Swiss family of four seeks on-farm work opportunity for 6 to 9 months

A lovely family of four living in London contacted us through the Savory Institute. Their two children are pictured above. If you are able to help them find a work opportunity on a holistically managed farm, please contact them directly:

Email Address: anneka_w@hotmail.com

Dear Reader,

Having lived in London for over 20 years and passing the 40-year-benchmark, to question our own careers and lifestyles seems unavoidable.

A few months ago an idea started to evolve that we could take some time out from our settled life in London and live and work on a farm for an extended period of time to experience a whole different life for a while.

We are inexperienced farmers, despite Michel's ancestors being sheep farmers and cheese makers in the Swiss mountains. We would like to explore a possibility to experience farming or rather, growing. We are very keen to learn about organic farming, we read about forest gardens, Demeter farming as well as the Savoury Institute and Grasslands.

We came across a publication by Gestalten Publishers portraying different growers, farmers, foragers and fishermen which probably painted a slightly romantic picture of spending life growing and farming but it further fuelled our ideas; we know and imagine farming to be very tough but we think we are up for it.

It was great to learn where some of the progressive thinking producers operate around the world and suddenly we found a new interest in other parts of Europe, Neuseeland, Australia, Tasmania but also Canada and the US.

Our aim is now to get in touch with potential 'hosts' for our project, knowing that it could be a tall order to find a perfect match. We are aware of several volunteering platforms that provide small holdings and organic farms with young workers with very little needs and a lot of motivation to learn and work hard. We have the motivation and interest but we are four, with our children needing to enjoy some form of schooling (local schools or home schooling). We can sustain ourselves for a 6 to 9 months but are seeking to be able to get food & accommodation (or a similar arrangement) in exchange for our work. We are not adverse to bringing our professional skills into use as long as we can learn and be part of the farming process alongside. We also want to continue to spend sufficient time with our children and if we travelled as far as Neuseeland or Australia we'd want to travel the country a little as well, before or after a stay on a farm.

We imagine that a minimum of 3 months would be a good period of time to stay but longer is probably more interesting and more beneficial for all of us. Our total time out in our minds should be 1 year; but that could be fragmented as well, meaning that we move to different places after 3 months - 5 months.

We have not looked into visa arrangements yet but we are aware that this will be an important aspect to look into early enough.

It is an intriguing process with many thoughts and options arising. It would be amazing to learn whether at all there have been similar situations come up for farmers and if there is a chance for us to find a host to whom we could be a beneficial helping hand, respectively 4 grown up and 4 children's hands.

Sincerely,

Anneka, Michel, Malin & Emil