Self-sufficient organic smallholding near Lillehammer, Norway

Details

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  Description

  Do you want to help us on our self- sufficient farm? We are a family of four: Dan (40, from Norway) and Hanna (31, from England), Embla (6), Arva (3).
  We live on our old farm in south Gudbrandsdalen, in the east of Norway, on a steep hillside with a wonderful view of the valley, all the way down to Lillehammer.
  Our goal is to be self-sufficient, and for us that means producing as much of our own food and basic needs as possible, living simply, and working hard. We have chosen to run the farm without modern machinery like tractors, because we prefer peace and quiet, and contact with the land. We are both motivated by the urgency of finding sustainable ways of living on this planet, and living a healthy and fulfilling life. For us, this involves exploring the ways in which people used to live self-sufficiently and close to the land.
  
  Hanna is concerned with finding a way of living that works with nature, rather than against it, and being responsible stewards of the land; thoughtful use of resources; care for the soil and biodiversity; creating rather than destroying. In addition to this Dan is very interested in the pre-industrial Norwegian farming culture, and so wants to do as much farm work in the old Norwegian way as he can, in order to understand the old culture better and to keep the traditions alive.
  
  We are looking for people who enjoy physical tasks, are interested in learning about self-sufficiency/ traditional farming/ food production/ organic farming/ low-impact living. We are open for both short and long visits (minimum 3 weeks in the summer, one week in the winter).
  
  Right now we have chickens (Hedemora); a working horse (Haukjon, fjording), five sheep (villsau) and a cat. Our farm isn't certified organic (because we don't sell food) but we farm organically, keeping in mind the health of the soil and the wider environment.
  
  We grow our own grain, vegetables, eggs and meat.
  
  We don't want to host smokers. There are many reasons for this. Basically we see smoking as a destructive act, towards all life on this planet. We respect a wide range of personal views and ideas, but believing in conspiracy theories like holocaust denial, 9/11 as an inside job, flat earth theory and chemtrails are too extreme for us so we recommend that followers of such theories find another farm. Because of the current climate crisis we would prefer volunteers that choose not to fly here.
  
  To help us you have to have good English skills. Our experience with having people that speak poor English is that there are a lot of misunderstandings and a lot of extra time spent explaining things. It's also difficult to have good conversations and dicussions and just smalltalking all the time is not our thing. This is not the right farm to improve your English or Norwegian unless it's already on a good level on arrival.
  
  We usually have several volunteers in the spring, summer and fall, and have only one or two in the winter.
  This is a farm based on little machinery, most tasks are done by man and horsepower. We have chosen to do things in this way because we find life more enjoyable without unnessecary technology, and more satisfying to work with our own bodies, than rely on machines. This means that it's important that you are reasonably fit and are ready to help out hard physically. We take it for granted that you will treat this opportunity as seriously as any other, including paid opportunities. It's very important that our volunteers are top motivated no matter what assigment they are given. For those who want a more relaxed workaway- stay there are better suited places than this. We have experienced that very sociable people struggle if they are the only volunteer, so if you have such needs please make sure that you come at a time when we have several people here.
  
  Since there are a lot of volunteers that don't read the host presentation, we would like you to write the word "Allfadr" in your private message/host request to us. In your request we want you to tell us about yourself and why you want to come to our farm.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  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

  Staying at our farm you have the opportunity to experience how it is to live from the land, and what it takes to be self-sufficient. We consider our farm unique in that we do not use modern machinery to help us with food production, choosing instead to do things by hand or use our working horse, and at the same time manage to produce most of our own food. You will also learn many specific tasks, e.g splitting wood, planting vegetables, haymaking, cutting grain by hand. The things we are able to teach you are completely dependant on the time of year you come. (See above)

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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

  Below is a general outline for what we will be doing at different times of the year:
  
  We have two young children who are central to our lives. So we do not always have as much time as we would like to spend working with and getting to know our volunteers! We need people who enjoy living with children and can play with them and help them discover new things.
  
  All year: Taking care of the, fire wood making
  Dec- Feb: Closed
  March: raising seedlings, preparing for spring
  Apr-May: Preparing garden; sowing and planting out seedlings; stacking firewood, preparing grain fields; preparing the hayfield.
  June: gardening, harvesting and drying leaves for fodder, maintenance
  July: Hay work, gardening
  August: Hay work, gardening, picking berries, and making jam, juice etc.
  September: Harvesting grains, harvesting and preserving vegetables
  October- Nov: Harvesting and preserving, butchering, clearing up for winter, renovations around the farm, threshing
  
  We expect volunteers to help with cooking and household tasks, and do not consider this "help". We do not consider you to be guests, but members of the household.
  
  We cannot guarantee that you will get a variety of tasks when you are here. If you stay only for a month you will often have to do a lot of the same things. Generally, the longer you stay the more variation there will be.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Norwegian: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  We have three rooms you could stay in which are in a separate house. There isnt any electricity there, but there are wood burning stoves. Therefore, in the dark and cold period (the fall and early spring) these rooms are not that suitable for other things than just sleeping, so you are of course welcome to hang out in the main house in the evenings (also in the summer).
  
  If we have more than 3 volunteers you will probably have to share a room. Our house is very old and has not been modernised so facilities may seem very basic to you! We have no fridge, no shower (just a primitive one) and no WC (just an outhouse/compost toilet). If you have to smell soapy/perfumy all the time this is not the place for you. Showering/bathing every day is not sustainable nor necessary in our opinion, neither is wearing clean clothes everyday. (especially when working on a farm!) We are very concious about how much resources we use, and we invite you to consider this during your stay. We have plumbing and electricity in the main house, but we heat all our hot water on the wood stove. We live very simply, so you must be willing to do the same.
  
  We eat all our meals together with volunteers. As our goal is to be self-sufficient, we aim for most of our meals to be made from our own produce. We have porridge for breakfast, from our own grain, and for our evening meal it will often be a combination of vegetables and meat. We eat what the seasons give us, so in the summer there's always alot of salad and fresh veggies, in the autumn there's alot of everything, and in the winter we eat mainly grain, root vegetables and meat. We provide three meals a day, but not luxuries like tea, coffee and snacks. Unfortunately we cannot cater for special diets, since our diet is not really flexible. If you are vegetarian we can discuss it, depending on what time of year you want to come.

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  What else ...

  The bus connection is very limited here, so it’s difficult to get around: if you are looking for a base to explore the area, this probably isn't the best place for you.
  
  You have to provide your own Internet if you come here, because we have a very limited and expensive quota for ourselves. If you don't have a smart phone we can lend you our computer so you can check important stuff like emails etc.
  
  We do not have TV, so its good if you bring something to do in your spare time- books, handicrafts etc. We are often busy in the evenings with our own projects, so It's necessary that you don't mind being alone. Some volunteers find the farm a bit isolated, so if you are very social you might feel alone here.
  
  We may not reply if it is clear to us that you haven't read our profile thoroughly.

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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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  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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