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Hands-on garden work on an organic, biodiversity-focused farm at 760 m in Vorarlberg: sowing, weeding, mulching, composting and caring for 40+ fruit tree varieties and berries, plus projects like terracing a slope and building a path. Learn terra preta and worm composting and natural plant care. Some household work and cooking when needed. 30 h/week, weekends free, organic vegetarian food. 4 weeks minimum.
30 hours of help per week
Cleaning: Help clean the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas.
Kitchen Hand: Help prepare, finish and serve meals.
Farming: Plant crops, sow seeds and help in outside tasks.
Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens
2 days off per week
Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.
Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.
Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.
Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.
Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.
Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.
Free Hiking Tours: We’ll take you on excursions and hikes around town. For free!
Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.
Yoga classes: Take free yoga classes at our place.
Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.
Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely
Intermediate English
Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers
Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa
This is my private home and organic farm at 760 m in Dafins, Vorarlberg, shared with 3–7 volunteers: 40+ fruit tree varieties, berries, a pond, dry stone walls, deadwood hedges and wild bee habitats.
Your role: garden and land – sowing, weeding, mulching, composting, and caring for plants and trees. Bigger projects: terracing a slope, building a path through the property, planting trees, making signs for all trees and plants. While the household or cook positions are vacant, you also share household work and cooking. Experience helps but isn't required; fitness and enjoying physical outdoor work are.
Hours: 30 per week, spread as you like in agreement with me; two days off, normally Sat/Sun. Stay: 4 weeks minimum, ideally arriving at the start and leaving at the end of a month.
Room: private (occasionally shared when the house is full); towels, bedsheets and soap provided.
How the house runs: I work my normal job from home, so I'm around but not always available. I set the priorities; when a volunteer manager is here, they hand out the tasks and follow up, otherwise everything goes through me. Everyone also owns a few small house responsibilities (e.g. Bird Feeder, Pond Refiller, Laundry Hero); some rotate. Tasks run through our own task app and a group chat.
Food: I buy organic vegetarian staples weekly (rice, millet, pasta, beans, bread, butter, vegetables, fruit, yoghurt, milk, eggs, spices), plus what the garden gives. When a volunteer cook is here, lunch is cooked for the group; otherwise – and for all other meals – you cook for yourself from these staples. Meat, chips, sweets etc. aren't included; buy them yourself if you like.
You need a valid visa and health insurance for Austria. Detailed info document follows before arrival.
Garden and trees (main focus): sowing and raising seedlings; preparing beds; weeding; mulching; watering in the mornings after a few dry days; spraying trees and berries with plant extracts (nettle, comfrey, horsetail, worm tea) and iron solution; planting and tying up trees and bushes; snail hunting with a headlamp after rain; harvesting fruit, berries and nuts.
Compost: preparing the organic food-waste barrels (fermentation with plant charcoal and stone powder); feeding and maintaining the worm compost; hot-rot composting.
Biodiversity: building deadwood hedges (left alone February–June, when birds breed inside); sowing wildflowers; feeding the wild birds; refilling the pond.
Projects: terracing a slope; building a path through the property; planting trees; making signs for all trees and plants; clearing invasive blackberries; cutting grass and collecting hay.
When needed: household work and cooking while those positions are vacant; indoor tasks on rainy days. November/December: winter mulch management, tool care, processing walnuts.
Now and then there may be a chance to learn something extra – using a drill, driving the small tractor, working with wood. That's not guaranteed, so please don't count on it.
Rhythm: 30 hours per week, you track your own time. Safety equipment is here – please use it. Tools go back clean, the same day, to the same spot.
No smoking and no alcohol anywhere on the property – also not on the street outside. For many people this is one of the reasons they come here.
Communication: I value honest feedback and better ideas. If something feels wrong, tell me directly. My office is off-limits; if the door is closed, knock – if I don't answer I'm in a meeting and will come to you later.
Commitment: if you become unhappy or something serious happens in your life, you're free to leave at any time. I'd just ask you not to commit and then leave early because something more interesting came up – I need to be able to plan with you.
Work: take ownership of your responsibilities and think along – if you see something that needs doing, do it. Some tasks might not be your favourite – that's part of sharing a house and farm. Mistakes are fine – rather try and ask than hold back.
Signs: around the house you'll find short signs (kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine, drying rack, cleaning, quiet hours). Please read and follow them. Quiet hours: 21:00–7:00.
Kitchen: phones away while cooking and at the table while others eat. Clean up after cooking; knives cleaned and put back right away, not in the dishwasher; cut only on wooden boards; sink sieves stay in place. Stove off before you leave. Separate the compost bins.
House: in winter, air rooms 5–10 minutes with windows fully open, then close them. Lights off when leaving a room. Fires in the stoves only after I've shown you how. Bathroom fan on when showering; never leave a running bath unattended. Take a house key when you go out.
Emergencies: find me immediately rather than fixing things yourself. Tell me if you're sick or injured.
Before leaving: clean your room and bathroom, wash your sheets and put fresh ones on for the next guest.
