Rosenhill’s Guidebook for new WWOOFers
period May-October
version 2015/9/11
1. Overview
1. Overview
2. Introduction
3. General information
4. Meals
5. Café, Kitchen, Cooking, Dry Storage and WWOOF Fridge
6. Places to sleep
7. Staffroom and Bathroom
8. Laundry
9. Fire: Escapes, Campfires, Safety gear, Smoking
10. Work
11. Meetings
12. Morning Routines
13. Garden
14. Dishes
15. Musteri
16. Other things to know
17. Days off
18. Mondays
19. Buses and Traveling
20. Leaving
21. Thank you!
2. Introduction
Welcome to Rosenhill! We’re glad you made it! In this guide you will find most of the information necessary to make your stay as nice as possible, both for yourself and everyone else. Take your time to read it, feel free to ask any questions.
3. General information
Keep in mind: You are here to help. That means you’re here to both work and have fun. Quite often you’ll have both at the same time! We give you a lot of freedom in deciding what your day will look like, both in when and what you’re doing. In exchange, we expect you to be the best you can be. Think about what you’re doing and how it affects other people, be aware of your surroundings, and treat the people around you the way you want to be treated yourself.
4. Meals
We share three meals a day. We eat breakfast at 8:30, lunch somewhere between 13:00 and 14:00, and dinner between 18:00 and 19:00. Breakfast and dinner are prepared by people that sign up for it at the Meeting (more later), and lunch is prepared by the Kitchen Staff. We have a little break somewhere during the morning, and one again in the afternoon. At every meal, break, and Meeting we ring the Bell.
5. Café, Kitchen, Cooking, and WWOOF Fridge
The Café and Kitchen are a big part of Rosenhill. There are many rules and regulations as to how to treat them and keep it clean. The Kitchen Staff will take care of most of it, but you are expected to wear clean shoes in the Kitchen and to not make a mess out of things.
The Café Staff will sometimes need your help and will ask you to if needed. Mostly everything in the Café and cupboards is used for customers, so ask the Staff if you want to borrow something. Make sure to clean it and put it back when you’re done with it. The fridge in the Café is not intended for WWOOF use. If you want something from there, or maybe some ice cream, you can buy it at a discount.
The meals you will prepare for the group can often completely be your own creation, or inspired by the ingredients and dishes that are left from the Kitchen that day. Before you start taking ingredients from the Dry Storage and Coolroom, ask someone that works in the Kitchen about what you can use, or better yet: what not to use. Certain things need to be left for the days after, or is to be sold in the Shop.
Should you want something to eat outside of meal time hours, you can have a look in the WWOOF Fridge.
6. Places to sleep
There are many different places to stay on the property. We have a house that sleeps several, we have a big bus, some caravans, cabins… Quite a few to pick from. You will usually share your space with other people. If you brought your own tent, you could sleep in that as well. We can show you a good spot to put it up. We do our best in trying to secure you a place for your entire stay, but it might become necessary for us at some point to move some people around. We make sure to talk about this before making any changes.
7. Staffroom and Bathroom
In the Staffroom we keep Laundry and other things for our daily operations. It is also a space for you to sit and rest. NOTE: NO sleeping is allowed overnight up in the Staffroom!
You may have some of your personal belongings in the Staffroom, like your computer or clothes when doing laundry and the toiletries you choose to keep in the bathroom, but it’s better not to use it as your personal storage space.
On the big table in the Bathroom there are products that you can use freely. It is recommended you keep your personal products in your own bag. There is always a chance someone will borrow your stuff, sometimes unasked, so take your bag with you if you want to avoid this.
The best time to shower is after 17:00. If you really need a shower during the day, keep it quick! There are many people that need the Bathroom during opening hours, especially the people that are employed here.
There is a fridge for you to put things in if you want. Make sure to wrap everything up properly and label it with your name.
The internet router is also up in the Staffroom. The name of the network is NETGEAR13, the password is bluekayak296.
Take off your shoes when going upstairs!
8. Laundry
We have a laundry machine and a dryer, free for you to use when the green/red sign is turned green. When it’s red it means we need the machines to do Rosenhill laundry (towels, tea towels, bed sheets, etc.). If you find the machines are empty, or not in use, but the sign is red, ask the person in charge of Laundry if it’s okay for you to use.
When you come here, take a blue IKEA bag to put your dirty laundry in, and keep it in the place you’re staying, NOT the Staffroom.
A towel can be borrowed from Rosenhill, but you have to wash it yourself. This is also the case for any bed linen you borrow.
9. Fire: Escapes, Campfires, Safety gear, Smoking
One of the biggest dangers on the farm is fire. We are very careful about where to grill, have a campfire, or smoke.
Smoking is allowed outside, but be smart about it! Don’t stand in tall dry grass or near anything that’s made of paper or wood. Make absolutely sure to put out your cigarette before throwing it in a cigarette bucket, can or garbage bag. Simply throwing it on the ground is a big NO!
Fire exits should never be blocked. This means that ALL door opening and ALL stairs need to be clear from stuff at ALL times. A detailed drawing of the barn with exits and fire extinguishers is at the back of this paper. Make sure to take a look at it.
10. Work
The work at Rosenhill is very diverse. You are expected to do 6 hours of work a day, 5 days a week. We have a big garden that needs care, dishes that need to be done, and from August onwards we start making apple juice in the Musteri. Below you will read a bit more about all these subjects. It all starts with a Meeting…
11. Meetings
Every morning at 9:00 we meet in the yard to talk about what is going to be done that day. We make a list of projects, garden work, and we fill in the schedules. On the Week Schedule you sign up for preparing Breakfast and Dinner, and to clean up after dinner. You can also write down what days you want off, more on that later.
At lunchtime, we will mention if there are any changes in the plans, or if there is something new going on that afternoon that we didn’t talk about that morning.
On the Whiteboard is a special Discussion Corner. If at any time you want to write down something that you want to talk about at the meeting, you can write it down there.
12. Morning Routines
Every morning, directly after the meeting, everyone does their Morning Routine. You will be assigned one when you get here. If you want to change routines at some point, tell us at the morning meeting. Some routines take more time than others, so sometimes you will have two, or share your routine with someone else. If it’s your first time doing a routine, a person that has done it before will show you how it’s done. At the end of this paper you can read what the different Routines are, and what to pay attention to.
13. Garden
Our garden is a work of art. We grow a lot of vegetables that we use in the Kitchen and sell in the Shop. We also have a big flower garden. We pick flowers to decorate, and customers can pick their own for which they pay in the Café. Throughout the year we are busy planting, weeding, harvesting… When you go to work in the garden, see one of our gardeners. They will tell you what’s going on that day and show you how it’s done.
14. Dishes
Rosenhill welcomes many customers that order lunch or cakes, which means they leave a fair bit of dishes. Everyone helps to wash these. You sign up for shifts at the morning meeting, and we try to spread the work out evenly among the WWOOFers.
When you go into the Dishroom, before every shift, you write down your name, date and time in the Green Book. This is required by law, even if you’re in there as a volunteer! At the end of your shift, you sign out as well. If you have two shifts, you sign in and out twice. You don’t need to sign in before 11:00, after 17:00, and on Mondays.
There is a certain way the dishes are done, and every item that is washed belongs in a certain place. You will share you first dish shift with a dish veteran, to make sure you get things right.
Keep an eye on the dish soap. When it runs out, get some more from the Cleaning Closet. Check the filters in the Dishwasher regularly and clean them out now and then. Change the water when needed.
If you have the shift between 15:00 and 16:00, check the outdoor kitchen for dishes and put away the food.
If you have the shift between 17:00 and 18:00, check the sitting areas in the Garden for dishes and bring in all that you find.
The Dishroom needs to be cleaned in a certain way at the end of the day. You will be shown how.
In the evening, when all the dishes are done and the Dishroom has been cleaned, no more dirty dishes are to be put in the Dishroom. Instead, put them outside in the grey boxes. They will be cleaned the next morning.
15. Musteri
Sometime in August we start making apple juice, both of our own apples and from apples that customers bring to us. At some point it will get very busy: we’ll make thousands of liters every day!
The exact work you will do in the Musteri will be explained when you start doing Musteri shifts.
16. Other things to know
Whenever possible, use the upstairs or outdoor toilet, not the customer toilet. This prevents unnecessary waiting for our customers, and also helps to keep it clean during the day. You can also wash your hands at any of the taps outside.
Should you see we’re almost out of toilet paper, take the time to put some new there. Nothing ruins a toilet session more than finding out there is no paper left!
Keep it clean: tidy up after yourself. If you’re working on a project, put back your tools where you got them. Any kitchen tools go through the Dishroom. When you don’t know where something belongs, especially in the Workshop, ask someone. Don’t just put things somewhere, they get lost that way! If you’re continuing a project the next day, you may leave them where you were working, but collect them and put them all together when you’re done for the day. Never leave anything in the grass.
During the season we will organize parties or weddings. At weddings we normally won’t ask for your help, except maybe to prepare some space and move some furniture. At parties however, we will usually share some of the dishes and Bar or Café shifts. In exchange, you can buy beer and wine for a cheaper price than the other visitors. We always make sure you won’t work too many hours that day. In the morning after, we all help to clean up.
You will have customers and visitors asking you about a lot of different things quite often. When in doubt, ask someone who knows! It’s better not to guess the answer, so send anyone that asks you something to a person that knows more about the subject.
17. Days off
You are allowed two days off per week. You can pick any day except Saturday and Sunday. In the weekends Rosenhill is the busiest with all our customers visiting, and we need everyone to help out. Exceptions can sometimes be made. If you’re sick we of course won’t force you to work, and if you’re leaving in a weekend, we won’t expect you to work that day.
There are plenty of things to go do and see on your days off, and we recommend you to go to town or go biking, fishing, hiking, swimming... If you want to, you can stay on Rosenhill as well.
18. Mondays
During the season, we’re open six days a week, from Tuesday through Sunday, and always closed on Mondays. This means on Mondays we only have to do the dishes we make ourselves, and some from the kitchen where we bake our cakes that day. We skip most of the Morning Routines, and focus on other activities instead. It is a nice day to take a day off, since it’s calm and quiet on the farm, but also a nice day to work because we get to do a lot of projects and gardening without interruption, and use loud machines because we won’t disturb any customers.
19. Buses and Traveling
From Rosenhill it takes about one hour to get to Stockholm. There are buses going from Nyckelby (that’s the name of the bus stop at the ICA Supermarket up at the crossroad) every half hour, until midnight. The schedule and times change sometimes, so make sure to plan your trip on www.sl.se to make sure you get a good connection. The bus will take you to Brommaplan, where you can hop on the subway (‘Tunnelbana’) to get you to the city center. This is also where you go if you’re going to Skavsta airport. If you’re going to Arlanda airport, you can go by bus or train from Stockholm central station, or go by local bus and train from Brommaplan. Feel free to ask us for help!
20. Leaving
At some point the time will come for you to leave and say goodbye to Rosenhill and the new friends you made. Before you leave, please check to make sure you have everything with you: clothes, toiletries, chargers, etc. Put back anything that you may have borrowed from other people and places.
Be so kind to leave your sleeping space in a state you want to find it yourself. Remove your bed sheets, sweep the floor, and freshen things up a bit. This will greatly help the next person that is staying there.
On the day you’re leaving, you are not expected to work or be part of the meeting and meals. You are of course welcome to join if you want to!
Should you decide to leave a few days early, or want to stay a few days more, let us know so we can plan things.
21. Thank you!
Time for a group hug! We’re sad to see you go… we hope you had a nice time! Thank you so much for sharing your stories, skills, laughs, and everything else. You make Rosenhill a better place, every single day. See you again some time, maybe, you never know!
Morning Routines
General information
All the supplies you need for cleaning are in the Cleaning Closet in the Barn. There are buckets and mops, sponges and wipes, garbage bags and several kinds of soap. When in doubt about what to use, ask someone. Keep the closet tidy! There is a certain place for every item.
Very important: Don’t stress! Don’t hurry! Go for quality! A job half done is a job not worth doing. No one will dislike you for doing a perfect job. We need Rosenhill to look its very best, both for our customers and ourselves to enjoy.
We have both inside chairs and outside chairs. The ones that have fixed cushions should be inside, the ones that don’t are meant to go outside. Customers can pick pillows and blankets for the outside chairs if they want.
If during the day you see dirty dishes, a piece of trash, or something that doesn’t belong where it is: pick it up, throw it away, or put it where it belongs. Treat Rosenhill like you would treat your own home!
Should you find dirty of smelly blankets, put them in the dirty laundry basket in the Staffroom.
Toilet paper and hand paper can be found upstairs from the café.
Pigs and Hens
Our animals are great fun. If they’re happy, we’re happy! Here’s how it’s done.
Take the PIGS bucket from outside the kitchen and go up to the pigs with a wheelbarrow. The hens eat from the HENS bucket. DON’T just take any bucket, the HENS bucket contains egg shells and meats, something the pigs should not eat. Check the water to make sure the animals have plenty to drink. Check the surroundings: their house, the fence, and see that everything looks okay. Also: look at the animals themselves and inspect them. Do they look sick or act strange or walk bad? Let us know right away!
If there are eggs to collect at the Hens, take them, wash them, and put them in a labelled box in the WWOOF Fridge.
Greenhouse + Around
A nice place to sit and hang out, especially when it gets cold and wet outside. Arrange the furniture so that all the tables have chairs. Fluff up the pillows. Wipe the tables. Remove dead flowers, fill up the vases with water. Sweep the floor. Fold the blankets.
Barn, Veranda, Barn, Yard, Flowers
This is where most of the customers will hang out. It’s important that the areas feel clean and fresh. Sweep the floor, mop if necessary. Arrange the furniture. Fold blankets. Wipe the tables. Check flowers and water. Sweep the meeting area and rake the yard. If you see inside chairs outside, or the other way around, swap them. Open the Shop and turn on the lights. Shut them off at the end of the day as well. Close the doors if we’re expecting rain.
Garbage + Recycling
We produce quite a bit of trash, and recycle most of it.
There are plenty of garbage bins around: in the Kitchen, the Café, Bar, Toilet, Bathroom, Yard, and outside the Greenhouse, Kitchen, and Give & Take. Check all of them. If they’re not so full, empty them into one big bag, or leave them for the next day. You can fit in a lot of paper in garbage bag the Toilet, just push it down with your boot. Saves a lot of space that way! (If it smells, go ahead and replace it.)
There will be one or more grey boxes outside the Kitchen, filled with stuff to recycle. We have a small Recycling Station behind the Black Roof. We sort things in four categories: glass, plastic, metal, and cardboard. Check the Garbage Closet and take out all the trash. When necessary, clean the dirty buckets, and clean the Garbage Closet. Check to see the dish stall has grey boxes in it.
Café floor
A lot of people move through this space every day. Move around the stuff that’s on the floor, then sweep and mop the floor. Check all the corners and go behind and under everything.
Toilet and Bathroom
Everybody likes a clean toilet! Wipe all the sides of the seat, the bowl, the upper part. Swipe the mirror, clean the sink, mop the floor. Make sure there is plenty of toilet paper, we use a lot! Check the hand paper as well.
Staffroom
We all use this space, so it’s important we keep it nice and tidy. Sweep the floor, stairs and entrance. Fold the blankets and wipe down anything that’s dirty. Check and clean the fridge as well if necessary.
Laundry
A big task and responsibility. We go through a lot of towels, sheets, and blankets. The tea towels and kitchen gear is washed at 95*C. For the other items it depends on the material. Take the Laundry basket outside the kitchen to the Staffroom, put it in the washer, or if it’s running or full, into the baskets outside the Bathroom door, and put the empty Laundry basket back at the wall in the Dishroom.
The Laundry in the two baskets outside the Bathroom door is dirty and should be washed. This is where other people will put dirty laundry when they have some.
Keep track of when you put things in, so you can put it in the dryer as quickly as possible and put in a new batch.
If we’re almost out of soap, or the machines are acting weird, let us know.
Cabins
We rent out three small cabins to people who want to spend the night on Rosenhill. Their cabin needs to look clean and welcoming. Sweep and mop the floor, check to see the electricity is working, and open the door or window to let in some fresh air. Picking some nice flowers is always a big plus! If it’s chilly outside, see to it that the cabins have an electric heater.
When they get here, we give them the bed sheets they need. They share the Bathroom with us, and need to get their own water if they want some.
When they get here, we give them the bed sheets they need. They share the Bathroom with us, and need to get their own water if they want some.
