bit primitive here compared to at other hosts. Despite this you will probably not lack anything. We simply have managed facilities in nother ways. We think it is actually interesting and quite humbling too to figure out simple solutions to lack of the ordinary luxuries we surround ourselves with. Aren't we somewhat spoiled? Living here is some kind of a reality check. We talk about a cleaner world, but are we willing to make som saccrifices?
  
  Oh yeah, you may wonder how you can be offered a toilet if we have no normal water supply?
  Well, we use dry toilets with urine separation. Odourfree and just perfectly natural. Even when we eventually get water here, we will never agree on using fresh drinkable water anyway for transporting toilet waste to some distant place where it will be mixed with poisoned water from the industry and by so, not be useful as fertilizer in agriculture but only become a contamination somewhere else.
  
  Sure, we do intend to develop our own smoothly working biogas chamber as mentioned above, which will be an even better solution than todays. When so, we will obviously need water for the process, it's true. But it can be water from the dishwasher, shower etc., leaving a usable fertilizer in short time.
  
  * WHAT MORE? *
  There's probably always something to do if you feel for it. If not (because sometimes there isn't): perfect. We don't want you to work yourself to death. Take a ride, relax, play, sleep. Surely you have your own ideas on that.
  
  Oh, and btw: don't expect us to have control over how many hours you work. You must help us if you find that your working time exceeds the four five hours suggested. We have no intention to create a Gulag here.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Well, whatever culture we may have, we gladly share it. Perhaps old buildings (houses) is the most prominent and obvious one, and otherwise food perhaps? ... famous Swedish dishes like erm... pizza? Sushi? No no, as a matter of fact Sara is an educated chef and loves to cook. I on the other hand suck at cooking, I'm a cook sucker 'doh'
  What more ... music perhaps. We'll see what possibly could be called local culture in the todays world.
  
  What you could learn though - above painting and carpentry, which you already may have some experience of from other places - is skills we ourselves possess more or less: cooking, making bonbons (yes, Sara's a chocolatier too), basic electricity, plumbing, reversing with trailer, basic welding, playing piano ... you name it. What do you wanna test? Driving a car (if you don't have a license or if you have but need more practice)? Shooting bow? A real rifle? You name it and we'll see what we can do.

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  Help

  Depending on what you can:
  sharing your knowledge - be it chemistry, microscopy, economy, or whatever you can teach us,
  repairing vehicles,
  washing and painting vehicles,
  painting, carpentry (on house, barn house, chicken coop, rabbit hutch)
  farming,
  general help around the house,
  or even gathering information (like a secretary or investigator or what ever),
  go shopping.
  Whatever you can, tell us and we'll see if we can use it in some way.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Swedish: Fluent
  English: Intermediate
  German: Beginner
  Spanish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We are absolutely open to teach you Swedish in case you have interest in learning it. We believe we can coarsly polish your Swedish language with one or two tweeks that will improve your pronounciation and formulation skills 50% in a strike. If we would take some lessons ourselves, we would prefere the big languages; like Spanish and German (because we have already started it), Frensch (because it is beautiful and surprisingly widely spread, not at least in Africa where we do have some contacts), Japanese (because of its interesting culture and we will likely go there. Sailing - remember?), Arabic (because ...? Dunno). It's only so much space in our limited brains, so the big languages are what we have to stick to.
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  Accommodation

  Private room. Of course bed linnen is included.

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  What else ...

  We have been travelling ourselves for 5 sequent months some years ago and by so we know at least how _we_ would like it would we be travelling again.
  
  We eat meat here. That said, we try to manage the main meals with as much respect to your desire and need as possible, and serve them in the kitchen or - if sufficiently many here at the same time - in the living room where we can put a microwave owen, kettle, coffee, fridge to store whatever beverages, sandwiches, snacks etc you may wish to enjoy in the time between served breakfast and dinner (and lunch too when required).
  
  We are easygoing but far from socially needy in any way; we too need some time of our own just as we think you do every now and then.
  As a matter of fact: it may quite often happen that there is nothing to work with here. If you are a person who gets frustrated over that and have a need to be occupied (and you can't do it yourself by reading a book, playing a musical instrument or what not), then maybe this place isn't the best choice for you. Even we ourselves may feel stressed if you are on your toes and we don't have any work to offer. So hopefully you will be as alright with or without job (but of course, when we do have job, we expect your jolly participation :)
  
  We think that your main reason for comming here is to enjoy a paradisiacal rural enviroment, rather than big town experiences. This is the absolute country side. The closest 'town' is Kristianstad with some 40 000 inhabitants, 15 km from here. Malmö, 10 times more poulated, is 70 km from here. However, there are beautiful small towns along the east-coast to visit with low tiny houses and roses climbing up the walls. Not to mention the billowy landscape right here as may be seen on some of the pics. And all the differently coloured sunsets. Priceless in our minds.
  
  Internet is very slow here. We have no fiber and thus we use mobile card. We are talking 3-9 mbit/sec - with one user online!! By using your own phone, you can at least be guarranteed this lousy speed. It is possible to see YouTube content though.
  
  
  Regarding hosting a family: it may absolutely be possible _if_ you have a very interesting skill to offer (primarily car/truck mechanic and/or chemist/microscopist as a starter). But contact us and we'll see.
  
  
  
  And finally some matters for convenience of both parties:
  
  Smoking:
  E-cigarettes we can stand, but we are 100% anti real cigarettes, so we actually cannot invite smokers at all, not even smokers promising to only smoke 'somewhere else'. Sorry to say but it never works.
  
  
  Opinions and discussions
  Nature leads us. Therefore regarding
  
  Meat:
  We - once again - eat meat. Not as much because we are used to it as because it is how our ancesters have done it and it has been a part of mankinds food for ever. We think everyone should realize the fragile society we live in and the necessity to ensure you can survive when shtf. There are other reasons as well. So despite some meaningful arguments against meet as food, the pros are heavier and thus we fully embrace this way of eating and honour the art of farming, preserving and preparing meat. This is how nature works; not only mankind eats other species - most other animals do. We have heard all arguments. We feel no need to discuss the subject anymore.
  
  Feminism:
  There is no one-style-fits-all. Especially (but not only) when it comes to how people want to live their relations, it is a matter of personal choice, not a matter of 'democracy'. The antithesis of feminism isn't oppression or misogyny.
  We oppose to what happens today with victimhood, offencehood, me too, not to mention this new insanity where guys (at least those on the lower 90% on the attractiveness scale) at gyms, who glances at females, get filmed in and hanged out on internet. Totally unacceptable. We feel no need to discuss the subject anymore.
  
  
  Other subjects:
  In case you have unscientific or rare philosophies or opinions, at least expect them to be disputed. And in case you can't defend or explain an opinion of yours, you are expected to admit that (just as we will if we are in a comparing situation) as is common in the academic world, as opposed to grumbling silently, leaving in anger or continue to stubbornly argue what already has proven not to hold the first time(s). There's simply no space for alternative 'facts', foil hat mentality etc. It's under our capacity.
  A discussion is not a matter of who comes up first with the truth (or 'the so far most reasonable to believe'-truth) but to really find the truth/best/most reasonable.

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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

  If you have a camper, we can surely find a good spot with a nice view for you.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Likely not more than 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. But we try to adapt to the weather and other circumstances. If it's sunny and hot, surely we prefere go swimming instead of working.

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