Permaculture in the beautiful Thuringian Mountains, Germany

Details

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  Description

  What I offer you is a quiet place for people who love nature, animals, simple living and creating things with their own hands.
  
  Location: Langgrün, Thuringia, Germany
  Nearest towns: Hof / Bad Lobenstein / Jena
  Project: Self-sufficiency · Permaculture · Gardening · Animals · DIY · Traditional skills · Nature
  
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  👋 Hi, I'm Danny!
  
  I'm 39, German, and I live with my parents on our old family farm in the beautiful countryside of Thuringia.
  
  My story is probably a little different from that of a typical German farmer:
  
  For around ten years I travelled through Europe, often on foot, looking for a different way of living. I eventually spent four years in Croatia, where I worked on farms and learned about permaculture, gardening and self-sufficient living.
  
  When my parents became older, I returned to Germany and came back to the family homestead.
  
  Instead of simply maintaining what was here, I decided to use what I had learned in Croatia and gradually turn the farm into a more self-sufficient, natural and independent way of living.
  And that's what I'm working on today.
  
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  🌱 What is this place?
  
  We live on an old four-sided farm with more than one hectare of land in the foothills of the Thuringian Forest.
  It is a private homestead rather than a commercial farm.
  We grow and produce primarily for ourselves.
  
  We have:
  🐑 sheep
  🫏 donkeys
  🐔 chickens
  🦃 turkeys
  🪿 geese
  🍎 fruit trees
  🥕 vegetable gardens
  🍇 vineyards
  🌳 meadows
  🌿 plenty of wild nature around us
  
  Our gardens currently provide roughly 60% of what two people need throughout the year, and my long-term goal is to increase that substantially — ideally towards 95% self-sufficiency.
  That doesn't mean becoming completely isolated from the outside world.
  For me, it means learning how much we can actually produce, preserve, repair, build and create ourselves.
  
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  🏡 Life here
  
  This is a place for people who appreciate peace and space.
  The farm is about one kilometre outside the small village of Langgrün, which has around 230 inhabitants.
  There are only a few other farms nearby.
  You won't find nightlife, shopping centres or city traffic here.
  
  Instead, you will find:
  🌅 beautiful views over the landscape
  🌲 forests and meadows
  🐦 birds in the morning
  ⭐ very dark skies and lots of stars
  🌬️ clean country air
  🔥 evenings around the fire
  🥕 food from the garden
  🐑 animals wandering around
  🌿 plenty of opportunities to simply slow down
  
  Of course, this is a real rural environment, not a perfectly silent nature reserve. Sometimes you will hear tractors, chainsaws or other farm work from our neighbours.
  But compared with city life, it is a very peaceful place.
  
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  🔨 What can you help with?
  
  There is no single "Workaway job" here.
  The projects change with the season, the weather and whatever we are currently trying to build.
  
  Some examples include:
  
  🌿 Gardening (works during the year)
  
  -preparing beds
  -planting and sowing
  -weeding
  -harvesting
  -watering
  -composting
  -experimenting with growing methods
  -maintaining fruit trees
  -helping create new garden areas
  
  I am particularly interested in experimenting with ways of growing and storing food that require fewer external resources.
  
  🐑 Animals
  
  Depending on the season and your interest, there may be things to do with:
  -sheeps
  -donkeys
  -chickens
  -turkeys
  -geese
  -fences
  -feeding
  -general maintenance
  
  You don't need professional animal experience.
  A willingness to learn, patience and respect for animals are much more important.
  
  🍎 Food preservation
  
  We don't just grow food — we try to make it last.
  Depending on the season, you might help with:
  -preserving vegetables
  -drying apples
  -making jam
  -processing fruit
  -storing vegetables
  -preparing food for winter
  
  I also grind flour and make our own bread.
  
  🍇 Vineyard
  
  We currently have around 120 grapevines in one vineyard plus another growing row of around 30 early-ripening red and white varieties.
  I make small amounts of wine for our own consumption without chemical additives.
  Depending on the season, there can be plenty to do with the vines.
  
  🌾 Meadows
  
  Our meadows are cut two or three times a year.
  Where practical, I prefer traditional methods rather than relying entirely on large machines.
  A lot of the work involves using a rake to turn and gather grass.
  For longer stretches we have a small tractor available.
  If you enjoy physical outdoor work, this can be surprisingly satisfying.
  
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  🪚 Building & DIY
  
  This is where things become particularly interesting.
  There are several projects I would like to develop over the coming years.
  
  For example:
  🏡 building a small wooden one-room house in the second vineyard
  🔥 building a multifunctional oven for heating, cooking, baking and smoking
  🌳 creating natural fences for our animals
  🌱 developing a third garden
  🪵 building and repairing things around the farm
  🥔 experimenting with traditional food-storage methods
  
  And I'm always interested in ideas I haven't thought of myself.
  
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  💡 You don't have to be an expert
  
  This is important.
  
  You do not need to be a professional farmer, gardener, carpenter or craftsman.
  If you already have practical experience, fantastic.
  If you have never done any of this before but are curious, motivated and willing to learn, that's also completely fine.
  In fact, one of the things I enjoy most about having Workawayers here is learning together.
  Maybe you know something I don't.
  Maybe you have an idea for a better way to build something.
  Maybe you have never touched a vegetable garden before but would love to learn.
  That's exactly the kind of exchange I'm interested in.
  
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  🧠 Creativity is especially welcome
  
  I'm quite good at getting things done with my hands.
  Where I sometimes struggle is coming up with new ideas.
  So if you are the kind of person who looks at something and says:
  
  > "Why don't we try it this way?"
  
  — I'd probably enjoy having you around.
  I don't want people who simply wait for instructions all day.
  I prefer people who can think, experiment, ask questions and contribute their own ideas.
  You don't have to agree with everything I do.
  If you have a better idea, tell me.
  
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  🌍 What you can learn here
  
  If you are interested, I can show you things I've learned over many years of practical experience, including:
  
  🌱 gardening and self-sufficiency
  🌿 permaculture principles
  🍎 food preservation
  🥖 grinding flour and making bread
  🍓 processing fruit and vegetables
  🍇 basic vineyard work
  🍷 traditional winemaking on a small scale
  🐑 keeping farm animals
  🪚 practical DIY and construction
  🌳 natural fencing
  🌾 traditional meadow work
  🔥 working with fire and outdoor cooking
  🥔 traditional food-storage experiments
  
  And probably a lot of things that aren't on this list yet.
  
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  🌄 Your free time
  
  Although there is always something that could be done on a farm, I don't expect you to work all day.
  
  The idea is that you have enough time to enjoy the area, relax, explore the countryside and pursue your own interests.
  The region offers forests, hiking opportunities, small villages and beautiful landscapes.
  And sometimes the best thing to do after working outside is simply to sit down, have something to eat and watch the sunset.
  
  You help us 4-5 hours a day on maximum 5 days per week. In  ypur free time you can hike through the forests or the village. And you can borogh a bike from me, to visit as example the Turingian Sea in the near.
  
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  🚆 Getting here
  
  The farm is located near Langgrün in the municipality of Gefell, Thuringia.
  
  The nearest larger city is Hof, approximately 30 km away.
  Jena is around 60 km away.
  
  The nearest railway stations are around 10 km away, in Blankenstein/Saale and Bad Lobenstein.
  The final road to the farm is an old, somewhat eroded asphalt road, but it is still reasonably easy to reach by car.
  
  If you arrive by train, I can pick you up from:
  
  🚆 Blankenstein
  🚆 Bad Lobenstein
  🚆 Hof
  
  Please let me know at least one day before your arrival so I can organise it.
  
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  ❤️ Who would fit well here?
  
  You might enjoy staying here if you:
  🌿 love being outside
  🐑 like animals
  🥕 are interested in growing food
  🔨 enjoy practical work
  🪚 like building or repairing things
  🧠 enjoy solving problems
  🌎 care about nature and sustainability
  🔥 enjoy simple rural living
  📚 want to learn traditional skills
  💡 like experimenting and coming up with ideas
  🤝 enjoy cultural exchange
  😌 don't need a busy social life every day
  
  You don't have to tick every box.
  Curiosity and a good attitude are more important to me than experience.
  
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  🚫 Who might not enjoy it here?
  
  To be honest, this place probably isn't ideal for everyone.
  If you mainly want:
  🏙️ city life
  🎉 nightlife
  🛍️ shopping
  🚗 lots of entertainment nearby
  📱 a holiday where you don't have to do anything practical
  
  — there are probably better Workaway hosts for you.
  
  This is a working homestead in the countryside.
  Things can be muddy.
  Things sometimes don't work.
  Plans change.
  The weather can be terrible.
  
  And occasionally you will probably discover muscles you didn't know existed. Fitnesscenter for free😄
  
  But that's part of the experience.
  
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  🌎 My philosophy
  
  I don't follow a traditional religious belief in a God somewhere in the sky.
  For me, nature itself deserves a kind of respect that many people once described as spiritual.
  
  Everything we have ultimately comes from it:
  Our food.
  Our water.
  Our air.
  Our soil.
  Our lives.
  
  My goal isn't to "conquer" nature or create some perfect isolated paradise.
  
  I want to understand how we can live with nature instead of constantly fighting against it.
  The farm is my personal experiment in that direction.
  
  My long-term dream is to create a place that demonstrates what is possible when you combine traditional knowledge, practical work, permaculture, modern ideas and a willingness to experiment.
  If it works, perhaps other people can learn from it too.
  And if something doesn't work?
  We learn from that as well.
  
  ---
  
  🤝 What Workaway means to me
  
  For me, Workaway shouldn't be:
  "You work for me and I give you food and accommodation."
  
  I'd much rather see it as:
  "We spend some time together, work on something meaningful, exchange knowledge, share our cultures and both learn something."
  You bring your skills, ideas, personality and experience.
  I bring the farm, my experience, my knowledge and the opportunity to try things that you probably wouldn't get to do in everyday life.
  
  Maybe you teach me something.
  Maybe I teach you something.
  Hopefully, we both go home with a few good memories.
  
  ---
  
  🏡 What I hope to create
  
  Right now this is still a work in progress.
  There is no finished "self-sufficient farm".
  There are gardens that need improving.
  Fences that need building.
  Animals that need looking after.
  Ideas that need testing.
  Projects that haven't even started yet.
  
  And that's exactly why I'm looking for people to join me.
  I want to build this step by step.
  Not according to a perfect master plan, but by trying things, learning from mistakes and continuously improving.
  My ultimate goal is to move towards around 95% self-production on the farm.
  Not because I think everyone has to live this way.
  But because I want to find out what is actually possible.
  
  ---
  
  🌱 Maybe you are the person I'm looking for?
  
  If you read all of this and thought:
  "That sounds like exactly the kind of strange project I'd like to be part of."
  Then please write to me.
  
  Tell me a little about yourself:
  
  -Where are you from?
  -What do you enjoy doing?
  -Have you worked with animals, plants, wood, construction or DIY?
  - What would you like to learn?
  -What could you imagine contributing?
  -And most importantly: What made you interested in this place?
  
  You don't need to write a perfect application.
  
  I'd much rather hear your real story.
  Maybe you have skills I haven't even thought about.
  Maybe you are simply curious and want to learn.
  Maybe you have a completely different perspective that could improve something here.
  
  That's what makes Workaway interesting.
  I have the land and the project.
  You bring your hands, your ideas and your story.
  
  Let's see what we can create together. 🌿

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals
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  Interests

  

  Camping

  

  Farming

  

  Writing

  

  Photography

  

  Gardening

  

  Books

  

  Animals

  

  Nature

  

  Mountain

  

  Hiking
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  What you can learn from me: Getting a feel for how to use resources, ecological and alternative farming in the garden, baking, working with animals, how to make wine including growing and planting wine, making wooden and natural fences, practical experiences Permaculture, experiments, understanding the laws of nature, spending time with pure nature.

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  Help

  Help with coordinate the recources of the farm, to help with the garden, cooking, bring ideas in the project, enjoy the living far from city.

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Serbo-Croatian: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  As sleeping places I have a room with a wide bed (2x1.4m), the garden hut with the same size of the bed and later the new arbor in the vineyard can also be converted with a narrow bed. The house is large with a lounge, but needs some renovation every year. If requested, I am happy to provide an outside bed on the veranda in summer. I have an enclosed grass pitch for tents near the house. There is only a shower in the house, but not in the cabins. We heat the house with wood in winter. If it is too hot in the garden hut in summer, meals are prepared there on a solar cooker.
  
  The meals are varied with meat, vegetarian, eggs from chickens, vegitabels and fruits saisonal from the own gardens. From the end of autumn onwards, chickens, turkeys or sheep are slaughtered for meat and sometimes preserved in the old-fashioned way, but mostly consumed in winter. In addition to water and wine, other drinks include homemade syrups. I can buy beer at the market if there is a need.

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  What else ...

  The biggest water recervoir of Germany is the "Thuringian Sea" and is only 8 km far from me and 1 km far from my gardenhouse. The "Thuringian Mountains" you have all around you.

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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

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  female or castrated dogs, donkeys and horses.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

  

  Benni

  My donkey at a party of an hiking- company

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