Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Reply rate
83.3 %
Usually responds within 9 days
Feedback
74
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Badges (2)
Details
Description
+++ Open Spot for long term workawayer from begin of September!!! +++
We are looking specifically for people with experience handling horses and minding children. Skills in the garden or with house building will also be very much appreciated! ***
Hi everyone!
A little bit about us. René (48, economist in a think tank in Vienna), Elke (41, veterinarian for swine & poultry), Raphael (10, unemployed philosopher), Ilja (8, rebel and inquisitor) and Valerie (5, feminist master of unicorns) are the exhausted but happy inhabitants of a small and very old farm on the edges of the Dunkelsteinerwald (dark stone forest) just north of the provincial capital (St. Pölten) of Niederösterreich near Vienna. Our 8 horses (lead by spinster Flora), a flock of chickens, a bunch of cats (I really don't know how that happened!?) and two undeniably charming Dalmatian dogs (Nathan The White & Nervous Nelly) make our home quite lively. Not to forget the bird families, hedgehogs and other little critters that made our inner courtyard and in some unfortunate cases, my workshop, their homes.
We have a keen interest in gardening and enhancing our grade of self-sufficiency and extending the garden. Thus, we've built our stables ourselves and are continuously renovating and upgrading the farm. Last summer, we have torn down parts of the roof and are now building a new floor on top of our house. That is a lot of work and can be very interesting especially for handy(wo)men who want to help us with the finishing touches of this project.
In general, the range of help needed (see below), is wide and of course also depends on the interest of the helper. We grow some fruits (apples, pears, cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts,...), some veggies and turn them into wonderful jams, compotes, juices and things that have no English name like wonderful Powidl. We used to have free range turkeys, cows and broilers, but we are kind of done with eating animals for numerous reasons. We miss having them but we don't want to kill them anymore. Thus, Tofu, Seitan, soy, pea protein and Tempeh have moved in with us. However, we still eat meat occasionally, and we like to host people of all kinds 😊
Our place is great for taking short trips to the surrounding area (E.g.: the famous region of Wachau around the river Danube) to trek/cycle from winery to winery, to old fortresses on the hills alongside the river or just visit gorgeous towns like Melk, Krems and Dürnstein by foot, we can provide you with useful maps, tips and (mountain-) bikes. If you like spending time strolling/running over fields and meadows or take a mountain bike up the wooded hills behind our farm, you'll love it here. Especially since nothing is as refreshing like cooling down in the pond on hot days after a long hike or hard work. We might just join you on a few excursions, as we are very enthusiastic about those pleasant things in life.
After a busy day we love to light the bonfire for bbq, the wood fired clay pizza oven or spend an evening cooking with/for friends and having lively discussions about interesting topics like politics, economics, music, life and whatever comes to our mind. At least as long as Raphael, Ilja and Valerie let us...
Coming originally from Vienna, which both of us dearly love, we can provide you with good recommendations on where to go and what to see - sightseeing, museums, going out to nice cafés and bars, to the theater and if you love football and are ready to chant and jump with the Ultras, you can join René to matches of SK Rapid Wien. The city is only a 10 min car plus a 25 min high speed train ride from our tiny village.
Please consider us as your hosts of choice only if you really are energetic adults, that take initiative, are reliable and willing to join the family rhythm (and don't smoke)! We'd also love to hear your ideas on tackling things, since we are far from being real farmers, yet. If you actively want to take part in our little project and feel like we have common interests, we are happy to have you as our long term guest(s).
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Help around the house
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We have horses, chickens, dogs, cats and bees. And since your main job will be to take very good care of the animals, you will learn much about and around these lovely creatures. Have we mentioned that Elke is a vet? So there is a resource of answers for your questions. When we slaughter, you will take part in the whole process of making a wide variety of delicious foods like Salami, sausages, dumplings etc. Same goes for harvesting and processing fruits and veggies, of course depending on the season (jam, cider, apple juice,...).
We are constantly renovating and improving the farm or building more rooms. By helping us, you can learn to build/repair fences, gates, coat walls with clay, build stuff from wood, how to plant an apple orchard and so on.
And last but not least, since you will enjoy (hopefully) complete inclusion into our family, you will experience our Viennese culture (dark and demanding humour, great cuisine, music, etc) and our -partly horrible- history. If your up for it, politics, economics, alternative food/farming practices and history are interminable sources of conversation.
If you you read through the reviews we received so far, you will find a whole lot of information about us and what staying here entails in terms of work, experience and cultural exchange.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
So what do we expect?
Depending on your skills and interests, we are grateful to have a helping hand:
a) ... continue/finish building the new floor on top of our house. The outer walls and the roof are done. Now we are starting to build the interior. laying the floor, plasting the walls and all sorts of jobs that come with it.
b) For the time being, we would love to find someone form an English speaking country, who loves to spend time with children, wants to stay with us for a longer time (say 3 months and upwards) and helps us with looking after them and with the daily business of keeping afloat. So even if you don´t have any experience with horses etc, our place could be just right for you.
c) with the horses (watering, mucking out etc) the garden (weeding, planting, picking fruits, pruning, ) with our animals (feeding, watering, mucking out, being really nice to them) and wherever something needs to be processed (jams, juices, cider, sausages,...), repaired, built or refurbished.
Our next projects:
tending the garden, building raised beds, tile the Pizza oven, build a couple of wood benches for the garden, plant trees, repair stuff, picking and processing fruits (eg apples and turn them into fine traditional English cider (October, mostly), plums to make delicious "Powidl"), cutting & storing firewood for winter,...
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Spanish: Beginner
Italian: Beginner
Russian: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
You'll have your own room with your own entrance, an extra kitchen and bath/toilet. Truly high speed internet with access to our media server.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
we have broadband internet
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
as long as they are well trained, don't hunt chickens, cats and don't poop/pee everywhere.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
depending on the weather, season & workload - max 25
Feedback (46)
The farm is located on a beautiful hill full of history which René kindly explained to us. It's a… read more
Elke and René are one of the most welcoming, funny and hard working people I‘ve ever met.
It was the perfect experience for me to stay with this Family.
There‘s always a lot of work to do like
mucking out stables, riding ,caring for dogs, cats, chicken and… read more
Elke and René are so friendly and open minded and even though they were very busy with building and working on their house, they always had an open ear for me and were up for a quick chat. Elke showed me a cool "horse relaxing technique" and I was also allowed to… 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:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.7)
The farm is located on a beautiful hill full of history which René kindly explained to us. It's a… read more
Elke and René are one of the most welcoming, funny and hard working people I‘ve ever met.
It was the perfect experience for me to stay with this Family.
There‘s always a lot of work to do like
mucking out stables, riding ,caring for dogs, cats, chicken and… read more
Elke and René are so friendly and open minded and even though they were very busy with building and working on their house, they always had an open ear for me and were up for a quick chat. Elke showed me a cool "horse relaxing technique" and I was also allowed to… read more
She is really good with kids and knows how to handle horses. She is the kind of workawayer you can entrust with… read more
It was my first Workaway stay and I felt very welcomed and in good hands. I did many different kind of works, mainly taking care of the different kinds of animals (horses, cats, chickens, dogs) and assisting at the building site. Doing all that I learned many different things, that probably… read more
Both of us really enjoyed… read more
Well where do I begin?
This was my first workaway and I will without a doubt recommend this family to others. Right from the beginning I felt extremely welcomed into the family. Elke and Rene immediately make you feel at home. They are a very generous couple and never make you feel overworked or make you do jobs you don't feel comfortable… read more
We loved the diversity of work, from making cider, to helping with the animals, to slaughtering chickens. Even though we did not have any experience, René and Elke were very patient (especially with our plucking skills) and always explained the… read more
I am very gratefuf of the things these happy family have done for me, all the stuff that I have learnt not just about their culture, their tasty typical food, also the hard work that involve having a farm.
It really was a useful time: working with my… read more
Rene & Elke are kind and generous and they welcomed me into their life with open arms. I settled in quickly with their routine and was made to feel as part of the family.
I helped most with general farm work but, as it was apple picking season, I also helped Rene make apple cider - a… read more
Every aspect is just too good to describe, the house, the food, the work, the enviroment were just amazing.
Happily for me the most important aspect of them all stood out the most - the hosts.
You would probably… read more
While staying with us, Rhys picked up the German language with speed and fixity of purpose. it was impressive. He… read more
Thank you
Ps. You have not… read more
Rene, Elke, Raphael , Ilja (Not forgetting Nathan and Nelly & the… read more
The family is very warm, welcoming and open. From the get go we felt as one of the members. René and Elke are highly intelligent, skilled, and worldly people, between them their knowledge base is… read more
René is a great cooker and eating what they produce in the farm is really tasty.
I liked that theres always an… read more
We had lots of fun and… read more
One smallholding, two children, three horses, twelve chickens and a whole bunch of frozen meat all… read more
After spending a few weeks with them, I… read more
Elke and Rene are very experienced hosts and their ease and comfort of hosting volunteers in their home is unmatched. We took awhile to settle in, but the accomadation was nice, like its own little apartment. The privacy was lovely, and can be hard to find traveling as a couple. Our work was wonderfully varied, but was no surprise giving how… read more
Both have seen and experienced a fair share of the world which made our time very pleasurable… read more
Der hof, die familie und ihre projekte sind uns sofort ans herz gewachsen....wir fühlten uns sehr sehr wohl.
Elke und rené nahmen uns mit zum… read more
They are interesting (&interested), well educated, organised, independent, funny and warmhearted people, you can rely on. And full of creative ideas. Especially when it is about Permaculture, Olof can hardly be stopped.
Anna… read more
Elke and Rene gave us a very warm welcome and made us feel at home straight away.
They have come a long way in restoring their 400 year old farm and it was inspirational to see what you can do in a very short space of time. Rene and Elke are both great cooks and served… read more
both helped us a lot during these weeks. for Kelly no work was to hard or to boring and she was always in a good mood and very positive. We… read more
Trelawny & Jake have been a delight to our family, our farm and the animals!
Their never ending enthusiasm to be actively involved and to find necessary tasks, honestly stunned us… read more
Our stay with Rene, Elke and Raphy was not only our best workaway ever, it was four of the most enjoyable weeks of our Europe travels. Rene and Elke are generous, honest, fun, intelligent… read more
The days tend to be very relaxed without a fixed schedule. The work varies, they always tried to give us things to do… read more
Maddy and Nate are wonderful people. they helped us a lot with our projects (as Nathan already described) and the reoccuring jobs (mucking out horse stables & feeding the animals).
We had countless nice & amusing suppers together, full of interesting discussions, stories and games. Nathan and Maddy are smart and (also… read more
they helped us repairing clay walls, picking fruits, carrying wood, chisseling electric thingies, caring for our horses and chickens played with the dogs. no work was to dirty or… read more
I especially enjoyed our late night discussions about politics, religion, history and economics on warm summer evenings with… read more
