Join us to create a self-sufficient homestead in the Thuringian Forest, Germany

Details

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  Description

  "Feel the spirit of the near woods"
  
  What I offer you is a quiet place for people who love forests, nature, animals, living away from towns and creating things with their own hands.
  
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  Hi, I'm Danny, 39 and I live with my old parents on our family homestead in the side of the Thuringian Forest.
  
  After around ten years travelling through Europe I spent four years living and working on a small farm in Croatia, where I learned a lot about permaculture, gardening and self-sufficiency. When my parents became older, I returned to Germany. So I decided to continue developing what I had learned in Croatia.
  
  We have about one hectare of land, about a half kilometre outside the small village of Langgruen / Gefell. It's a place of much woods in and around the land, nature, animals and plenty of space – surrounded by forests, meadows, fruit trees, gardens and a little vineyard (another vineyard of me exist in the next village).
  
  We have 🐑 sheeps, 🫏 donkeys, 🐔 chickens, 🦃 turkeys and 🪿 geese, two cats and a dog.
  
  This is not a commercial farm. We produce a part of our energy with solarpanals. And we mainly produce food for ourselves. At the moment, our gardens provide roughly 60% of what three people need throughout the year. My long-term goal is to move towards around 95% self-sufficiency.
  
  The work changes with the seasons and the weather. You might help with:
  -growing, planting and harvesting vegetables
  -caring for fruit trees
  -preserving, drying and storing food
  -grinding flour and baking bread
  -feeding and caring for animals
  -cooking
  -building and repairing fences
  -working on the meadows
  -helping in the small vineyards
  
  I want to start an new project, what is needing couple of years: Buildings, fences and creative paths trough fast growing trees, they are growing much to only one building together. This projekt is inspired from the gardenarchitect Arthur Wichula (he has living before 80 years).
  
  I'm good at practicals and getting things done with my hands.
  What I sometimes lack is creativity and new perspectives.
  So I especially enjoy people who like to think, experiment and contribute their own ideas.
  
  If you enjoy peace, nature and simple rural living, you may feel very comfortable here.
  There are then sounds of birds in the morning, sometimes fires in the evening, dark skies full of stars at night.
  
  In your free time you can hike, explore the countryside or drive with me and a bicycle and visit places such as the nearby Thuringian Sea.
  
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  I don't believe in the traditional idea of a old man somewhere in the sky. For me, nature itself deserves deep respect and almost spiritual appreciation.
  I want to explore how we can live more with nature instead of constantly working against it.
  The farm is my personal experiment in that direction.
  
  If you enjoy nature, animals, practics, new ideas and slightly unusual projects, I'd love to hear from you.
  You bring your hands, your ideas and your story.
  Let's see what we can create together.
  
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  Location: Langgrün, Thuringia, Germany
  Nearest towns: Hof / Bad Lobenstein / Jena
  
  Tell me latest two days before coming to my place, because I have a part-time job as landscape gardener and caretaker.
  
  The nearest railway stations are Blankenstein/Saale and Bad Lobenstein, around 10 km away. Hof is about 30 km away and Jena about 60 km. If arranged in advance, I'm happy to pick you up in Blankenstein, Bad Lobenstein or Hof.

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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, 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 / wineyard, animals, cooking, bring ideas in the project, enjoy the living far from city.
  
  Some of my plans include:
  
  -developing a third garden
  -building natural fences and shelters for the animals
  -experimenting with traditional food-storage methods
  -exploring more permaculture and self-sufficiency ideas

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Serbo-Croatian: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  As sleeping places we have a room in the house with a wide bed (2x1.4m), the wineyard hut with the same size of the bed and the new arbor in the second vineyard is also be converted with a narrow bed.
  The house is large with a lounge. 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. The cabins have toilets (inside and outside).
  
  If it is too hot in the wineyard 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 sheeps are maded to meat and sometimes preserved in freezers and in the old-fashioned way, but mostly consumed in winter. In addition to water and wine, other drinks include homemade syrups and juices.
  I can buy another drinks at the market.

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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 wineyardhouse.
  
  The "Thuringian Slate Mountains" you have all around.

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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?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  

  Benni

  My donkey at a party of an hiking- company

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