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Update late April 2024
The rest of the season is fully booked up.
This spring we would be very grateful for some helping hands, outdoors and indoors! First and foremost, we are going to do some fencing for our goats, that includes taking down some trees and bushes. We will also build a tiny goat house for summer use. We are also going to build some wooden terraces and clean up outdoors in general. Things are going to be moved around a lot :) In the garden there is also a lot to tend to, and you will learn how to treat the garden properly so that the soil microlife can do its job undisturbed.
Indoors work is not a lot, but we need you to take part of cleaning up after meals - -we will cook for you though.
Welcome
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We live in difficult times, but that makes it even more important to still do our best to build a more resilient way of life on our latitude. Please read the full presentation down low below, if you want to know who we are, what we do and why we do it, so that you know what you are getting yourself into :) We have over the years also been working a lot with the soil food web, aka the microlife in the soil, and will tell you all about why you shall put your spade aside, not put NPK on your soil and trust the little critters that work relentlessly under your feet. As a bonus, a healthy soil food web will help put carbon where it belongs, in the soil, and so save us from the worst scenarios of the climate crisis.
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And I also have to tell you:
If you want to come here, you have to be able to speak and understand English at a reasonable level. This goes for each and every one that come to live with us. Having a friend with you that can interpret for you, will not do. I am sorry, but the only way we can pay our workawayers back for all the help that we get, is to be able to tell you about the intricate structures of permaculture, the microlife in the soil food web and a lot of other things. We are keen talkers and need to be able to have a good conversation around the kitchen table that goes both ways, not just us talking. Furthermore, we want to listen to you and hear your story, your thoughts and your ideas. So, you do not need to have a Cambridge certificate, but you do need to be able to communicate at a reasonable level of English. :)
As of late, the authorities also recommend being vaccinated for TBE, as almost everywhere in Sweden nowadays. The risk is minute so it is up to you whether to be vaccinated or not.
We are eager and happy to get to know new volunteers from all over the world and show you what permaculture and the soil food web is all about :)
Permaculture is the future!
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Our Presentation
Our family have an old "farm" in the middle of a forest. It has been parceled up since the last farmer died in 1992, leaving only a small piece of land around the houses, 9986m2. We bought the place 2008. By then we lived in the second-biggest city of Sweden, Gothenburg.
2008 was a year of great turmoil in the international economic systems, and we started to try and find out why, and how to respond to everything that happened. Reading a lot and listening to many lectures from different universities and institutes, we came to the conclusion that a lot more was going on than appeared on the surface. Resource depletion with peak-oil as the foremost example, the impossible worldwide economic focus on perpetual growth and the prospect of climate change. Everything together led us to the insight that “business as usual” was not an offer.
Having found that out, we started to look for alternatives to the way we lived and found the interesting concept of PERMACULTURE. Permaculture is an internationally acknowledged design concept that emphasize the importance of cooperation with the ecosystems. Permaculture aims to achieve biodiversity and a sustainable ecological use of the land. This was just what we wanted to do.
So, we sold our house in Gothenburg in 2011 and moved out to the farm. When we first arrived, there was no electricity, no water pipes and no sewer. The old farmer had not wanted any of that. Since then, we have installed all these modern features and built a new kitchen and a sanitary room. We have also built a furnace house combined with a greenhouse, a typical permaculture feature! Since the summer of 2017 we have together with our wonderful workawayers created two big kitchen gardens and 4 garden-ponds. We have also built two small timber houses for guests and workawayers, a service house that has a small kitchen, a washing room with a toilet and a washing machine and two showers, all for the service to our visitors. Recently we have had the opportunity to buy some extra land north of our border. It is going to be developed into a zone 2 for winter food. There is also going to be a root cellar on that new land, and we are going to fence it in for our grazers, among a lot of other things.
Our family consists of three people. That is me, Ylva, my husband Johan and our daughter Siri. I have a Permaculture Design Certificate from Geoff Lawton, and I am an old teacher. I also hold lectures and workshops about permaculture all over Sweden. We as a family has written, illustrated and published the first book about Permaculture in Swedish for Nordic conditions. This has led to people coming for courses about permaculture here. It is also a certified LAND property, that is "a place you can visit in order to learn about permaculture".
This season Johan is going to work part-time outside our enterprise, and I am working with a new book, so we are truly thankful for the time you give us with your volunteering. Siri is back at home from her studies at the University of Lund to write her master essay, when she is not illustrating our books. Siri also has a PDC from Geoff Lawton. We have two cats that are keeping the mouse population in a manageable size. Five goats, one sheep and of course also a bunch of chicken. Together, we all strive to create a higher grade of resilience in our lives. You are more than welcome to share our endeavor.Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco ProjectsGardeningDIY and building projectsAnimal CareCreating/ Cooking family mealsHelp around the houseGeneral MaintenanceUN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
If you wish to, you will learn a lot about resourse depleetion, peak oil and first and foremost Permaculture and the soil food web! And over the years you migth become one of our reoccuring gests and friends of the family and come back to celebrate the New Years Eve in the darkness of the Swedish winter, by the fire in the old brewing house.
We are looking forward to get to know you all!Help
We generally need help to implement our permaculture design on our property, that could include woodwork and grawel showeling apart from pure garden chores.
Since you effectively become a part of our extended family when staying here, you also need to be prepared to help out with household chores like, cleaning floors and doing the dishes after meals :)
You also need to master English at a reasonable level, we expect you to be able to take active part of the ever ongoing discussions around the kitchen table, and for that we all need to share a common language - in our case that is English. We cannot stress this enough, without means of communication, we are totally lost ...
If you come to work with us, you will at least learn a little something about how to plan for a permanent existence on this planet of ours. We will talk a lot about soil, how to team up with living systems to get a sustainable yield, how to use biological resources, the importance of a good compost and how to think outside – no box required.Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Swedish: FluentAccommodation
We do really live in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a forest. Our nearest neighbor is 1.6 km away.
There are no communications what so ever. You can borrow our bicycles if you want to take a look around. We go to Floby, 12 km away, almost every day and can take you there if you want to take a train somewhere else.
You will have a bed in a small timber house, a cabin, close to the old barn. You need to be comfortable sharing the cabin with other workawayers of both sexes.
There is an optic fiber connection in the main house and a hub for a network cable in the cabins, and WIFI.
We eat every meal together in the kitchen in the main house. We are eager talkers and love to have a good conversation around the kitchen table so it is a good thing not to be shy in our household. We will treat you like a member of our family come rain come shine.
We are sorry to say that we cannot feed vegans properly since we live solely of what our latitude and time of the year, can produce. There are things a human body need that do not grow here, and we can’t afford to buy extra, imported food for vegan workawayers. Vegetarians that eat dairy is not a problem at all!What else ...
The farm is situated by its own in the middle of a forest, but if you want to spend some time out of our property, we could take you to the nearest village Floby. It is approximately 12 km to the railway station in Floby. From there you can reach Sweden’s two biggest city’s, Stockholm and Gothenburg within respectively 3 and 1 hour. The very small village of Trävattna is 4 km away and there you can see the rich birdlife of the river Lidan.
We have a reasonably firm schedule at the farm, first breakfast at 7.30, second breakfast 10.00, lunch 14.00 and a light evening meal at 18.00. We also take smaller breaks during the day when we are working on different projects. Never underestimate the power of the Swedish Fika! :) We also have a longer break after lunch.
We decide your working ours in close cooperation with you. Sometimes it is better to work longer days for a while and then have a couple of more days free to make an excursion or just relax and do nothing.
We will be very grateful for everything you can help us with here and you will be most welcome!
We also need to tell you that we for technical reasons cannot insure you when you are here s and that you therefore need to see to your insurance situation yourself when you travel to Sweden. If you come from within EU there is an insurance card you can get from your authorities.A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
We have a good parking lot, for up to three/four mobile homes at the time. Electricity can be arranged. All your needs will be taken care of in the servicehouse and the main house, but you can sleep and be private in you van if you want to :)
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (62)
Ylva, Johan and Siri welcomed me in their lives and I immediately felt like a part of the family. Fikas are very important and happen four times a day. In… read more
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Ylva, Johan and Siri welcomed me in their lives and I immediately felt like a part of the family. Fikas are very important and happen four times a day. In… read more
We did some physical… read more
Unfortunately, they then had to leave sooner than planned because they realized that their vaccine against TBE was too old to be secure. We were sad to see them go, but of course we understand… read more
I learned a lot about permaculture and how to live more in tune with nature, listening to its timing. It is truly inspiring how much Ylva and the family believe in their project (I absolutely love how many plans they have for the future of the farm). I came… read more
We… read more
I learned alot about soil and permaculture, but also alot of life lessons. One of them: Fika is the most important part of permaculture!
I helped out in the garden and enjoyed the work. I put in seeds, moulched the food forrest, and… read more
This relatively tiny young lady is not what you see on the outside. She has the strength of an ox and never gives up!
She is also the nicest person ever! We have grown addicted to having her around, doing a lot during a single day!
If she needs to take care of her lovely dog once in a while, she compensates that time and… read more
He also can just toggle on with tedious task, like moving an endless… read more
I can consider myself very lucky that they hosted me even if they were not really expecting volunteers in that time and did not have too many energy reserves available.
I felt like a family member in their midst, always taken seriously… read more
From day one I felt so welcome, I became a part of the family and the daily life. We shared many meals and every one of them was like a social happening where we got to discuss many interesting,… read more
He is also a thoughtful young… read more
You can trust him to take care of ANYTHING in the garden, take care of you animals, dig away dirt, shovel gravel, filling sacks with sand and place them on the edges of the planted area in a natural pond to be, baking bread, keeping the kitchen in pristine conditions when you are not at home yourself.
He is not just… read more
Even though I was the only workawayer for the majority of my stay, I didn't feel lonely once as the family is incredibly welcoming, warm and really takes… read more
I was staying here at the beginning with four other workawayers and together we helped to imply the permaculture designs into the garden, which… read more
He will help you out with anything you need to get done, and he will do it with a smile.
We cannot recommend him enough!
He is also a fantastic resource on the social side, best team builder ever!
He is learning Swedish too! So who knows, maybe he will be our countryman in the future :)
We miss him and… read more
They did not hesitate to work through literary rain, snow and a heatwave. Yes, the weather in April/May is unpredictable in Sweden!
They have a good level of english, to be french :) and will ask if there is anything they do not understand. They understand a lot on the other hand, they are engineers after all.… read more
They are awesome, and will help you immensely in so many ways.
They have a wonderful work ethic and will not stop until a task is done.
They think independently, understand the goal of a task and will have some really good suggestions for improvement.
They can absolutely be trusted to… read more
The tasks were super fun and diverse and the information was clear as water.
Ylva, Johan and Siri were very helpful and flexible… read more
If you are lucky enough to get those two people as your workawayers, you will always afterwards compare any other workawayer to them! They are eager, versatile, attentive and the nicest persons you will ever meet and really good at what they do. I can’t recall anything that we asked them to do that they could not… read more
We promise, you will NEVER find such an accomplished, effective, knowledgeable, hard working workawayer anywhere! We would like him to build himself a house near by and always be around :)
Fun, quick, awesome carpenter, good friend,… read more
The hosts, Ylva, Siri and Johan were super nice. It really felt like being part of a family and especially the melas were awesome :)
They also know a Lot about Swedish culture and history and are also super interested in the history and culture of the countries their workawayers come from.
It was a great experience and me… read more
We really had a good time having Catelynn in the house. She is easy going and eager and quick to learn new things, both when it comes to knowledge and to skills. Never complaining and always doing her best, you could not get a better workawayer. We are actually nurturing a hope that she will come back as a… read more
This calm, intelligent and thoughtful man has been a great asset to our projects here.
Never fussing about what ever work we needed to be done, big or small task, Rabi is the man for the job!
The goat fence is in good order and there are NO weeds whatsoever in the gravel yard in our inner kitchen garden, and so on, and so on. This guy… read more
Alessandro is the most pleasant and overall charming person you can ever imagine! He is empathic, curios and ever so willing to learn new skills. To top all that he is also a very quick… read more
Let’s put it this way, I really felt at home!
Ylva, Johan and Siri are the kind of people you really want to meet in your life. You come here, you feel at home and you learn so much in many aspects.
I will make treasure of our talks and the knowledge you have… read more
It took me one year before I take a moment to leave a feedback here about my experience !
I don't know why, perhaps because there's a lot to say. I'm going to summarize as much as I can.
I stayed one month and a half in this incredible place in the middle of a Swedish forest. I've met several volunteers from different countries, I've… read more
How I wished that our level of french would have been at bit higher, I am sure you have some very interesting stories to tell :) But language gap aside, we still had a very good time whith Yvain. He is MARVELOUS at taking responsibility for building projects on his own and built some long wished for fences close to the house. So… read more
Ylva, Johan and Siri are super nice, sociable, very warm-hearted and have a lot of humor. They make you feel a part of the family from the first day. I am so thankful for everything they told and taught me not only about permaculture (that is a lot) and building stuff but also about life. All three have a huge… read more
Max & I mainly worked on building a wooden terrace and a timber house. Hard job sometimes but it really worth it ! You will never be alone in this house : Ylva, Johan and Siri are always here… read more
These two french gentlemen has a great future in front of them! They have open minds and eager hearts and are quick to learn new skills. Patience is also one of their virtues, they certainly needed that this hot summer. The gravel and the sun and the stone sand and the sun could have broken a weaker soul, but not these guys!
It is very… read more
We truly enjoyed being part of your family for those 10 weeks. This summer here was an amazing adventure, in the middle of the forest with all the comfort we had wished for
(electricity, hot water, internet … everythings ).
Thank you for everything you taught us. Thank you for the permaculture courses you gave us, for the soil and… read more
This young and slender woman is so much stronger than you might think when you meet her the first time. Almina has a very sharp head and strong arms and what is more, heaps and heaps of patience with all sorts of work that you might put in her way. She has also good social skills and befriends everyone she meets… read more
This gentle, wise and tireless man has been a great asset to us this summer! He is not afraid to get his hands dirty and to roll heavy wheel barrels along bumpy roads. A very interesting person to have around, who knows whats going on in the world and is determined to try and do something about it. Always kind and willing to give a hand… read more
This stay have been especially the opportunity to learn how to build a small wooden house by doing it.. Sometimes a thought job, but the result definitely worth it.
More generally, if you're looking for a countryside place where to learn about… read more
The kindest and smartest soul you have ever met!
We had the privilege to have him as workawayer here for some very intensive weeks this summer. We honestly would not have made it without him and his experience and cleverness. He embodies the unusual combination of being really hands on and at the same time a philosopher with a big heart.… read more
Anyone who gets Camille as a workawayer is bound to have a good time. She is versatile, clever, fun and have great social skills! We wish there where more then 5 stars to give!
She might not look as strong as she is, but anyone who have seen her tirelessly shovelling gravel in 30 degrees Celsius, knows one thing for sure, that woman never… read more
Ilva taught us about… read more
This couple is the nicest, kindest people you could ever meet. Here they have been doing all sorts of tasks, from digging and moving heavy boulders around to cooking the most wonderful meals. They are always willing to take on new tasks and have also been a great help in just keeping the house in a presentable shape.
Without… read more
I´m so grateful for this incredible experience!
As soon as I arrived ihere I felt welcomed and it didn't take long until I felt like part of the Family.
While I got to learn a lot about building a beautiful room in the attic by helping Johann, Ylva was so kind to teach me about the concept of Permaculture by holding little… read more
I honestly think this girl could do anything! She helped us in an irreplaceable way, to get our upper floor ready to move into. Putting up the ceiling, helping the walls smooth enough to put on wallpaper, carry tons of stuff here and there, and lots of other things!
She has a very good head, and it is closely connected to her hands. Quick… read more
Still wondering? Well you can stop that and write an email to Ylva, Johan and Siri to ask to spend some weeks with them, you won't regret it!
Being here is a well organized time, rich in physical exercise, cognitive input and cultural experience.
This family takes the workaway idea so serious, there won't be much time left to get… read more
Tina has also been outdoors a lot and shoveled gravel into wheel barrels and moving… read more
He also kept himself busy with other constructions and was an… read more
I feel happy after this month I spent to help at the farm for your permaculture homestead develop further. I was warmly welcomed (after arriving at the right place:)) and felt already after the first day that I'll gain a lot of knowledge in different ways during my time there. The combination of physical work and… read more
You are such a brave and unusual young man! Openhearted and willing to try on whatever life puts before you. And NOT giving up what so ever! We will certainly be warm and cozy this winter thanks to your persistent work with the pile of wood that sourly needed to get sawed into big enough pieces for our furnace. You also took your turn… read more
I had the pleasure to have my first experience with workaway with you and it was wonderful! You were so gracious and kind to me, I almost felt like a family member! I loved our discussions and the way you see the world. It was enriching to get to know your experience and opinion about permaculture and… read more
Here she has been indispensable, taking care of the young seedlings in the greenhouse, always keeping things tidy around her, baking the best bread on an almost daily basis… read more
She digs, show gravel, move planks around and keep the house tidy without hesitating for a second. In the green house she’s been dead on the task of replanting a copious amount of wild strawberry seedlings, together with… read more
I will be always grateful for the knowledge that Ylva, Johan and Siri offered to me !!
Thanks again and… read more
Meet them, live with them and work with them, it was something I'll remember forever. I have only happy and positive memories and I wish to see them again.
I learned a lot of usefull… read more
You couldn’t find a more amiable and eager workawayer with a bigger interest in foreign languages if you tried ever so hard!
Osla has really lighten up our time around the kitchen table with her never ending enthusiasm of understanding the grammar of our somewhat strange mother tong, Swedish, and her overall positive… read more
We built a lot together, made a lot of brainstorming and… read more
He is also very thorough and works at a steady pace and get things done. If there is a problem comming up, he solves it if he can and come… read more
The family is really nice and kind and you will never run out of topics to talk about with them. I can definitely recommend them as hosts and also the two dogs are very friendly family members :) I hope I can come back one day… read more
We have grown to like Peter very much and do indeed recommend him as a workawayer. He is kind and… read more
She is also a… read more
On the other hand felt every day like a century,… read more
They are easy going, eat lots of pasta and work even more :-) We' ve had so much fun and are looking forward to recieve them as our guests this winter. We strongly… read more
Ylva, Johan and Siri made us feel welcome from the minute we set foot there. They are friendly, open-minded and warm-hearted people who kept us busy by sharing their way of life, showing us around, cooking giant amounts of gorgeous food (honestly, I still sometimes dream about those tomatoes) and… read more
They are easy going, eat lots of pasta and work even more :-) We' ve had so much fun and are looking forward to recieve them as our guests this winter. We strongly… read more
They are easy going, eat lots of pasta and work even more :-) We' ve had so much fun and are looking forward to recieve them as our guests this winter. We strongly… read more