Smallholding, Mixed Farm
Kalmar
Our farm is a leaseholdfarm of about 130 Ha in north-eastern part of the region of Småland near Västervik and at the Baltic coast. The farm has for long been a horse farm and is rented out through a foundation that also owns and uses the forest around it for wood processing activities.
In recent years, there have been many different tenants on the farm with different kinds of specialization in the horse business, but we decided early that we wanted to invest in sheeps as grazing animals to keep the environment open and get started with a small-scale vegetable cultivation.
Right now we have 35 sheep and an old ”ram”, 18 hens and a rooster, 17 ducks, 2 cats and a dog who share their lives with us
The farm has abt 25 hectares of pasture and meadow where we can harvest hay for the animals winter use.
We have started to convert a small part of the pasture into vegetable beds. Many of the pastures are overgrown and the old fences are broken so there is a lot of fences that needs love and care to be repaired and or replaced.
On the farm there is also a rather big barn used for repairworks and as a garage for tractors and cars, a stable with a big hayloft on top, some small warehouses, a small chicken shed and a rather big 2-storey lodge.
The latter is intended to be used as a guest cottage and will in the future eventually have both water and electricity. We have under this an earth cellar where we can store our vegetables. All the buildings are nowadays in reasonably good condition but would definitely be in benefit from minor repairs and some refurbishment in the future.
Although the farm is located right next to a slightly larger road, we have a very quiet time during the day when the summer tourists have gone home.
June-September many people go to their summer resorts out here in the archipelago and there is a bit more traffic and at the same time there is some opportunities for us to market the farm's products, currently mostly eggs from our free-range hens and a small amount of vegetable from the surplus of our household production.
About 1km away is the small village of Västrum with a church, preschool but no shops or things like that;
3 km further away is the village of Skaftet where there is a second-hand store/antiques shop and also an appreciated bathing place at lake Toven with icecream on sale.
In the other direction, abt 8 km North, you will come to Gunnebo, an old mill village with an very small grocery shop and a industrial factory known for it´s ”Gunnebo fence” with a small bathing place by the sea.
The next larger town 20 km away is Västervik, 3 years in a row dedicated as the number one summer city of sweden and apparently a pleasant summer town by the sea with a big selection of grocery stores, restaurants, night life etc. The buss to Västervik departs from Gunnebo weekdays every hour from 5 am to 10 pm, there is no buss going from our place.
We who live here on the farm are Daniela born in Germany and living in Sweden for 15 years and now part time working in elderly care service and as a sheep shearer in spring and autumn
Daniela has previously 2018-2020 been back in Germany working as a vegetable grower on a biodynamic farm and has also been working as a teacher at kindergardens in both Germany and Sweden
Carl-Johan on the other hand is since 20 years retired from international business in shipping, land logistics and aviation and is now taking care of the farms mechanical and technical problems as well as manure and fence problems and enjoying the new experiency down to earth work from his previous international business works.
PLEASE NOTICE: Daniela will not be on the farm the whole time during december 2025-april 2026 but will be here every second weekend during this time.
Organic methods: In our animal husbandry and cultivation, we strive for a as closed cycle as possible, i.e. nothing needs to be brought in from outside and no resources leave the farm. In practice, this means that we compost all manure and add it to the crops. The food for the animals is largely grown on the farm and the leftovers are a welcome addition to build new growing beds.
We use methods to build above-ground growing beds by adding different types of organic matter instead of digging deep. The plant sequence is based on biodynamic research interspersed with our own and others' experiences in organic farming, permaculture and a great deal of trial-and-error.
As a little odd metod of adding natural materials to our growings we have decided to even use the natural waste from our toilets to our gardening (for bushes and trees) so in the summer we always do our toilet visits to our dry closet although we even have a modern wc and shower inside the main building
To keep our waterconsumption as low as possible and thinking about the possible drought we usually go to the lake in the afternoon for a bath, usually skinnydipping and even fill some water cans for watering the plants.
We have started a new kind of fence-building last year: building fences with branches that are lying everywhere in the forest and all the small and bigger bushes of sloeberry which cover big areas. It is great and it doesn't cost anything but our manpower, we get rid of the branches and bushes and it creates spaces for birds and other animals to hide inside and hopefully the sheep will stay inside! (add: in fact they do! mostly...)
We use only organic and biodynamic methods in our farm but do not want to pass on the costs of a certification to our customers therefor no certification.
Current projects: We need to, every summer, make sure that firewood is safe for the coming winter and that the sheep are not able to escape from the places we want them to stay at which means checking fencing, a never ending story....
Soon in March we will shear our sheep abt a month before lambing and we will even start growing plants for the summer season and prepare beds for them. We are also planning for building a new little greenhouse.
Some kind of woodwork will there always be a need for, repairing and painting and continue building a smoker for our own meat is also in the plans. Besides that I hope we will have some time for preparing sheep skins, woolworks like spinning and felting, try different methods for conserving the harvested crops and prepare an area for growing grains in the future.
Wwoofers are supposed to join all kind of work about 4-5 hours 5 days per week. That means you will feed and take care of the animals both morning and evening and make sure they always have water to drink. We will often work a couple of hours together men you need even be able to work on your own. There will even be a lot of time for you that you can spend on your own. It is possible to use our bikes or go hiking in the surroundings.
If this way of living looks interesting don´t hesitate to give us mail giving us a detailed describtion of who you are and making you interesting for us.
Due to the fact that you need to learn about the daily structure to be able to give a helping hand we would like you to plan to stay at least 10 - 14 days. Staying 1 week or less is nothing we can accept right now.
Read more
Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Poultry farming
Sheep or goat farming
Forestry
Wild foraging
Meat processing
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Beer, cider, wine, or juice making
Bakery
Food justice / sovereignty
Methods or systems
No-till farming
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Former WWOOFer
25
Hectares
|
61.8
Acres
Daniela
Member since 2021
Languages spoken:
English, German, Swedish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 2 days
Kalmar
Västervik / Linköping
Reviews
Malachi
United States
•
August 2025
I had a very pleasant stay at this farm. My responsibilities were taking care of the chickens and ducks who were quite funny, fixing the side of the chicken house and installing a new window, and other miscellaneous tasks that were stimulating and interesting. I also had good food and more importantly spent time with good people in a beautiful place. 10/10 would recommend.
Read more
Jutta
Germany
•
July 2025
Unser Aufenthalt bei Daniela und Karl Johann war eine tolle Erfahrung. Wir haben viel erlebt und hatten einen sehr schönen Kontakt zu Beiden. Unsere Aufgaben waren vielfältig:
Gartenarbeit (über 10 Sorten Gemüse): Bewässerung, Unkraut jäten, pflanzen, ernten und kochen.
Tierhaltung (Schafe, Enten und Hühner): Füttern, Wasser bereitstellen, Stall ausmisten, Zäune bauen.
Auf dem Hof leben viele Tiere. Dies prägt das Leben und die Beobachtung ist durch die Nähe und den regelmäßigen Kontakt sehr interessant. Spannend waren auch die Gespräche über biologische Landwirtschaft in Schweden und vor allem der Umgang mit den veränderten klimatischen Gegebenheiten. So prägte der Umgang mit dem deutlich weniger werdenden Wasser teilweise stark die Situation und die Arbeit.
Die Landschaft ist typisch südschwedisch: Wald, Weiden, Seen, Fjorde und Hügel. Auf Radtouren konnten wir Elche, Füchse, einen weißen Hirsch und eine Vielzahl an (Raub-)Vögeln beobachten.
Vielen Dank für die schöne Zeit bei euch
Jutta und Jens
Read more
Mathilde
France
•
July 2025
Daniella and Carl-Johan were amazing hosts! We got to do many different things around the farm, all very diverse and quite autonomously: cutting wood, tending to the sheep (giving milk to the little lily was one of the best parts!), setting up some enclosures, helping build some roofing etc. Overall it was an amazing experience and we're very happy to have done it. The highlight of the trip was going to the lake swimming, it was really great, especially with the warm weather!
They were both insanely nice and always had stories to tell us. We really can’t recommend this farm enough, we would love to come back !
Thank you for everything Daniella and Carl-Johan ! (and kisses to Lily)
Read more
Maria
Germany
•
May 2025
We had a wonderful first wwoofing experience at Daniela & Carl-Johans! We took over daily tasks such as feeding the animals in the morning as well as working on projects with the two of them, like cutting down bushes and building fences with them, placing electric fences for the sheep and relocating them, and building a canopy in front of the sheepfold. Conrad got to drive the tractor and Maria got to accompany Daniela in shearing sheep. I'd recommend a stay at their farm to everyone!
Read more
Lena
Germany
•
April 2025
Ich hatte eine wundervolle Zeit bei Daniela und Carl-Johann! Es war meine erste Wwoofing-Erfahrung und ich habe mich sehr wohl gefühlt. Nach ein paar Tagen der Einarbeitung durfte ich viele Dinge allein machen, wie zum Beispiel die tägliche, morgendliche Versorgung der Tiere. Wir haben aber auch sehr viel gemeinsam gemacht, wie zum Beispiel Gemüse aussähen, Beete vorbereiten oder Zaunbau. Es gab natürlich noch viel mehr tolle Erlebnisse und ich konnte viel neues lernen und auch die Umgebung erkunden. Ich kann einen Aufenthalt bei den beiden nur empfehlen!
Read more
Barbara
Austria
•
April 2025
10 von 10 Punkten!!!!🥳
Ich hätte es nicht besser erwischen können....
Obwohl ich recht kurzfristig bei Dani und Carl Johan aufgetaucht bin (innerhalb einer Woche war der erste Kontakt und auch die Anreise) war es perfekt für mich. Ich wurde sehr herzlich empfangen, es gab eine kurze Einschulung und dann durfte ich auch schon loslegen. Jeden Tag ist ihnen was Neues eingefallen, sei es nun Zaunbau, Schafwolle sortieren, spinnen, Gemüseanbau usw.....sodass mich ein ehemaliger WWOOFer und Bekannter angeschrieben hat auf dem wievielten Hof ich denn sei in den 2 Wochen🤣
Ich kann nur sagen:
Langeweile Fehlanzeige, aber auch immer die Möglichkeit die Gegend zu erkunden.
Ich komm zurück zum Anfang: Besser geht's nicht! Ein absoluter Glücksfall🥰
Ich konnte auch jede Menge mit nach Hause nehmen. Ich backe jetzt wieder daheim mein eigenes Natursauerbrot, ziehe mir meine Sprossen im Marmeladenglas auf der Fensterbank und warte auf mein erstes eigenes fermentiertes Gemüse 😁
Read more
