Animal care on our little Swiss mountain farm in Hoffeld, Switzerland

Infos

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  Description

  We are a family living in the Swiss mountain area with sheep, chicken, ducks and cats. We have planted an orchard and cultivate a vegetable garden and a potato field. Being as self containing as possible is important to us. We heat our house built in 1750 with wood from our own forest, drink water from our own source, have partly photo voltaic electricity, bake our own bread, are happy to eat what the garden gives us, eat the meat from our self grown animals only, eat handmade sheep cheese and milk by hand.
  
  Our tiny farm is no business. Even though we sell a little meat once a year, this little money goes directly back into investment for paying the butcher, buying fencing stuff, working gear, ear markers, the annual check and so on. We do not make money with the farm. Our tax shows a blank zero every year. We decided living on the farm as our lifestyle.
  
  Since we can make no living out of the farm we both need both to work in other areas to be able to lead our modest life. We love it. Being as independent as possible and as close to nature as possible is important to us. Our daughter born in August 2017 grows up like Heidi :-) She knows the plants and how to take care of animals. We have 16 little chicklets that need to be taken care of. From January to March new lambs are being born. Little kitten will be welcomed on this world in spring and little ducks will follow soon from the dream couple Elvis and Tixi, our ducks that take care to minimize the population of slugs in the garden in summer and love to play in the snow in winter.
  
  We are most happy to welcoming you, if you enjoy being close to animals and nature, open minded, open hearted, communicate frankly, have a normal fitness level, can cope with a modest life without television and spa, share the bathroom, kitchen, living room and meals with us and love children and have a positive outlook on life and basically a good mood. Good vibes are important to us. It's also possible to smile early in the morning :-) We generally prefer females, since taking care of our little daughter is an important part and she opens faster with females and we feel better, sorry guys!

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage

  S’occuper des animaux

  Aide dans une ferme

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison
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  Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

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  Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We live a modest life in the mountains. You can learn to take care of sheep, newborn lambs, feed lambs by bottle, take care of the chicken, chicklets, ducks and cats. You can learn how to bake bread also in the wood stove and how to make fire in a traditional Swiss wood burner.
  
  You will live in a magic fairy tale winter landscape and experience what it means to be happy with a modest life that is as independent as possible. We are happy to share expertise and experience. You can learn German with our little daughter who is happy to teach you in a playful way. You will always eat high quality and healthy food.
  
  You will sleep a deep and healthy sleep here and enjoy seeing some wildlife. Our farm is a magic place where the fairies kiss the roe deers good night :-) Nevertheless, in 30 minutes by foot you are at Degersheim train station with good connections. On one hand we are totally outback, on the other hand civilization is pretty close.
  
  We have a lot of experience with people that stayed and helped at our place from all over the world and are happy to welcome some more. We are happy to share our modest home and give you your own bedroom with a fantastic view. You get to live in a winter fairy tale landscape in the middle of hiking tracks that you are welcome to discover by snow shoes.

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  Aide

  You don't need to have any farming skills. We prefer people who are curious and would like to learn something new.
  
  In winter we are extremely grateful for support in the daily care-taking of the animals. You'll have to get up when the sun rises. In winter that's about at 7 a.m. You will be helping in the stables for 2 hours every morning and evening same time as well as cooking lunch sometimes and play with our daughter as well as support us by trying to keep the house clean and tidy. You have a five day week, that means you can sleep out twice a week and have two days off per week. Which week days we agree on together from week to week. It depends on our plans as well, since we also would like to leave the farm for some weekends, trusting you to tend the animals and the farm for those days enjoying to have the place all to yourself for a couple of days.
  
  Frank communication is important to us. Please always tell us, if work is too hard, too much, too boring, whatever or whether you have special interests. We are happy to share our expertise and experiences.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  We are always happy to improve our English. Our daughter is happy to teach you German :-)
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  Hébergement

  You have your own little room with bed, table, chair and a fantastic view. We share bathroom, kitchen as well as the living room. We share meals and are happy to taste your home's kitchen at lunch time some days.

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  Autres infos...

  You can do some sledding, hiking, snow shoe hiking, discover the close city St. Gallen by train, go to the famous mountain Säntis by cable car, enjoy being in the middle of a fairy tale winter landscape. The train station Degersheim is 30 minutes by foot from our place and has good connections.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Cet hôte a de la place pour les vans.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Un

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week