Organic smallholding by the sea
Nordland
We, a family of 4, have a small farm where we have sheeps, 2 horses of norwegian breed, henses, cats and 10 Alaska Huskies. We also have a big greenhouse and a kitchengarden. We're transmitting our farm into eco-certified now, but we have been practicing ecological principes for ceveral years.
We use solarpanels and bio-energy to heat up some buildings at the farm. We do a lot of forrest work, animal care, fencing and so on at our farm. We mostly eat vegetarian, but we sometimes eat fish and if we have voulenteers that eat meat we sometimes serve meat too.
We have been hosting voulenteers since 2018, and we have very good experience with hosting voulenteers from all over the world.
The voulenteers normally work 5 hours per day, 5 days a week. A normal day could be work from 9 - 13.30, and 30 minutes feeding animals in the evening. This depends on the time of the year and what we're working with. You normally start working the day after your arrival, work for 5 days and then have 2 days off.
We will help you to find activities for your days off if you want. If you love nature and hiking, there's a lot to do around here. You can also join us for our activities if you'd like. If you like city-life - our place is not for you since we live far away from the city.
You prepare and eat dinner with us in our house, and we provide for bread and toppings for your other meals that you can eat at your place. You have to bake bread yourself, we provide for flour and yeast. There is only one warm meal per day. If you'd like to have several warm meals you can of course buy ingredients yourself and make at your place.
As a hobby we have horses for rideing and dogs for dogmushing. If you're interested it's possible to learn about this in your sparetime while staying with us.
In winter you will live in a house or a cabin at our farm, togehter with other voulenteers. There is kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms of good standard. In summertime you'll live in a caravan. There is toilets and showers available nearby the caravans.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Sheep or goat farming
Raising of other farm animals
Wild foraging
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Traditional crafts
Renewable energy production
Methods or systems
Permaculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Certified organic
100
Hectares
|
247.1
Acres
Accommodation
Anette
Member since 2023
Languages spoken:
English, Norwegian, Spanish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 97%
Response time: typically within 6 days
Nordland
Mosjøen. Take the bus to Leirfjord.
Reviews
Maxime
France
•
March 2025
I stayed at Anette’s for about two months and it was great ! The farm is nice, the animals pretty funny and the family is welcoming and energetic.
The surroundings are nice, though the farm is a bit isolated. But it’s no big deal as Anette or Andre will gladly drop you in the town nearby if needed, or bring you along if you want to go on a dog sled adventure !
If you need some lovely place in nature to think and breath, come here ;)
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Loic
France
•
March 2025
I stayed at Sjøbakken for six weeks in winter and it was a very good experience. Anette, André and the kids are very nice. I took care of the dogs in the kennel, the two horses, the sheep, the chickens and the cats. The dogs are Alaskan huskies, perfect sledgedogs. They trained almost every day like sportsmen. They all have their own personalities and are very friendly.
I had my work schedule each day and did some carpentry projects such as building a bird feeder.
I and other wwoofers stayed in a nice guest house where we felt home with all we needed. We also had the chance to see wonderful northern lights on several occasions. It's really something you have to experience at least once in your life. Moreover the landscapes are amazing with many possibilities for hiking. And if you like fishing, this is a perfect place for it and can find all you need.
I recommend a stay at Sjøbakken.
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Lea
Germany
•
March 2025
I spent four wonderful weeks on the farm in February and I really enjoyed my stay. Winter is a great time to stay if you enjoy a quieter and slower pace of life. But don’t worry, there’s still a lot to do :) After work, you can explore the beautiful snowy landscapes and go for a hike. At night there are some amazing northern lights that will definitely prevent you from going to sleep.
If you love animals, especially dogs, you will love it there. The farm is home to 14 really cute Alaskan Huskies. Alongside cats, sheep, and horses, you’ll always find an animal to cuddle with. Exploring places further away can be a bit challenging without a car, but if you enjoy hiking, you’ll have plenty of opportunities, as there are beautiful trails starting right next to the farm. I also went on walks with the dogs and horses as well as trying some cross country ski, which by the way really gets all your muscels working:)
The family is very welcoming and makes you feel comfortable from the start as they are just very nice people. The guesthouse we stayed in is very cozy and offers a stunning view over the bay and the surrounding mountains. With the simply amazing nature, cute animals and nice people I would definitely recomend a stay there.
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Julie
Germany
•
October 2024
My time at the Farm was mixed.
The family is nice, the information given is correct and it is safe to go there.
The length of work was fair and time flexible. The labor was not too intense. If you have any concerns doing something, you are given something else. The Caravan was adequately private.
However, there was a problem with chaotic planning of the host and cleanliness. For example, it was often communicated that dinner will be eaten together, then you wait around for information about it and if you ask, you will find out, that the hosts are not coming home until very late. At work, I had to clean up after the host, as she left nice harvested vegetables lying around, sometimes until it was rotten or half eaten by magpies. Also, the two hosts often asked you to ask the other one about something, if one didn't have time and the other one did not know either. Concerning cleanliness: Cooking in the host kitchen, there was always rotten food lying around, and the fridge had giant rotting stains and smelled bad. Many things you are given are over the exp. date (up to 2016!). The dogs spend most of their time chained to their dog houses. The greenhouse was overgrown, therefore hard to walk through & full of mildew.
Tipp for the host: If you take the first day to explain all of the tasks to the volunteer or at least give them a list on the first day, you dont have to keep running out explaining snippets of tasks.
Check what is still there before you buy new food.
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Reply from Anette
I'm sorry that you have mixed feelings about your stay. What would have been nice, would be if you told me about any conserns while still staying here, instead of writing about it on the internet after leaving.
What bothers me the most, is actually that you write that the dogs were mostly on the chains. The dogs have been training 498 kilometers from august till todays date. As well, the other voulenteer took them in the dogyard 1-2 hours per day. When there's more than 12 degrees it's not good for the dogs to be trained. The fact that you didn't notice that the dogs were trained in the afternoon says a lot about how little interest you showed in the animals and how little interested you seemed in your stay here. You were also very little talkative and showed little initiative, and i tried to be including - but it's difficult to communicate when it feels like there's no interest.
Also, about the food, i would always ask you if you needed anything from the shop, and i told you you could take vegetables from the greenhouse or garden, so it's not true that we provided you with old food. Maybe by a mistake there was some old dry-food in the pastry, but then you should really say something.
I have more on my heart, but i will leave it at that.
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Klara
Austria
•
August 2024
I stayed at Sjøbakken for three weeks and it was a great stay! The family was very nice and made me feel welcome from the first day. I learnt a lot of new things and it was exciting to meet new people and see how other farmers work in other countries :) I've been working in the garden, making hay, cutting grass, maintaining the fence and things like that.
If you like doing things like hiking, swimming, being in nature, cuddling with animals in your spare time, this place could be right for you. :)
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Malene
Norway
•
July 2024
The nature is stunning and the camping place is nice with friendly guests. It’s good to have your own trailer and the shared bathrooms get cleaned daily. Without a car it’s more tricky to explore and enjoy your free-time outside of the farm. The fact that dinner is at the main house between 3 and 8 pm makes it difficult to plan your activities after work. We, the volunteers usually made dinner at the main house and were often unsure what to do since groceries weren’t really stocked up. In addition to that was the kitchen usually quite messy and dirty so we had to clean up before we could start cooking and clean up after we cooked. Work was fun at days but you can find yourself doing the same repetitive task all day long. Unfortunately the workload seamed random and not so planned at times which lead to some days having to work outside in the pouring rain and others inside the greenhouse when the sun was heating up the room to an unbearable temperature.
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