Come and join us and help us implement our permaculture design near Floby, Sweden

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: at least 2 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    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
    ----------------------------
    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!

    --------------------------------------------------------
    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

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Animal Care
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
  • UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN goals
    No poverty
    Zero hunger
    Good health and well-being
    Quality education
    Gender equality
    Clean water and sanitation
    Affordable and clean energy
    Decent work and economic growth
    Industries, innovation and infrastructure
    Reduce inequality
    Sustainable cities and communities
    Responsible consumption and production
    Climate action
    Life below water
    Life on land
    Peace, justice and strong institutions
    Partnerships for the goals
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    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

    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: Fluent

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    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 ...

    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

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Space for parking camper vans

    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?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Host ref number: 885776291712

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