Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
25 Mar 2025
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 6 days
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Details
Description
We are Silver and Ester - a couple with an 8 year-old daughter Saskia and a 5-year-old son Leonhard. We are living in a self-built reed/clay/log house with a big greenhouse/solarium attached to the south side of the house. We also have 2 cats and some chickens.
Our place is a lush "island" surrounded by lots of nature, fields and forests. We have plenty of space, big gardens, fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers. There's also a family-shared old traditional farmhouse (built in 1892), summer kitchen/guest house, sauna, outdoor yoga studio, and a few more buildings on the property. It's a special piece of land, shared between 4 generations. The whole family is contributing their work/ideas/projects so that we could all enjoy this place as it is today.
In the summers, we have more family, friends and volunteers around and it feels like a seasonal community.
Our peak of the year is an annual acro(yoga) festival that we organize and host here. More than 100 people show up at our home, so it becomes really vibrant and the whole farmstead reaches it´s full potential. It´s really special for us and many others.
Our project is completely non-profit.
The dates for the next festival (big anniversary edition, 10th year) are July 30th to August 3rd, 2025.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
The oldest building at the property (dating back to 1892) is a traditional estonian farmhouse. The way it remains in it´s original form offers a glimpse into the life of Estonian country folk . The whole house is designed and built in a way to support the rythm of the 4 seasons, harvesting, processing grains and sustaining a family.
We love our sauna (available from april to november), which is and has always been an irreplaceable element of our culture. It's especially nice to introduce the real sauna experience to foreigners, who might not be so faimiliar with it. Sometimes they might even claim that they're not into it. Guess how many rounds in there it takes, for them to reconsider their opinion?
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
For summer 2025 (May to September) we are mostly looking for:
1) Gardener(s) - we would love to welcome you, if you have some experience with vegetable gardening. We are not going to teach you to garden, but instead want you to feel comfortable working on your own (or with another volunteer) and being independent. Minimum stay 2 months. We intend to grow a little bit of food for our festival. Usually we´ve been able to provide lettuce, herbs and other greens. If you stay for at least 2 months (start in early June), then you can actually start the beds with seeds, take care of your own projects and hopefully harvest for the festival chefs. If you come for longer - even better! - you might aim for some longer-growing veggies too! On top of that, we have 2 greenhouses and some veggie patches to take care of.
2) Builder/carpenter/general handyman - We would really appreciate your help around the farm. We love to build and make all sorts of things here (specially from natural and recycled materials). There´s different buildings that need some work done on them and sometimes new projects where you could contribute. We need people like you during the whole summer season (may-september), but specially for the month of July to help prepare for the big event.
3) Cook(s) - As we have more people living with us and visiting in the summer, there is also more stress for us to run the kitchen smoothly. If you can come and take some of that stress off by being in charge of the kitchen at times and cooking for 5-10 people, we would adore you! You are also welcome to come, if you just want to offer a hand in the kitchen with chopping, but most of all, we need people who can be in charge of the meal(s), improvising with the ingredients that are available.
(Cooking help is not needed for the festival)
4) Nanny - it looks like the more things we have on our "to-do" agenda, the more attention the kids need :) Specially during the 2nd half of July, when we are constantly pottering about and getting ready to receive lots of people. Our kids are active, fun, creative. They spend a lot of time outdoors and love to play with people of different ages from all walks of life. They know a tiny bit of English, but would love to learn more. They want to show you a lot of things and take you to places and show you around, Maybe you end up being each-others babysitters :) Drivers licence is a bonus - to be able to take the kids(and yourself) for a dip in the lake on hot days.
5) House fairy - It would be an absolute delight if you want to come and help us with cleaning, tidying and organizing around the house.
6) Any combination of the above!
Regardless of what your position is, we would really appreciate if you could also contribute with cooking and tidying.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Estonian: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Russian: Beginner
Accommodation
We've got a couple of options, depending on availability and your preference. The 2nd story of our house is ready for guests - depending on other people staying, you might have more or less privacy. There is a guest bedroom, bathroom and an open hall upstairs. We have a tiny cabin, about 50m away from the big house, that sleeps 2. We also have 2 big bell tents that we furnish and set up for most of the summer.
We provide 3 meals (or ingredients for meals) a day. We eat nearly everything, mostly based on what´s in season - meats and veggies, eggs from our chickens, milk products from a nearby organic farm. Whole grain products from organic growers. We can easily accommodate vegan/vegetarian diets.
What else ...
It is quite easy to reach us. The place is just a 40-minute drive from Tallinn. There are frequent trains and (not so frequent) buses from Tallinn to our closest town, Kohila (7km from us). There is a river nearby, where you can dip in. There's a picturesque bog nearby(good picking berries!) with a beautiful lake that is good for swimming too. Another quarry-lake is a 10-minute drive from us.
We are quite hard-working, but it's not so bad, because it's all work we have chosen to do and enjoy doing. Expect to be rather busy here, though you are always welcome to take your own space and just enjoy being in the nature. We don´t have a strict schedule for working. The work days and hours are flexible. It could be, that on some days you end up doing more and other days less.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
We can accept the kind of pets that don't eat our chickens or cats.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (13)
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.9)
I spent my time… read more
We are… read more
It was our first workaway and we couldn't have had a better time.
the place is dreamy, the food wonderful and the family even more incredible. They helped us a lot to know what a workaway is like, they were very kind, patient and made us feel like family from the first moment.
we would… read more
They were always up for the tasks we had for them, doing their work with great commitment. In addition, they… read more
They are truly fantastic hosts, kind, easy to talk to and interesting. The kids are also very cute and we felt a part of the family. We enjoyed spending time outside of 'working hours' with them, in the sauna, chatting around the table and even meeting some of… read more
It felt smooth and natural to have Julie in the house - low maintanance, no stress and good company. She was up for the tasks that we had in mind and showed initiative to learn and do more.
they have a true chill world traveler spirit- I reached out to them last minute and they were incredibly obliging and helpful.
I spent my two weeks there helping with plastering of the walls and helping wall in the front porch. and I really… read more
The labour we provided never really felt like work. Silver and Ester offered plenty of variation in the tasks to ensure we… read more
Ester and Silver are warm-hearted and hard working. On the construction site and also as parents. We enjoyed spending time with them, sharing experiences of living in Estonia and everything else; very inspiring and motivating.
We helped them to plaster the walls of their new… read more
See you again, when We Are Lost in Verona :)
Silver is a very hard worker and he's very helpful. He taught us how to plastering the walls with clay, a simple, fun and rewarding job. Every day we ate together as a big family and in the evening we did the sauna, what an experience! Silver and Ester… read more
