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Last replied
2 Jul 2025
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Description
+++please read carefully+++
Time for a new text. We have now been on the road with workaway for 5 years. We've had great people to meet, great helpers and have really made a difference. Lasting friendships and working relationships have developed. Marriages have been made. One or two couples found each other. With their own animals and without.
But we also had the others. The ones that didn't fit at all. So here's a checklist of the pros and cons. Find out if you would have the time of your life with us. Or it would be better to find another host. Please read it with a good dose of humour. And take it seriously. Down-to-earth flying. Heartily sober. It is self-explanatory.
Where: Oder Spree district, south-eastern suburbs of Berlin.
What: Animal care specialising in equines (donkeys and horses), also dogs, sheep and goats and parrots and…
When: Available immediately - open.
We are a small foundation with currently 5 employees.
6 dogs, 2 goats, 31 sheep, 5 donkeys, 25 horses, 9 parrots.
We live in a very rural area in the middle of a nature reserve. Forest, meadows, water. There is no public transport, which is why the first and most important basic requirement is a driving licence for at least one car. A moped driving licence would make the adventure of pulling a water wagon very sporty. I'll add it directly from experience 😉
I'm 48, female, live alone and live on the almost 5000 square metres of land I own with 2 houses and 3 caravan. There are always volunteers in it. The second house is currently being renovated. As the work is very intensive and I can only manage one big project per year financially, the "expansion" there is not expected to be completed in the foreseeable future. This year I'm installing a home power station with solar panels for 30,000 flakes. Everything else, such as wall paint and the like, will come bit by bit and bit by bit. We don't have to share the bed, but we do have to share the bathroom. And at least part of the kitchen. Because the water in the house next door has been turned off. This in turn is due to the waste water pipes, which are currently only installed on the 1st floor and would rather find their way into the wall than into the waste water. So nice rooms; with some compromises!
It is important for me to participate independently in life on the farm. No Drugs, even legally and
We have a daily schedule. Always. And we stick to it. Safety first! The two animal keepers take care of the animals' basic needs from Monday to Friday. The caretaker welds Schubcarmen's feet on and tightens wheelbarrows if a screw is loose. He also has the goats' fence-destroying mania well under control. The cleaning lady comes twice a week for full days and fights under tables and in corners to keep things clean. Depending on the weather, with one challenge or another.
The household is vegetarian. With a high vegan content. I don't buy meat for humans. However, the dogs are fed meat from a factory according to their needs. Of course, we have a landline, WiFi, printer, scanner and a line to the postman. In summer, the days are naturally long. In winter, they are dark and also really cold and sometimes wet outside. I only have a minor influence on the weather. It's German. And although we live in the sunniest region of Germany, we've had rain. Several times already. Great, because the pasture is growing. Otherwise, this is a sandbox. Dusty and dry. There are mosquitoes. Flies. Wasps. Hornets. Things that are directly related to nature. I also mention this from many years of experience of surprised moments with potential flatmates.
About me; I'm pragmatic through and through. Heartily sober. Down-to-earth and wild. And structured with my thoughts 12 steps in advance. Sometimes that's daft because you have to practise being in the moment. But it's great when it comes to looking after and catering for the 71 animals and 5 employees and the tax authoritiers. By the way, the employees all live in their own homes. I can rely on humour and initiative. I can't do manipulation and lethargy. Everything in between fits perfectly.
The message is nicely structured 😉 Then there are the pictures. Which also speak a language.
No whatts app. Call or messenger on the computer. Ahoy!
You have the best chance of having the best time of your life here:
You like to work in a structured way.
You are really committed to the animals.
You are on time, reliable and caring.
If you like to laugh. Preparing dinner for everyone 1-2 times a week is not an issue.
If you use our wifi and google translate to figure things out.
If you have a driving licence AND want to use it.
If you live community and don't do your thing alone.
If you don't wander around shopping aimlessly and buy a pack of chewing gum while we sort and store 2 huge shopping trolleys to feed everyone.
We bear responsibility. We are light but not light-hearted. We support each other in love.
House rules are implemented after reading them.
It can be so simple!
No drugs, Not even legal ones. Working with animals, especially escape animals, requires you to be quick in your head and quick in realisation. You are welcome to be slow in your free time. When working with animals, it is important to react quickly in the moment. By the way: Working FOR the animals counts for almost 90% of the jobs. Working WITH the animals the rest of the 10%. Because we love them. And are there for them. I hope I could make it clear to be honest and help us find a good desicion to go with or without you forward.
Please be an purebreed animal lover. We are here with and for the animals. This is a ministry to the animals.
Our minimum stay is 3 weeks. As I have this over all the time in our profile I tell it here again. Please find out why, while reading the whole profil again. In addition as this could not befound in the profile, 5 days a week. 5 hours a day. And definitly the weekend, because the employees are working monday to friday.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Charity Work
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Interests
Farming
Pets
Outdoor activities
Camping
Vegetarian or vegan
Animals
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
I speak fluent English and can practice the language. We have a small garden where you can learn a lot about botany. The care and training of animals is a learning area and of course the consolidation of skills in the craft area. We can learn a lot about veterinary medicine and animal physiotherapy is also practiced. Leeches and manual therapy as well as cold pulsed red light. The donkeays are in the training to walk outside and drive before a carriage. They are still young. And if anyone has joy just teach the annoing goat to not eat the neighbours flowers or drive a carriage. ;-)
Help
We have a foundation and are an approved animal shelter-like institution. This means we are the thing between animal shelter and last home. We care for animals with special needs, that can not be adopted asap. In addition, we would like to become a refuge for alternative housing and are largely self-sufficient in our care. Currently, an organic farm is attached. If you like digging in the ground there will always be something to do ;-) We need help with the maintenance of the property, the stables, fences and plants and with the renovation of an old community centre. We have a large driveway on which to stand campers and wish us animal-loving, technically gifted helpers who invest themselves in the heart project. The nature is wonderful around us and pure idyll. We live with dogs, sheep, goats and donkeys, close to 2 clear spring lakes at the southeastern edge of Berlin. --- I am here in this place to serve the animals. No one needs so many animals for themselves. But the animals need a good home or place to find themselves after bad treating. If you want to come here only to have a good time, please stay away. If you come here to serve the animals with me and have a great time, be very welcome. The furry residents come here first!!! Monday through Sunday. In sun, wind and rain or any circumstances. We are happy to walk without only self-oriented people who wanna have an advanture time. You can have the adventure of your life. But only if the furry family comes first. I added the last sentences after having some strange experiences with people. So thats why I say it that clear.
What we are looking for are people with the heart to care for a blind German Sheppard. Be his friend. Walk him all around. Sit beside him. Have contact. See the hills of pooh, take a fork and put it on the pooh trailer. See if there is water left. Clean the tank and fill it. Just take care of the souls in need. This all means; Not come for 5 days. Do something in any way and leave. Be here. With all you are. Ask questions. Learn about it. You need 1 week to be trained. And we hope min. 2 weeks to be a real help and a real friend for the animals. As longer as better! Stability for the animals before funny times. Give them the things they missed for so long time. I´m the stable everlasting contact. But my hands are only 2. My legs too. So walking 9 times a day dogs makes the time shorter for everyone of them. Spend quality time with them.
+++ If you need an invitation. Do not ask. We only support official entry routes. We will not encourage half-assed intentions to enter Germany. I'm writing this because I keep hearing about young men from faraway countries wanting to do their best work for many months for nothing. Just so they can be in Germany. That is not our approach. Many cultures are guests here. But there must be legal ways to enter. +++
+++ If you are a Berlin traveler, you need to know that the public transport ist very limited. It is not easy to go there without a car. As it is still near, we are really really and I mean really countryside. There is no train station near by. 10 km to drive with the car. Or the bus, if it is coming and driving in his plan. The bus is a bad lier. Never trust him. In the winter specially the daylight is precious. In the night nothing works. Here is no light. You can see the stars. Nothing. more. You can't buy cigarettes in our neighbourhood. If you accompany the weekly shopping trip, you can organise this. But nobody will drive you anywhere outside the plan. We also do not want people to smoke in the rooms. +++
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
Hebrew I wanna learn.
Accommodation
In the garden is a very small wooden house with a sofa bed. In the yard there are 3 caravans, one of them has a bunk bed and the seat can become a couch. One has a double bed. We have an old house beside. There is no wallpaper on the wall in our outbuilding, because we just tore it down in 2021. We have a new roof, new windos, new bath, new energy lines, only the wall and the bottom has to be renewed in the next months. Independently of that there are 3 super sofa beds with a little bit of construction site charm. Otherwise you can park your camper in the driveway and use everything with us. Adjacent there are 2 camping sites with fixed bungalows. There you could also accommodate people for a while at our expense. Our cottage has 2 rooms, kitchen and bathroom, running hot water but there is no WIFI and you have to have at least a driving licence, we have the second car. On the main yard there is WIFI for everyone and enough to do ;-)
What else ...
I am a believing Christian and would like to be prepared for economically strained times. A place of refuge. Self-sufficient with water, electricity and heating as well as vegetable food source. And space for community. The release of people into their calling is my heart. And, of course, the family members from the animal corner, who tend to be hairy. I have a giving heart and a stable income (unfortunately with limits), but we need a lot of effort until everything is finished and the ManPower is irreplaceable.The profile should be inviting. However, also sweeping when it clearly does not fit. We like and need it concrete. If you want to think about it first, or keeping appointments is not your thing, then scroll on. Reliability is essential in addition to an active mind when working with animals. A lazy head will never fit in with us. It is too dangerous and no fun at all. For none of us. That is why we prefer warm, open and hands on mentality people. You can learn many things. But you need to aggree before that you are willing to do that.
We have the last day in August 2023. I´m tired. telling all over, be carefull with ressources. Clean the used bathroom afterwards. Do not put food leftovers in the waste, we are using the compost, do not play we a horse or donkey as they are fleeing animals. Please be carefull with the blind dog, He still cannot see and you have to be his eyes on his walk. Please do not play on the mobile phone while leading a donkey. I´m done. This workaway year was so hard with different people. Some nice anyway, but as well those who not are caring for the sourounding. Only for themselves. Spoilt children who want to go on holiday and be served. Without respect for the house rules, privacy or the tasks here. This portal is called work away. Not holiday away. I will therefore adjust the number of volunteers significantly downwards: There will be no more than two at a time and I will take the liberty of being less lenient and simply kicking people out after multiple requests to respect the house rules. I am really slow to anger. But after this summer, just unspeakably tired. I don't feel comfortable in my own house anymore and I'm struggling with the community meals because I'm unspeakably tired of repeating everything 30 times a day. It's no fun that way. After Corona, a kind of tourism has developed that has no advantages for any of us. So either you really mean it, or you don't even ask. It saves us a lot of time and nerves. If it costs my peace, it's too expensive. Thank you
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have a stable 5G internetline and give the wifi Password to everyone from our workawayers. we have a full office at home with scanner, printer and anything esle.
Space for parking camper vans
We have a lot of space. But not all space is for Campers. We are using 3 parts with seperated areas for campers. Gave our energy cable outside and let them be with us in our bathrooms. Share water and living space. Because of 5 german shepards, 25 sheep, 2 goats and 6 donkeys we need to seperate the animals and if you have a camper we will find a place, do you have a camper and a dog, or 2, or 3, or... the place ist possible but not always free. Cats are not meaningful. The can be in a caravan car you are traveling. But not in our trailers. Because we cannot save them. the dogs are not fine with cats. We don't think traveling with cats is wise. They need their stable environment. Anything else is not appropriate for the species.
Can possibly accept pets
Dogs are mostly easy. The other place is mostly used by our fury Family members. But once we had a lady feeding young pigions and had there with her... so ask us. We prefer travelers without pets. But have already accommodated some. It is not possible to make a general statement. Because it depends on which housemates we just integrate into our family. Sometimes it would be just too much and stress pre-programmed. But we have taken responsibility for those who live here. And I don't want to put that at risk lightly. Safety first!
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Feedback (45)
I spent a month in this magical place where everywhere you turn there is a lake, a forest, or a ball of hay waiting to be rolled into a pasture😂
The time here is well balanced: there is work to do, and there you have to be fast, strong and responsible,… read more
It didn't take long for her to go out the door alone with the dogs. Even with discussions.… read more
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.8)
Cultural exchange:
(4.7)
Communication:
(4.5)
I spent a month in this magical place where everywhere you turn there is a lake, a forest, or a ball of hay waiting to be rolled into a pasture😂
The time here is well balanced: there is work to do, and there you have to be fast, strong and responsible,… read more
It didn't take long for her to go out the door alone with the dogs. Even with discussions.… read more
this was my first experience on workaway and in general it was my first experience on a farm. the balance is positive. I cleaned and fed the horses, donkeys, sheep and goats. taken wood from the forest. I walked with the… read more
The work was exhausting sometimes, nevertheless fulfilling day for day! The newborn lambs are really cute as well as the other sheep and Mütze, the goat, who were asking for cuddles and attention a lot. But be careful if you´re helping with the horses. They love… read more
Getting to cuddle with the animals and get hands-on was absolutely amazing.
Anke is such a powee-woman, and she truly values it when you contribute and think along with her.
Plus, her German Shepherds were next level adorable, especially Benny the blind one who occasionally bumped into me with his nose –… read more
To future volunteers, I hope that this feedback serves as an honest and (as far as possible) impartial way for the decision to collaborate with this project.
Regular work: at 7:30 am… read more
It was a very reliable, loving care for animals. The house rules were well followed and the understanding of the structure and plans developed. Long dog walking routes. Unfortunately, uncomfortable weather. Quite ahead when playing cards.… read more
I never tried taking care of animals before, I mean like the way Anke does, she is an inspiration always trated them in a different way and that will show… read more
Anke shares her home with everyone who wants to help, puts a lot of trust in you and due to her openness I felt at home very quickly.
I needed some days to adapt to the daily procedure, but once I did, the work made fun. In between I had less or more time to use for myself or to just cuddle… read more
I spent 2 months at Anke's place, 2 months I will never forget. It took me a little while to settle in and find my feet, but once I did, it was amazing. Anke has a huge heart for animals and you can see it in everything she does. I also learned so much from Jenny, how she takes care of the dogs, the donkeys, and the two… read more
Anke and Jenny both have so much compassion and care for their animals, which is really inspiring to see. Anke works really hard to help… read more
The work I did was really nice: We always started cleaning the donkeys' and goats' place (there is no better smell than shit in the morning). After that we had breakfast together. After breakfast we did what had to be done:… read more
The work is really ok and easy to learn and to do and you can feel that this place is experienced with volunteers. Most of the… read more
If you get to know animal whispererS, you have to go to the farm of Antje und Jenny, her second arm. It was amazing for me, to see, what is possible with ill-treated, neglected, tortured dogs and other animals, which often had suffered for years, getting sick or blind. Both women can really understand to communicate in a perfect way… read more
Anke, her team and all of the animals are really loving beings. Some of the animals aren't easy,… read more
The daily tasks were almost everyday the same, beginning with cleaning the animal area and stables followed by dog walks and cleaning. In the afternoon we also walked with the blind dog for 2 hours.
During the day we had a lot of breaks and freetime which i used to explore the forest and the village.
Anke is… read more
When you dedicate time and work here you are able to understad the passion of love that Anke put in this project, this motivate me to come back to this place and think about spend… read more
First of all, all the animals living there are wonderful and one gets to work with and cuddle them a lot! During my stay the focus was mainly on Beny the new blind german shepherd and we worked a lot on integrating him and just helping him to… read more
This was particularly evident in the animals, which were all friendly and… read more
village. In order to visit as many places as possible, we would recommend using bikes. You can either
bring your own (e.g. by train) or borrow some from Anke.
As we usually just worked until lunch, we had plenty of free time. Tasks included… read more
Two weeks of work in nature and with animals, staying in a very cosy hut in the middle of the garden where I watched the stars each night before falling asleep.
You can see it as an awesome little meditation routine when cleaning the stables in the… read more
I stayed with Anke for 1 week as my first experience as workawayer and It was wonderful. She is lovely personn and she shared a lot of stories with me. The work was fun and she was always trying to teach the best way to do it. It was really a retreat place where you can find… read more
we are pleased to present Amelie with a reference/certificate. Amelie reached us via the platform Workaway and organized a meeting at short notice. She reached us according to the arrangements. We welcomed Amelie in February 2020. During her presence she lived in the caravan, which she maintained independently.
We got to know… read more
