Hello! My name is Jaanika, I am 30 years old and I am from Estonia. In the beginning of 2022 I started my long-term ESC volunteering experience in the Netherlands together with the Lava Legato Foundation. It has been a great experience so far, and I expect a lot more to come from it.
Before coming to the Netherlands I was working as a dressmaker in my small tailoring shop for some years. At one point I felt that this is not my calling and I wanted to do something else. Since I didn’t have anything specific in mind, I thought that it was a good chance to try out a new job, and why not do it in a foreign country?
I started looking for an opportunity to volunteer and working at a farm in the Netherlands seemed to be most exciting to me. The application process took a few months, but it was not too difficult because as an ESC volunteer I had help from both the sending and coordinating organisations.
Urtica de Vijfsprong 
Urtica de Vijfsprong
I am currently volunteering at Urtica de Vijfsprong, located close to a small town called Vorden in the beautiful countryside. It is a biodynamic farm that also practices anthroposophy, which means that the farm is very nature friendly and takes soil, animals, humans and plants’ individuality into consideration when working with them.
The farm has around 50 milking cows, also chicken and a few pigs. Vegetables are grown in the greenhouse and on the field. Vijfsprong farm has its own milk processing capability. This means that milk doesn’t have to travel anywhere. It is made into cheese and other products right there on the farm. They sell their products at the farm shop, where you can find other eco-friendly products as well.
Another very important aspect of the farm is that people with mental challenges can live and work on the farm. They are very well taken care of here. They get the necessary support to be able to use their potential and find a way of life that suits them best.
Farmworkers, office workers, people with limitations, volunteers – everybody works side by side in a supporting and nurturing community.
I have been mostly working with cattle so far. When I arrived I could choose what I wanted to do at the farm, and working with cattle was my main goal. I enjoy it a lot. In the coming months, I can change things up and work in the greenhouse or cheese factory if I want to.
Some days I help to milk the cows in the mornings or evenings. Usually, my workday starts after milking and is done before evening milking. On those days I help to clean out the barn where cows stay. After the cleaning is done, we take cows outside to the pasture. From early spring to late autumn they stay outside on the pasture and are brought in only for milking. The rest of the day we do other necessary work around the farm. For example, remove soil from silage heap, chop wood, remove old branches from the field and so on. Before evening milking we collect the cows from the pasture.
That’s what my usual working day is like. I enjoy it a lot because I can spend all day outside and try out things I have never done before. For example milking the cows, feeding them, helping to take them to the pasture and back, driving a tractor. It is a very nice community and it is a joy to be volunteering there. Everybody is welcoming and always willing to teach you.
I haven’t travelled around the Netherlands a lot yet, so I will write about that the next time. I encourage everybody to try something new even if it is close to your home. It shakes things up a little in the best possible way.
I wish you small and big adventures!
Jaanika