Volunteers live on Vlierhof virtually all the time. We strive to make a balance between what volunteers bring to us (work, new ideas, etc) with what they take home with them when they leave again (live in a community, learning experiences, etc). Without volunteers, we could not get all the work done on Vlierhof.  Vlierhof depends on the help of volunteers to keep up with all the things that need to get done on the farm and in our community. In addition, they give us a fresh look at things. We were very fortunate that we were allowed to receive many beautiful people who often stayed for a couple of months. A lot of volunteers come from the WWOOF organization (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and from HelpX. We receive volunteers from all over the world.

Volunteers get to experience and be a part of our community, live in nature, learn skills, and enjoy the sense of contribution and accomplishment. They get free food and board and they work 5,5 days/week about 6 hours/day on whatever is needed at that moment. We always try to find a balance between what work needs to be done and what the volunteer would like to do: working on the land, taking care of the trees, looking after the animals, chopping wood, household work, cooking, maintenance, painting, cleaning, etc. . Since we have many projects going on at once, there is always something for the volunteers to do, depending somewhat on their skills and needs and our priorities. Volunteers helped build a clay oven which we now use for baking our bread, one volunteer created an herb and flower garden, another has been working for years, one week/month, creating a labyrinth on the land, now we are building a little cottage with a reciprocal roof and adobe walls. There are many more examples of the great things volunteers have contributed. But also computer work or work that requires technical skills are possibilities.

We hope that, after training, volunteers can work independently. Many of our volunteers become real friends and come back later. Provided there is a fit, our volunteers are welcome to stay as long as they like, which varies from one day to many months. At this moment, we have some volunteers who come to work for us and go home again in the evening. We have 2 programs:

• * Volunteers with whom we have an agreement that they come back on regular times. These people are familiar with how things are run, they are connected with Vlierhof and need no instruction how things work.

• * Volunteers who stay for a certain period of time and who – after that time – probably will not come back again. Often, these are people from far away from all over the world. We ask these people for a commitment of at least 3 weeks.

If you wish to become a volunteer please contact us, click here...