Organic market garden
Värmland
Welcome to our old farm surrounded by quiet woods and lakes! We, Paula and Arne, aged around 40, have been living here since 2019. When we came, the farm had been uninhabited for about half a century so the first few years we focused on renovating the house, the outhouses and getting the basics up and running. In 2023 we started our commercial market garden and are now looking forward to our 4th season of producing high quality, organic vegetables which we sell directly to our customers in the nearest town, Torsby, as well as some other villages in the area.
We don’t have any animals yet, but are considering getting chickens, bees and sheep in the future, after we get the infrastructure, the knowledge and the money to get started.
The surroundings of our farm are very quiet, forests and lakes as far as the eye can see. The nearest permanent neighbours are 3 km away. The nearest bus stop is 10 km away and Torsby is 25 km away. Even though Torsby has only around 6000 inhabitants, it functions as a regional capital. There are several supermarkets, a hospital, several schools and churches, a swimming pool, small shops and big stores providing almost everything we need.
We don’t have a car. We commute by bike. One of our bikes is an electric cargo bike which we use to deliver fresh vegetables to our customers or to markets. It can transport about 100kg, so if you come by bus, we might decide to give you and your luggage a ride in the cargo bike. It depends on the circumstances. Otherwise, to get here, you will need to cycle with us either from Torsby or from the bus stop. Or walk. Or if you should choose to come by car…
We always have many projects on our farm and depending on the season, the weather, your interests and skills, we might ask you to help us with the following tasks:
preparing beds (adding manure, compost, mulch, aereation, edge maintenance)
weeding
picking slugs (we still don’t have any, but they will come)
pruning and clipping tomato and cucumber plants
watering
harvesting
cleaning, weighing and packing the vegetables
helping serve our visitors on open days
pruning fruit trees
clearing invasive plants and brush
berry picking
taking care of compost
turning piles of branches into wood chips with a machine
splitting or moving firewood
building and carpentry projects
building fences
food preservation (drying, fermenting, making jam, …)
We might also take you to visit a friend’s farm a day or two and work for them instead.
We always do our very best to offer our wwoofers a diverse and stimulating learning experience, but sometimes the circumstances demand boring, dirty, tedious work. That’s also part of farm life. We’ll make sure to take your needs into consideration when scheduling the work.
Climate change, biodiversity loss and local resilience are key drivers of what we do, why we do it and how. We are constantly weighing pros and cons in every decision and there’s a lot of thought behind how our farm works. Perfection, however, is not something we can ever hope to achieve. And while we like discussing and getting new insights, sometimes the work just needs to be done.
The accomodation will be very basic. We have different options, but none of them offer high comfort. The toilet is a dry toilet, the shower is outdoors (but private), there is electricity in most buildings. We will eat most meals together and we will take turns to do the preparation and the dishes.
We want you to work around 25-30 per week plus help with cooking and dishes at least once a week.
On your free time, you could enjoy going for a swim in the many lakes in the area, go for a walk along the hiking trail that passes through our farm, playing on our piano or reading some of the books in our library. There are plenty of quiet places where you can go to be alone and meditate.
We wwoofed together for most of 2014, in several countries and it was a wonderful experience that we highly recommend! Hopefully, some of our experiences as wwoofers can make us good hosts!
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Forestry
Wild foraging
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Green Building
Food justice / sovereignty
Methods or systems
Holistic management
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Production farm
Former WWOOFer
9
Hectares
|
22.2
Acres
Arne
Member since 2022
Languages spoken:
Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 8 days
Värmland
Torsby, bus to Mårbacken where we can pick you up by bike
Reviews
Olivia
Germany
•
July 2023
We had an amazing time with Arne and Paula!! They’re super kind, caring, open minded and are willing to teach you A LOT! Thank you so much for the experience and we hope to see you again soon! :)
Annegret
Germany
•
July 2022
I stayed at Gärdvallen for one week in july and it was one of my wwoofing experiences I enjoyed the most and found the most interesting. The hosts are both super nice and welcoming (and good cooks :) ). I helped with building a washing station for vegetables, stairs down to the water, a brickwall for the new and very fancy compost toilet, seeding, weeding (not much needed), cutting grass with a scythe, firewood and painting the fassade. The hosts often asekd for my opinion/ideas about/for the current project and always made sure I was alright, which I thought really nice. They knew a lot about how things were done centuries ago, about nature and farming and the history of the place and of course had good ideas about in which direction to head for a nice walk or hike. The surrounding nature is just beautiful. The way of living and working at Gärdvallen is very inspiring. They are working really hard to make the place a special one. I first was a bit scared of the outdoor shower and compost toilet but was surprised to find out how comfortable it was. Also I am very grateful for the host's patience with my swedish speaking.
To me this stay was exactly what wwoofing is all about, to value each other, learn from each other and help each other. They showed me so much to make sure I had a good experience. I definately learned a lot and also about myself. The 25km by bike up and down with my luggage from the busstop were worth it! I wish them all the best with their big project!
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Dorien Tecla
Sweden
•
May 2022
What a great time I had at Gärdvällen! The week was filled of a lot of nature but also culture in a paradise. The work was interesting with a lot of variation, I did some wood cutting, seeding , fermenting, painting and much more. Paula and Arno are very warm, interesting people and very good hosts: They made sure the work was not too demanding, were very patient with learning me things (since I was beginner in most activities), and incredibly good cooks and piano players! The place is remote (requires a bike ride to get there) and basic but I felt I did not need more (slept in the sauna which was wonderful). The house is very cosy and comfortable. Example of less is much more here ;). In your free time it is wonderful to explore the (nature) neighborhood (very interesting walk with a lot of information about the area and its previous inhabitants, bathe in the stream, listen to live piano music , read a book in the hammock, sauna etc. I can definitely recommend this place and hope to come back !
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