Homestead, Market Garden, Family farm, garden store
Dalarna
Dear Wwoofer =)
Thank you for taking the time to read the description of our farm and the thing we are trying to create. The idea of being a part of a positive change of society and climate with the knowledge and techniques available is a great inspiration for us. We like to share that mission with people that have the same motivation and who like to contribute to the future in a practical way. After running and growing this project the last four years we have concluded that it is possible to run a sustainable business - around all locally and ecological produced vegetables, products and services - this far north and live a simple life from it during summers. But important to mention is that on a small scale it comes with a lot of work.
Combining farming and hospitality has been the key factor to make our small farm work. It comes with a great variety of tasks. Almost all tasks can be learned and done by the people that come to us for community service or internships if some time is invested in it. Experience shows that the richest exchanges happen when one stays a longer period (at least a month): there is then room to learn, get to know the business, be involved, and contribute to the process with new ideas. This is the reason why we favour stays of at least 3 weeks.
You will find at the end of this description a link to a document you can download from our dropbox. This document explains with more details the organisation of the farm, the work and gives some practical informations. If you are interested by visiting us, we recommend that you to read it.
THE FARM:
Our farm is an Organic vegetable garden, a café, restaurant, yoga place and a small garden store to sell our vegetables and locally produced goods in the middle of Dalarna. The farm was first erected in the 1860´s and has been changed and altered through the years as needed. Now we have the opportunity to put our ideas into it. Our goal is to create a meeting place around good healthy food, healthy living, and learning, that has a positive effect on the world. The farm is located in the beautiful Insjön village. The homestead is 3000m2 and 2/3 of it is cropland. On the other third there are several houses:
- The main house (our living quarters)
- A big barn (with a garage, Yoga Shala and a social area)
- A log house (main quarters for wwoofers)
- An old stable and storage barn.
The homestead is close to communication by train and bus (Insjön Station). The placing in the middle of the village also makes it close to all convenience stores, small restaurants, nice lakes and hiking grounds in beautiful nature.
THE BUSINESS:
Vegetable growing is the base for the project that provides us, our customers and our restaurant with healthy food from the end of May to the beginning of October. We sell vegetables and other local products and food in our garden store.
Although the farm is the base of the project, the work in the summers is mostly organised around the opening time and activities of the service of our customers.
The café is open for lunch and afternoon coffee Wednesday to Sunday, and for dinner on Friday and Saturday.
For lunch, we serve galettes (a thin buckwheat pancake) with different savoury fillings.
For dinner on Fridays evenings: we serve a different dinner every week, according to a theme around food (Mexican, Italian, Tapas and Wine..). Friday evenings has been very popular these 2 last years, and we usually have a lot of fun preparing for that.
For dinner on Saturday evenings: we serve snacks plates.
We also host events where local artists come and play and sing.
ORGANISATION OF THE WORK:
We have set out to create a healthy life by working outdoors during the part of the year when it is possible. The different seasons come with different possibilities and needs and the life on the farm change with it.
From March to mid May:
In the beginning of the season, when the café and store are not opened yet, the work is organised around the preparation of the farm: raising plants, preparing beds, building projects and planting the garden, erecting poly and fleece tunnels and educating the kids in the local school about plants and easy biology. For 2026, the building projects are a dry starting renovation of old barn, a new compost, an outdoor kitchen extension and a storage area on top of the garage.
This part of the year is the most physical where we are digging, building and carrying all things that should be in place for the season.
From mid May to end of June:
As the farm is opening, the work starts to revolves around the café, restaurant and garden store. We are still planting the garden and finishing building projects.
End of June to mid August:
Now everything is at full swing at our garden. Tourists that visit the area come for lunch or for an event in the garden. This is the most busy time where more than half of the years turnover happens. Our place really lives up during this period and becomes a meeting place. We can welcome up to 130 people in the duration of a day. This time of the year is all about the service that we provide for our community, customers and guests.
Mid August to mid September:
The amount of visit starts to decrease. We start to harvest for our winter storage and make the preserves for winter and early spring. We start to empty beds and prepare the fields for winter.
ORGANISATION OF THE LIFE:
From March to april: The first wwoofers that arrives for the year stays in the main house, because the log house is still too cold. The small room is situated on the second floor of the house, aside our room. The room as a double bed, so we welcome 1 (or 2 people that live together) at the time. The meals can be taken together, and you will share the bathroom, kitchen, and life with us.
April to September: The woofers live in the log house, situated just aside the main house. There is a fully equipped small kitchen in the lower floor. The house can host up to 3 woofers (2 beds in the upper floor, 1 bed in the lower floor). There is an outdoor shower (with hot water) and a dry toilet. There is an internet access available in the log house.
woofers are responsible for their breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food can be prepared and eaten in the log house. We go for groceries around 2 times a week, and provide the food needed (out of any exotic unusual requests :) ). There are 2 days free of work every week (Saturday and Sunday or Monday and Tuesday depending on the season), which is a good opportunity to explore the area: visit the surroundings villages, bath in a lake, hike... or just enjoy the peacefulness of the garden and rest!
MORE ABOUT THE FARM:
Organic methods: Our soil is sand based, topped with compost, manure and organic material in mostly a No Dig way. This gives a good place for root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, beetroot, parsnips…), different salads, peas, beans, rhubarb, zucchini, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and tomatoes, cucumber, and chili in the greenhouse. A good organic cover in the autumn and mulching with broken down material between crops together with a rotation of crops give a good yield and a low number of pests and snails. We interplant flowers to attract insects for pollination, which also gives a beautiful impression, both inspiring and soothing.
Development of our own line of products:
The store was opened in spring 2023 and we are still working on our selection of goods to build a more attractive shopping place for homegrown an local products. In parallel of finding new suppliers, we have started to develop our own products. This project started in the summer 2023, with the making of kimchi (Korean version of sourcroute made with Chinese cabbage), persillade (pesto made with parsley) and apple butter. For this coming season, we would like to sell in the store our own rhubarb sirup, elderflower sirup and pickles. We are also planning to produce our own rhubarb chutney.
Thank you for reading the full description! Please feel free to contact us if you would like to join the adventure! :)
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Flower farming
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Seed saving or production
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Mechanics / tools / technology
Methods or systems
Holistic management
No-till farming
Permaculture
Host type
Production farm
0.4
Hectares
|
1
Acres
Mattias and Flore
Member since 2020
Languages spoken:
English, French, Swedish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 93%
Response time: typically within 1 day
Dalarna
Insjön train Station
Reviews
Katrin
Germany
•
September 2025
We had a wonderful time at Nords Trädgård and already miss the garden and the life there a lot. Mattias and Flore were very kind and always took the time to answer our questions and explain the garden and tasks in more detail. We worked in the garden as well as in the café and enjoyed both. On top of that, we felt very welcome at all times: On Fridays after the theme dinner we also sat and ate dinner together :)
We never felt like working too much, sometimes we even lost track of time while working, and Flore and Mattias reminded us that we were done for the day. They also went to the supermarket 2-3 times a week and made sure we had everything we needed. Furthermore, we were allowed to take vegetables from the garden which was great for cooking dinner in the evenings. Mattias and Flore also provide bikes for the wwoofers which is very convenient for going to the nearby lake :)
The härbrä, the house were we stayed, was comfortable, but you should make sure to bring some warm clothes because it can get a bit cold (already in August), especially in the evening or at night.
We had an overall good experience and especially appreciate the kindness of Flore and Mattias and how well the work was organized. We would love to come back one time to meet Flore and Mattias again and see how the garden and the café will develop in the future.
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Julia Linn
Switzerland
•
July 2025
My one-month stay with Mattias and Flore was my first WWOOFing experience—and it couldn't have been better. Every morning, we met outside, and they explained what needed to be done and gave us a clear overview and orientation for the day. After that, we were able to work independently.
The work was a pleasant and balanced mix of gardening and helping out in the café. Mattias and Flore were always approachable and took the time to answer questions and offer support when needed. They were open, helpful, and explained things with genuine care and enthusiasm. I always felt well looked after, and the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly.
I am taking away many new skills and insights from my time there. It was a great learning experience and a valuable insight into life and work at “Nords Trägård.”
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Stefanie
Sweden
•
April 2025
I stayed at Mattias and Flore's beautiful home and farm for 3.5 weeks and I enjoyed it so much! As I stayed there quite early in the season, I lived with them in their house and from the first day it felt so familiar as they are both just so nice and uncomplicated. They included me in everything I wanted to and I never felt like a "stranger". I helped them a lot with getting the farm ready for the season and my work was really varied (sowing and planting a lot indoors, cleaning up a lot, following them to school and helping to "teach" the children there, painting etc....). The feeling of being part of their small team and working AS a team was so nice and satisfying. I'm looking forward to visiting them again in the summer and seeing what has come of all our preparations. Tusen tack för allt, ni är fantastiska, båda två och jag kommer att sakna er!!
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Lilian
Hong Kong SAR China
•
September 2024
I am definitely missing this beautiful place so much after leaving for a week. The 2 weeks stay was really incredible. This is my first time to go Wwoofering and so I didnt know what I should expect. It turns out to be one of the most unforgettable experience in my life. I learnt a lot about organic farming. I have a lot of first-time experience like harvesting, feeding the chicken, baking a lot of food, making pattern on coffee, serving the community in the cafe, making apple butter… Everyday is different and never get bored of the work.
It is really incredible to work together and I will definitely be backed once I visit Sweden again!
Thanks for the warm hospitality again! I will never forget that you have added my name on the menu for the last event of the cafe! All the best!
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Lena
Germany
•
September 2024
I had an overall good experience at Nords Trädgård!
Mattias and Flore were really welcoming when I arrived and showed me the beautiful restored food storage barn in which we stayed. It was clean, comfortable and overall a great experience. We always had enough food and were often asked if we needed anything. The working hours were more than five hours since the snack break was about 30 min and lunch too. This was the only point which could be improved in the future, depending on how durable the wwoofers are. The work depended on the days but since I stayed at the end of August it was a lot of preparations for winter which I enjoyed. You will also be able to cook and work in the cafe which is always really appreciated. In general I felt welcome, safe and comfortable at the farm. I learned a lot about farming and harvesting and was able to taste and try local food. You can really feel how hard Mattias and Flore work to achieve their dream which I found inspiring. They were open, kind and enthusiastic. We spent some evenings together eating and talking, that stayed in my mind and made memories that I will look back on with a smile. Thank you for the great time, knowledge and getting to know you and the wwoofers that stayed with me!
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Rea
Switzerland
•
August 2024
My month long stay with Mattias and Flore was my first WWOOFing experience and it was a dream. The work consists of a pleasent mix between gardening work and helping in the café. Daily meetings before work help to give you an overview of how the day will look and what needs to be done.
Although I was helping out during the busiest time of the season, Flore and Mattias always took time to listen to my questions and help out if it was required.
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