📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The community of Grafenhausen, located in the Black Forest, invites an international workcamp for the 5th time. It is a village with about 2.100 inhabitants in the South of Germany that has a lot to offer: e.g. the very interactive "Black Forest Museum", a public pool, and a sculpture park (where the international group of 2015 worked). Grafenhausen is located at about 1.000 meters altitude; therefore the weather in spring is still unpredictable: Be prepared for warm and sunny temperatures, as well as coldness and rain.
💼 What the programme involves
This year, you will help restore parts of the forest that were damaged by a plague of bark beetles in 2018 and 2019. You will clear the damaged areas and new plantations from brush wood and then plant new fir and beech trees in the empty parts of the forest. In order to protect the young trees from animals, you will build protective measures around them.Your second task will be to renew the gravel on SchlEhEwanapark ( a 2.6km long nature discovery path for children and families. Depending on the weather you might also help out with other various tasks in the community. Theres always a lot to do, so just prepare yourself to work outside manually, fulfilling constructional / renovation / environmental tasks.
🏠 Accommodation on site
You will be accommodated in a beautiful group house where showers and a kitchen are provided. Please bring your own sleeping bag. The group house is in the middle of the village, so you can easily walk to a bakery/cafE and the local supermarket.
📍 About the location
Grafenhausen is a very nice village within a beautiful landscape. The surrounding area is perfect for hiking trips: There are lakes close-by and it is not even half an hour by car to the Feldberg (the highest German mountain outside of the Alps). Also, the famous beer "Tannenzaepfle" is brewed in Grafenhausen and you might be able to visit the brewery. Furthermore, there are regular train connections to Freiburg (a university city with lots of students) and Lake Constance. However, the village is in a very rural area. The community will lend you a bus to make shopping and excursions easier, nevertheless, be prepared for two calming weeks in the Black Forest and far away from big city life.
ℹ️ Additional information
If you want to stay longer in Germany, you can combine this workcamp with the workcamp IBG 02 Wild Wood Pasture Kappel-Grafenhausen. Both take place in the same region and you can easily travel by local train from one workcamp to the next.