1-year journey at the organic farm at Kalø Økologisk Landburgsskole

These are my little notes about my ESC project in Denmark on an organic farm. Perhaps someone will be inspired by my experience and also lead to a big change in their life.

Introduction

I came to the farm without any knowledge of animal husbandry or farming in general. It was interesting and surprising for me to see this whole inner farming world from the inside. And also to see the full process of organic vegetable production. What can I say, in one year, I have grown from a zero level, to a level where I can support farm production, namely taking care of animals, organising and planning vegetable production. I was involved in the work process head on, for me after office work, it was something new and unknowable before. I discovered the field of farming and want to develop in it.

Below I will share my one-year experience around farm life. In addition I would like to say to all those who are hesitant to take part in such projects, don’t be afraid it is definitely worth it.

Life around the farm

• Farmshop

My journey started with working in a farm shop selling vegetables and meat that had been grown on the farm. My duties were to harvest the vegetables and prepare them for sale. I learned a lot about vegetables. We often worked in teams, because especially in autumn, we had to harvest a lot of crops from the fields and prepare them in time.
Since my project lasted for one year, I was able to see the whole process from sowing the seeds to harvesting the crop. It is an amazing feeling to see the result of one’s labours.

Plants

Naturally, vegetables, plants, berries and fruit trees are an integral part of the operation. We sowed seeds in winter and could see them grow. We worked in greenhouses with tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants as well as a variety of salads. New seedbeds were prepared for the next season. In spring and summer, it was the active season to plant seedlings planted in the soil or greenhouse.

The use of special instruments for large-scale planting was very interesting. Even though I focused on animals, I also learned a lot about vegetable production. How to properly plan, plant, analyze and compute how, how much and when I want to harvest.

Animals

Here I want to share something that I didn’t expect from myself. After working in a shop, I was put to work with animals. My duties changed a lot and I had to feed, clean and observe the animals, particularly the cows, pigs, ducks and sheep.

To be honest, it was difficult in the beginning as I had no experience of working with animals. But, after a while I didn’t recognise myself when I managed to master working with animals in such an easy way. One day, I began to feel and understand that working with animals is what I want to do, and where I want to thrive. Not only was it a new thing for me, it was the opposite of what I was used to, especially after office work.

This experience with animals , not only gave me the new knowledge and skills, but also determenited what I want to do in my near future. Milked the cows and that was my favorite task. Especially when I have to wake up early in the morning and start milking cows all over the silence. It was incredible to see the sun rise and enjoy this time. I fell in love with this farming style of life.
I was trained by very nice people around me, all my colleagues were so professional, patient, gentle, friendly.It was also super sweet and kind when in the morning I came to the stable for milking duties, and one of the collegues has already made the cup of coffee for me.
I have had really really nice time on the farm. I got the second family and this year it,s a big part of me, which also brought a lot of changes in my life. Thanks to that I know what i want to do in my near future, and for me this was defining purpose of my gap in my life.

My project

I didn’t manage to implement my project during my stay in Denmark, but I got a lot of ideas on how to improve the work process on the farm, make it more efficient . One of the ideas I’m already trying to implement, and I believe I will succeed. My individual project idea has developed into a business idea (startup), which I am going to implement in the near future, but unfortunately not in Denmark anymore. Being involved in working with animals, especially cattle, in particular milking cows, I discovered several problems, which sparked the idea of my project. A common problem on dairy farms is mastitis among milking cows. This problem not only affects the health of the animal, but also greatly affects the profitability of dairy production.

If a cow has mastitis she needs treatment and often antibiotics. This makes the milk unsuitable for dairy production and consumption. This has a large economic loss.
My project is about early diagnosis of this disease. As a bioengineer I have found an idea how to solve this problem at an early stage, and to prevent this disease at an early stage, when it is possible to avoid the use of antibiotics. The result of my project it will be app plus special sensor for registrated temperature of milking cows udder during the milking process. The resulting temperature measurments will be displayed in the app.

The final word

In my closing remarks I would like to thank everyone I have met on my way being in Denmark, the AFS team, of course my host project, all my colleagues, my supervisors, all teachers, students, volunteers, coordinators, my contact family all working staff and all colleagues at the school, and all foreigners on my way to Kalø. They have done a great job with me, for which I am very grateful. It’s amazing to see how I grew from zero to a level where I can work on a farm in one year, with 1 year of informal education. Thanks to these people and this volunteer program, I have had the opportunity to find myself on the farm and grow in the field of agriculture. All these people led me to what I really want to do in my near future. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Active international volunteers in Denmark