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Hello everyone & welcome to September!
With a very current impression from the Waldsee we warmly welcome you to our late summer newsletter. Today we have in store for you: personal reports from different areas, the “Volunteer Summer at Michaelshof,” the question of the fitness trail for body and mind, our designer in portrait, events in September, and much more!
Usually, you read the newsletter from the Michaelshof writers. For a change, this time you will hear the reports from the different areas directly from the team members themselves. Let’s go!
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Harvest Conclusion 2025…
…by Johanna
“Yo, the harvest is done!!! Everything except the potatoes is now off the fields and we can draw a conclusion. Weather-wise, because of the many rains in summer, it was a somewhat difficult year. You really had to meticulously check for possible showers and also pray a little to find a sufficiently large rain-free window.
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We are glad that the harvest did not turn out too badly despite the circumstances and now literally lies ‘in the dry.’ Thus, we pressed enough straw for the animals and for covering our compost heaps, and the hay from two cuts is also sufficient to feed our animals for a whole year.
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We are also quite satisfied with the yield of the grain, everything is already cleaned and stored. Whether, as last year, we can also bake in the bakery with our grain, whether it is suitable as baking grain, is still being tested.
Keep your fingers crossed!
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A nice harvest story: During the second hay cut in Banratz, 12 curious storks joined the field while pressing, and the nest at our Banratz farm is occupied by a stork family.”
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Farm Children of All Kinds…
…by Pauline
A report by Pauline, who – mostly with her two-year-old daughter and animal lover Madita in tow – is part of our agriculture team:
“Michaelshof is home to all kinds of two- and four-legged youngsters. In 2025 already 5 piglets, 12 calves, 16 peafowl chicks, 18 ducklings, 20 lambs, 25 goat kids, and 200 chicks have been born. But like with all children, it’s really a lot of work: for example with the lambs whose mothers give no or not enough milk, or who need help drinking. That means giving a bottle every three hours – also at night!
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Not unlike caring for human babies, sleep is often too short and you look forward to when the little ones are proper enough eat and drink on their own. “With your own child you at least don’t have to get dressed and trudge through the cold night to feed it!” I note as the mother of a toddler who has only just recently started sleeping through the night – the nightly peace had not lasted long 😇
In addition to the animal children, of course, the human children of our farm are indispensable. As little helpers, great admirers, and carrot-givers, the animals are very happy about their affection. Conversely, for our village children, the kids from our child and youth welfare institution Peronnik and guest children there is no better place to be comforted, to make friends, and to build self-confidence. It’s really beautiful to experience this potpourri of happiness every day.”
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Onlineshop meets Logistik…
..by Peer & Emmanuel
Two areas that had previously gone their separate ways are connected by a common theme: food! Peer (left) reports on our online shop, Emmanuel (right) from the Sammatz logistics center.
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Peer:
“The Michaelshof online shop in its current form has now been around for almost a year – maybe you have already ordered from us? In June last year we started to sell our self-made Michaelshof products such as our jams, cheese, bread, teas, spices & more not only on site but also throughout Germany.
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Since then, a lot has happened: we successfully sent our fresh vegetables in boxes for the first time and are looking for ways to constantly improve. Currently, we are planning to expand our product range beyond the Michaelshof products and additionally offer many of the popular items online that you otherwise know from our small farm shop.
So please check back regularly – in the coming months a lot will happen! If you would like a certain product in the future online shop, please write us an email. And who knows, maybe one or the other organic favorite product from the farm shop plus Sammatz cheese will soon end up directly at your home by post.”
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Emmanuel: “In the middle of the village, but away from the hustle and bustle, there is an old pigsty, which has served us for more than twenty years as storage for various things. Parallel to the online shop, the idea of our ‘logistics center’ has also been around for a long time and was waiting for motivated implementers. Now the logistics team – Ivonne, Iago, Yohran, Viviana, Lorenzo, Dustin and I – is really getting going and is supposed to live up to its name.
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For several weeks now we have been receiving all goods deliveries from our organic wholesalers, but also from our internal producers – for example from Daniel’s vegetable field (in the photo on the right, left Emmanuel) – at our large ‘post station,’ check them and deliver them further from there. This allows us to ensure that all areas at Michaelshof get what they need and have ordered. Should there ever be supply bottlenecks, it is now our job to quickly find solutions or, ideally, deliver directly from our warehouse. In order to always be able to maintain a comprehensive overview, in the future digital merchandise management should relieve us of a lot of work.
We are excited about what is to come and look forward to the first order in the expanded online shop, when our areas meet!”
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Late-Summer Garden Update…
…by Hannah
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Hannah, as Green Village manager, takes care of all the green areas at Michaelshof, especially our 6 hectares of gardens and parks, which need lots of care and attention to bloom as lushly as you know them. Here are tips for the perfect walk:
“At the beginning of September it’s perennial and dahlia time, that means you absolutely must not miss the garden area opposite the café, the arena, the dahlia garden, and the perennial plateau – there’s really a lot going on! On the slope of the natural arena the dahlia garden is wonderfully colorful and lush at the moment, also thanks to our regular care. Small dahlia tip: It is worth cutting off the faded heads once a week and also tying them up where necessary, then the Mexican flowers will stay until the first frost and provide us with a great basis for the most beautiful autumn bouquets!
On the other side lies our perennial plateau, where we are now at the peak of the perennial season. To honor the perennials, we were celebrating our perennial festival last weekend. They truly deserved it, given the sight!
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And here are three special features of the current garden situation: Many of our roses are remontant, that means they come into their second bloom at this time of year – not as lush as in June or July, but with their very special charm and intense fragrances they are real jewels in our gardens. The second peculiarity are our grass beds, for example next to the campus garden pond or down in the arena. Did you know that most of our ornamental grasses are autumn bloomers? Now they unfold their size and beauty! And: our fruit trees are going full throttle again and, with their red apples or blue plums, also adorn the gardens. We have already harvested the first apples, as well as pears, mirabelle plums, and even peaches. Fun fact: What happens to the apples that fall from the tree prematurely? The job is called ‘apple tour’ with us and is very popular with our volunteers, because once a day they go with a wheelbarrow and an apple collector through the gardens to collect and take care of all the apples – a fruity walk.
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Speaking of walks:
For all who are interested in more tips and tricks on garden design and information about our gardens & the community, our garden tour is just the thing! Book by Mail or via our hotline – 1 hour for a group of up to 25 people costs €80.
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Volunteer Summer…
…a review of 2 months International Life
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Everything always begins with the first really warm days of the year. Not only is that a relief for most of us, finally to rummage shorts and dresses out of the closet, no, there is also summer volunteer spirit in the air. Because now many young people all over the world simultaneously have summer holidays, semester breaks, or the first weeks and months of their gap years. And that means: new experiences, adventure, travel, enjoying summer! When our future volunteers then for various individual reasons have chosen Sammatz as their place of choice, up to 40 new people arrive here every Monday from mid-July.
The first week is actually quite exhausting for everyone. On the one hand, most have never lived with so many people in one place, let alone in one house, if they didn’t come directly from the metropolises of this world.
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On the other hand, physical work is a new field for many. Muscle soreness and fatigue are really pre-programmed in the first week, if only because of all the fresh air and the new impressions.
Once everyone had settled in, who started the summer together, and the muscle soreness turned into newfound endurance, there were many unforgettable moments, also for us mentors! Our French group gathered on July 14th for Bastille Day with a first-class menu for everyone! This was followed by our even larger Turkish group, who spoiled us on an ordinary Monday evening with salty and sweet specialties from their homeland and a dance performance. A foretaste of the volunteer festival a month later:
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With 12 country presentations, traditional dances, international delicacies, and the Concierto Internacional, we were able to immerse ourselves in the colorful world of different cultures. A true festival of diversity!
The most beautiful things, however, are often the everyday things, which, when you think about them, can often be so incredibly beautiful. The little moments, when someone makes tea for everyone in the Blue House, when you get to know new plants, when you look at the stars with 20 new friends, when you can’t believe how sad you are that someone is leaving whom you’ve actually only known for three weeks, or an evening in the youth club:
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Here are some insights from our red guestbook this summer:
Dilay from Turkey:
“Here I have come to know real friendship and the great value of small moments.”
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Unzala from Hong Kong:
“I still remember my first working day – it was with Anton. His love for gardening touched me on a completely different level and made me appreciate it more through his perspective. It was the same for me when working in the stables, in the guest house, while herding, etc. Not that there weren’t also days when I was a bit lazy myself – but when you see how others do their work with so much love, it somehow rubs off and you do it with love too. At least that’s how it was for me ☺️”
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(“Good luck” is pasted on a red envelope on the doors of Hong Kong at New Year – at the Volunteer Festival we got to learn how to write it.)
Tom from Great Brittain:
“During my time here I met an incredible guy from Italy whom I would now describe as my best friend, and a wonderful girl from Hong Kong* with whom I want to spend the rest of my life.” (*not Unzala 😄)
Rosalie from Germany:
“For me, Sammatz is like a lighthouse. No matter how confusing or difficult life gets – Sammatz will always be there, giving light, love, and a home.”
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And here is a small international recipe that everyone should know:
We’ve been wondering for a while how to make beans so that they really taste delicious. It must be possible, because with the Bandeja Paisa from Colombia and many other dishes from Latin America there is hope, since it’s a national dish in some countries.
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Here’s the answer from Talia from Mexico: In Mexico you soak the black beans overnight in water, then cook them in lots of water (WITHOUT SALT) together with a slice of onion and epazote. When the beans are soft, you can add salt and enjoy them like that – or fry and mash them.
It may sound like a simple recipe, but epazote is an incredibly aromatic herb that works wonders.
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We tried it and: it really works wonders! Definitely try it! You can buy epazote in well-stocked supermarkets as a dried spice, fresh in Latin American or Asian markets, but also as seeds for your own herb garden.
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Power Place…
…thought differently
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“Get fit.” In 1970 the mascot “Trimmy” was supposed to motivate Germans to exercise. “Germany moves” was the name of a similarly big campaign from 2003–2016.
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To be honest, fitness training of this kind was not particularly popular in the first three decades of our community. But with the first volunteers came the polite requests where the gym and outdoor equipment were. Without further ado, weights cobbled together from concrete and iron bars appeared and aficionados trained in the basement shell in the evenings.
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Last year we finally tackled the problem – and as in the 70s, popular sports got rolling at Michaelshof. With volleyball, basketball and badminton, with the “Power Place,” our calisthenics-style fitness trail, and a small, fine gym we can now, each in our own way, keep our bodies fit. Do you already see it in some of us?
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Our body, our temple!
As the saying goes.
But what about the mind? Can we train it too? Our inner life can also be quite “unfit” and immobile, jogging alone won’t help. Even yoga and the like are not the last word of wisdom – ultimately these are also forms of body training with hoped-for effects on the soul. But just as you don’t get muscles from pure relaxation, but have to exert yourself a little, so it is with the soul. No pain, no gain…
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One of the coolest things about Steiner’s anthroposophy is that it doesn’t preach lofty principles for inner development, but marches straight into the inner gym. Small, practical daily exercises, as simple as sit-ups, create a purely spiritual “Power Place” where the I can train. But what to train and for what? Thinking, feeling, and willing – for example, that you can really think what you want; that you can really do what you intend. That you don’t sit on the “inner sofa” and watch when emotions revolt, but stay at the wheel yourself and determine how you behave. In short, bringing order into your own soul-house!
The fitness program is as simple as can be and suitable for everyone – you don’t even have to be particularly interested in spirituality: To train thinking, it is enough to think about one thing daily for five minutes – preferably an uninteresting object, the favorite example is a pencil – in such a way that no “gaps” arise in which you digress, but every thought consciously follows the other.
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You train the will by taking on a daily insignificant action (e.g., “always re-tie shoelaces at 4:30 p.m.”) and then carrying it out on time, for no other reason than that you have set it for yourself. Those who try it may make real discoveries. For some such exercises are fairly easy, for others they seem insurmountably difficult at first, even if they may otherwise be the greatest thinkers and doers.
Exercise three goes right into daily life: You train control over your own feelings through conscious pausing – feel everything, release nothing, is the motto here. From fits of laughter to tantrums there are enough daily opportunities for this section of the soul gym. Those who are already so cool that they never express emotions are not off the hook. For them the exercise is: to actively summon external expressions! The only decisive thing is that the automatism between feeling and expression ceases and is replaced by free action.
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The next exercise practices positivity – seeing the beautiful and good even in the negative, which on closer inspection is always somewhere there. Finally, openness and impartiality towards information and events: with everything you encounter, methodically leave the possibility open that it could be quite different than you think.
The sixth and last fitness exercise is then to harmoniously combine the previous five and alternately bring them into the focus of training. One month focus for each exercise, keeping to the order and continuing the already completed ones in moderation would be the optimal training structure.
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As in the gym, it is crucial not to let your own laziness stop you. Instead of whining that you forgot or canceled your training, just start again from the beginning.
Fighting a maximum of half an hour daily with your own soul undergrowth and working up a sweat on the inner Power Place is gym for the inner person. If everyone would move there as the health insurance company wishes for their clients physically, a lot would be different, in everyday private life and in the big wide world. Less external quarrel and warlike tendencies explicitly included!
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Michaelshof up to date – all opening hours at a glance!
Ark farm:
Mon-Sun 09.00 – 19.00
Café:
Mon-Fri 08.00 – 18.00
Sat 08.00 – 19.00
Sun & holidays 09.30 – 19.00
Farm shop:
Weekdays, Sunday, holidays
daily 10.00 – 19.00
Der WAGEN in Lüneburg:
Wed & Sat 07.00 – 13.00
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Sat, 13 September – 11–17 h
Insight No. 4: Fermentation with Christian & Jerónimo
Bring a little summer into winter? You can learn that. Our Colombian fermentation expert Jerónimo and preserving professional Christian know how to keep fresh vegetables from the field alive for months. They will be happy to show you how to preserve your favorite vegetables with lactic acid bacteria and elicit very special aromas with appropriate ingredients. The production of vinegar is also part of their repertoire of fermentation art and perhaps soon one of your hobbies.
Participation: €40, lunch: €10, registration requested!
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Sat, 20 September – 15–18 h
Nature Walk No. 7: Bring your garden into shape
What blooms when? And who gets along with whom? Every plant has its preferences, its neighborhood relationships, and its flowering time. Some act as solitaires, others feel at home in a sea of their kind. For us, creating a garden means painting a picture with plants, playing with colors and shapes, and taking into account the rhythm of becoming and passing away. We invite you to explore the secrets of garden design and be inspired by our little natural paradises.
Participation: €20, registration requested!
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Mon, 29 September – 10–19 h
We celebrate Michaeli!
When summer clears and the big autumn clouds pass by, then comes the Michaelmas festival – the festival of courage, of thinking, and of soul encounters. Do I dare to address unpleasant issues in the social sphere? Am I ready to fight my own dragon every day anew? At our Michaelmas festival we invite adults to a personal discussion round – “How do we practice being brave in everyday life and what can we learn from Michael’s work?” – and the kids to small and large tests of courage. Let’s go into winter together with warm hearts and fresh awareness!
10:00 – Michaelmas celebration for adults
16:30 – Courage activities for the kids
18:30 – Soup & stick bread by the fire
Free entry! Donation welcome!
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Flyers, event posters, brochures: form, color and typography have been in Yvette’s creative hands since September 2021. That’s when the trained communication designer joined Magda in the Michaelshof design team to – as she herself says – make this unique project visible to everyone.
That is what Yvette loves about her profession: presenting thoughts, feelings, and small as well as great successes; giving things a face that outwardly carries what Michaelshof is for Yvette and probably many: a place of strength full of beauty and intense experience. That nothing stays as it is here, Yvette finds “delightfully crazy.”
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Our communication designer is thereby prompted to repeatedly rethink the themes of beauty, humanity, and closeness to nature and to adapt them artistically.
The community especially appreciates Yvette’s professionalism, with which she gives the many sides of Michaelshof a uniform line.
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Fear of change? Not here. And just as change is part of the concept here, Yvette also sees in it an opportunity to develop and rediscover herself again and again. True to the community motto “Find the value that only you have – give yourself to the world!”
So did Yvette find Michaelshof or Michaelshof her? It was the chance encounter that set everything in motion. Because if Yvette had not spoken to Malte B. and Anton while they were posting posters for KalliEco, Michaelshof would today be one sensitive designer poorer, which would be a pity in view of the many projects still waiting. She says all the projects so far have been fun. We feel the same way and look forward eagerly to Yvette’s next designs.
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For our team we are looking for committed and dynamic people who like to take responsibility and are keen on country life. Is a meaningful activity more important to you than a “9 to 5 job”? Then you are right with us!
We are looking for professionals or also talented people in the field:
Office:
- Accountant
- Picture editor
Hands-On:
- Baker
- Confectioner
- Educator for our youth home Peronnik
- Ornamental gardener
- Gardener for trees, shrubs & lawn care
- Construction worker
- Garden and landscape builder
- Pharmacist
- Printer & laminator
Your qualification is not listed, and you are still interested? Just try!
Send your application with photo to claudia.brady@sammatz.de – we will get back to you!
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+++ NEWSTICKER +++
Impressions from community life…
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…with snapshots from the garden and stable team…
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…Bubble Tea Workshop – did you know that every bubble is rolled individually and by hand? …
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…the guys with well-polished spoon…
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…and a conversation from far away: “Hey Paula, you have something on your back!” – “Hey Tom, she can’t hear you!”…
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We hope you start fresh & relaxed into September – whether tanned from the beach, relaxed from the balcony, or directly from the inner Power Place!
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Best regards and until next time – Anna, Marina and all co-authors of the summer ❤️
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