Serbia
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We are a British/Serbian couple who left our London office jobs five years ago and started living simply and learning how to create an organic farm in the mountains of Western Serbia. We have two daughters in their mid-20s who still live in the UK. We now have an established orchard and grow many vegetables successfully. We bought a tractor last year and are have corn in one of our fields - we have about 5.5 hectares of mountainside most of which is still wildflower meadows. We also make organic wine and fruit brandy, keep free-range chickens and bees. Our friendly dog, Banjo, is a big part of the family.
Now we are anticipating the end of summer and there will be wine and brandy making tasks, as well as preserving tomatoes and paprikas for winter as well as all the normal work in the orchard. And there are always building and repair tasks of course!
Next year we want to expand our kitchen garden, build a wood store and tractor shed and start cheese-making using our neighbours' beautiful milk. We are largely vegetarian and most of our food comes from our garden and orchard.
Apart from farming we have some other projects: We run the local volunteer fire brigade and have built a fire station for our 1957 Green Goddess fire engine. We also teach local children to swim in our pool every summer and run a mobile library project for 16 village schools in our region. We have two properties, a large chalet style house and a etno wooden cabin, both of which we offer on rental sites.
Our house backs onto miles of pine forests which smell wonderful in summer, the countryside here is stunning with lots of beautiful hikes and unspoilt nature all around. Local wildlife includes many birds (inc golden eagles and owls), hares, deer, wild boar, jackals, foxes. We are quite far from restaurants and shops if that's what you're looking for :)
Charity Work
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
General Maintenance
Learn about life in rural Serbia, meet local people and get involved in the community - Covid dependent! And live in totally stunning countryside.
Learn about bee keeping, wine making (fermentation) and brandy making (distillation), chicken care and organic orchard practice
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
General help is what we are after, depending on the season:
help in the garden and orchard - watering, planting trees, weeding, harvesting and processing produce
mushroom foraging (under guidance),
assisting with wine and brandy making
wood chopping, stacking, clearing woodland, help with small building projects (wood store, tractor shed, eco-hot tub). Winter projects also include clearing the snow, chopping and stacking wood.
English: Fluent
Serbian: Fluent
The main house is booked by tourists pretty much all summer so we live in a wooden cabin in the woods
Workawayers will be in a similar but smaller cabin and share kitchen and bathroom with us. There’s a shady outdoor terrace and summer house. In the winter we are usually in the main house, but there may be occasional days that we need to move to the cabins. Yes there’s a good internet connection! Generally breakfast is 'help yourself', lunch is the main meal with local cheese, lots of vegetables and salads and we have a light supper (usually with wine).
Winter offers skiing at the small resort (Divcibare) at the top of the mountain, (8km away) as well as tobogganing on our hill. In summertime there are wonderful hikes and we have a huge low-chlorine swimming pool and plenty of sunbeds. We enjoy a simple life surrounded by beauty and try to live in harmony with nature,
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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