📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The organic farm community Kotthausen consists of approximately 30 hectares of farm and grazing land, woodlands, different farm buildings and five houses built in regional style. Currently 15 children and 27 adults are living in our village. 9 Chickens, 13 sheep, a goat, 8 horses, some cats and 2 dogs are an integral part of our community and part of our voluntary community work. Inclusion of people with diverse handicaps is part of our living and working within the community. In addition, we are farming for self-sufficienc and we sell some of the produce via our organic food delivery organization. For further information, please check http://www.hof-kotthausen.de/
💼 What the programme involves
There is a wide range of different tasks where you can help the community. You can work on our organic fields (seeding, planting, weeding, harvesting...) or our reforestation project (weeding and clearing of scrub) and thereby learn a lot about organic agriculture and self-sufficiency. There will also be handicraft activities, like fence or stable repair and maintenance as well as creative jobs like building with willow branches, painting or creating art works. You will also be involved in the everyday cooking for the workcamp group (mainly vegetarian food) and in preparing a festivity for yourselves and the community. Work is mostly outdoors and can be physically demanding.
🏠 Accommodation on site
The accommodation of the participants will be in family tents (these are tents with a high roof, which offer private space for 5 people in inner tents). In case of extended bad weather, a big barn will also be available. A community kitchen with two showers and toilets is nearby. Please bring your own sleeping bags, sleeping mats, towels and warm clothing. Please be aware that nights in this region can be quite cold with temperatures down to ten degrees even during summer
📍 About the location
The farm village Kotthausen is 295m above sea level and was first mentioned during medieval times. Therefore, it is quite a special and historic place with a long history of community life and youth work. The region Bergisches Land is famous for its wet weather, but has amazingly beautiful nature with stunning skies, beautiful fresh water lakes and many green forests.Kotthausen is at the end of a small road, quite remote from any big roads or cities. The nearest towns are about 5 km away. There are no shopping facilities nearby, but the region s best ice cream cafE is only a 30-minute walk away The famous and beautiful castle Schloss Burg is in 30 minutes driving distance, the city of Wuppertal can be reached by public transport in about 45 minutes.Camp participants will be part of the farm community for the duration of their stay. Almost all jobs will be performed together with inhabitants of our farm community. There will be lots of exchange, encounter and contact with German native speakers. Therefore, this workcamp is a good possibility to improve your German language skills. Most community members also speak English quite well.
ℹ️ Additional information
Volunteers will sleep in big tents on our farm. For your own fun, please bring warm sleeping bags, warm clothing, sturdy shs and raincoat with you.The food will mainly be vegetarian. Vegan options are also possible.