Organic sustainable farm OR Theatre/Art Wwoofing residency opportunity

Poland

6 reviews • Updated 1 month ago

1. Describe your project, your place, and its inhabitants (including animals): We are a self-sufficient, mostly off-grid, sustainable organic family farmstead located in the forest away from the main roads in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province in central-northern Poland. We have a large organic vegetable garden as well as a fruit orchard, fish ponds, chickens, ducks, geese, and a functioning stable with 7 horses and a wee Shetland pony with lots of character! There are 3 dogs and 2 cats. As for the humans, there are 2 grown siblings, a father, and a 11-yr old boy part-time. 2. List the activities that WWOOFers will participate in and what you want to teach them: No-dig gardening as well as traditional gardening- weeding, raking, hoeing, watering, all the fun details of connecting to the land and the reward of watching food magically grow! 3. How will you feed and house WWOOFers? Please describe your accommodations and plan for meals: On the farm, we can provide organic food from the garden and fresh eggs from chickens, supplemented by some store-bought food. We can eat together and/or provide you with food you can prepare yourself. Accommodation in a self-sufficient apartment with separate entrance, mini-kitchen, and own bathroom. This may be shared depending on how many wwoofers are helping. 4. What could a WWOOFer's day look like at your site (time slot for participation in activities, expectations...)? On the farm, you could help with various activities, for example, from 9am to 4pm with an hour break for lunch. In the summer, best to start early as it gets very hot. So it would depend on the weather and season partly. Example of a day: 9-9:30am - let out, feed and water chickens and ducks, geese 9:30-11 - weeding or watering vegetable garden 11-11:20 - coffee break 11:20-1pm - weeding and pruning in orchard 1-2pm - lunch 2-4pm - helping arrange firewood There is also ANOTHER option for artists, a Theatre/Art Wwoofing Residency Opportunity: In exchange for helping us with work around our partially off-grid organic farm, we offer a residency space for you to research/rehearse/R & D/create new ideas in a beautiful outdoor setting in the countryside in Poland. You will have accommodation in a self-contained apartment with: - one double bed, one fold-out sofa bed, and one small separate bedroom with a single futon -mini equipped kitchen -bathroom -desk and table Space for 3 or 4 people max. You can work outside in Nature, in our outdoor covered space, or a bell tent if you require a more intimate covered space to work in. When: 1 or 2-week residencies available between June 23, 2025 and November 30, 2025. Please get in touch to see if there is availability. Who is this for: - Theatre makers, dancers, movers, musicians, singers, multi-disciplinary performance artists, writers, painters (“conspiracy theorists” and those who offer non-mainstream narratives along with a spiritual/nature-based focus welcome) who need a rehearsal/R&D/residency space AND who like to work outdoors doing general farm/gardening tasks, such as weeding, mowing, watering, pruning, mucking out stables, cleaning, digging, etc. - Artists who are happy to share their work at the end of their residency period. This doesn’t need to be a fully completed project, but a chance to share your work with a small audience. - The schedule is relatively flexible, but the idea is that you would help us around 4/5 hours a day and then could work on your artistic endeavors afterwards. One meal a day is included and the rest you would need to provide for yourselves. We can arrange transport to and from a train or bus station. -There are opportunities to book the following on site: -voice and body workshop using Linklater technique - traditional song workshop -sound bath -Reiki healing session -horse riding lessons Steps to take: - If you are interested, please send an email with a short introduction of the idea/project you wish to explore during your residency along with links to your work (this can be a website or pictures/video). - We will arrange a video call with you to chat some more and discuss details. - To avoid cancellations, please note we will require 500PLN/£100 deposit that will be refunded on your arrival. Do get in touch if you have any questions. We look forward to meeting you! Steps to take: - If you are interested, please send an email with a short introduction of the idea/project you wish to explore during your residency along with links to your work (this can be a website or pictures/video). - We will arrange a video call with you to chat some more and discuss details. - To avoid cancellations, please note we will require 500PLN/£100 deposit that will be refunded on your arrival. Do get in touch if you have any questions. We look forward to meeting you! 5. Play the guide! Talk about your own hobbies (music, cooking, etc.) and those possible around (hiking, swimming, etc.): I'm an actor, singer, Reiki master, workshop facilitator, and no-dig gardener. I love being in nature and creating magic, either in the garden or as performance. Living on a homestead is a wonderful way of being and I think teaches very important life skills to have. The theatre wwoofing residency opportunity is a way to share creative and nature skills with each other. In the area, you can visit some beautiful lakes you can hike around or swim in. There are many forests and the historical city of Torun is an hour and a half away, with lots of beautiful architectures, museums, theatres, and cafes, restaurants.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Wild foraging

Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas

Seed saving or production

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Traditional crafts

Renewable energy production

Food justice / sovereignty

Methods or systems

No-till farming

Regenerative agriculture

Host type

Self-sufficiency property

6 Hectares | 14.8 Acres

Accommodation

4+ WWOOFers

Bedroom

Campsite

Children not accepted

Pets accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Length of stay

1 day (local)

1-2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Mariae

Member since 2024

Languages spoken: English, French, Polish, Spanish Response rate: 94% Response time: typically within 5 days

December 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Poland

Brodnica train/Bus station. Gdansk or Warsaw airport (3/3.5 hours away)

Reviews

Romain

France • November 2025

I stayed for two weeks at Mariae’s with her sister and father and it didn’t take me long to feel like being at home in their cosy homestead, located in the heart of Poland, surrounded by blazing nature and bustling wild life. During my time there, I mainly helped at preparing the garden for winter, gathering tons of new knowledge about non-dig gardening in the process, and also gave a hand with animals in the stable and the henhouse when it was needed. While at it, I shared a lot of deep and interesting conversations with Mariae and her family, as well as numerous cooking sessions and memorable french and polish meals. From beginning to end, it had been a simple, authentic and always very lively experience. Altogether, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here and I can't recommend you enough but to come to the farm and see it for yourself. Thanks again to everyone for welcoming me and making me feel like being part of the family during these couple of weeks. I wish you all the best in your future plans that, I’m convinced, will find success !

Reply from Mariae

Thanks for your lovely words Romain! And all the very best to you in your travels. Anytime you're in Poland, you are most welcome.

Brian

United States • October 2025

I had a wonderful stay at Earth Works. There is always something different to do every day, and there are a wide variety of tasks involving both the farm’s plants and animals. There isn’t really a set schedule for the WWOOFers, just doing tasks as they pop up. Mariae and her family were super welcoming and made a great effort to show me different aspects of Polish culture from answering questions about the language to buying traditional foods and even taking me mushroom picking in the forest (super beautiful). Accommodations were great, and it was very nice having the warmth of the wood stoves as the weather was getting colder when I visited. I’d heavily recommend the farm especially if you like working with animals or want to learn Polish.

Laura

United States • June 2025

I volunteered with Mariae, her sister, and her father for three weeks. They are a very welcoming and generous family. I helped take care of the chickens, ducks, and geese; plant, weed, and water the vegetable garden; harvest the asparagus and strawberries; and assisted with various household and outdoor tasks. We prepared and ate lunch and dinner together, including some traditional Polish dishes, and the food was always delicious. During my time there, I was easily able to visit the historic towns of Torun and Malbork via bus and train. Mariae also included another volunteer and I in outings to local sights and restaurants. The area is really beautiful and interesting.

Frederik

Germany • June 2025

Hello everyone:) I spent three weeks in Brodnica at Mariae and her family and I enjoyed it very much! The whole family is very welcoming and I soon became part of it. The work was also very interesting: Of course we did some “normal” farm work like weeding, watering and harvesting but we also did some other projects like protecting the shore of the pond from erosion and gathering hay. I like that there are lots of animals around like the dogs or the ducks etc. I learned a lot about gardening and I enjoyed the tasty food we produced with the homegrown vegetables. The area around here has pretty forests and huge lakes and you can visit some nice cities like Toruń. So all in all I would definitely recommend a visit at the Smiarowski Family homestead!

Paul

Germany • November 2024

We had a fun time in Poland! A beautiful farm with marvelous lands around. The work was hard but rewarding and interesting. All the people we met were nice and we learned a ton of new stuff. Thank you! Greetings Paul & Jasper

Yorlaïa

France • March 2024

En plain interail avec mon chien, Mariae a très vite répondu à mon message et à été très gentille de nous recevoir dès le lendemain, étant donné de notre situation compliquée. Nous avons été accueilli très chaleureusement. S'en est suivie une super semaine, dans leur joli domaine reculé de la civilisation, entouré d'animaux. C'est avec plaisir que nous reviendrons, si jamais on repassait dans le coin ! Une belle rencontres, que je n'oublierais pas ☀️

Reply from Mariae

Merci beaucoup Yorlaia! C'etait une veritable plaisir de t'avoir accueili et passe du temps avec toi et Mochi. Vous etes bienvenue anytime! Bonne chance avec toutes tes projets!