| The Svanholm Community (founded in 1978) is located 50 km west from Copenhagen and consists of about 80 adults and 60 children aged from infancy to above 80.
We have a wide spectrum of educations and occupations represented with around 15 percent foreign resident-members and, especially during summer, 10 to 20 guests from all over the world.
The last couple of years we have been building more living space for around 20 new members and their children.
We own an estate with 625 acres of farmland and 408 acres of park and woodlands. We were pioneers in Denmark in converting a rather big farm into organic farming and marketing organic products to supermarkets.
The original principles are shared work, shared economy, and shared decision making. We want whole lives, with influence on our work and daily living. Today sustainability and self-sufficiency are equally important.
We offer a safe and positive environment, especially for children. We have our own daycare, and older children can easily find others of the same age to play with. All the adults here know all the children and vice versa. They grow up in a both reassuring and challenging social context.
Closeness to nature and things like horse riding, bee keeping, dairy cows, sheep and goats are part of our children's lives.
We live in families or groups of residents in some 12 different houses on and around a 17th century castle in the middle of the estate. We eat lunch on workdays and dinners all days but wednesdays together in our newly renovated common dining room.
Most of us work at home in one of the production groups such as our sustainable building company or service groups i.e., administration, kitchen, maintenance; some 20 people have jobs outside the community. We employ a smaller number of persons from outside the community. Our basic production is organic farming including a dairy herd of 120 Jersey cows and 200 mother sheep.
We want to develop and support new sustainable productions and business ideas. We pool all income in a common fund, and we each receive 20 percent of our individual salary for clothes, amusements, dentist visits, etc.
Our decision-making authority is the monthly plenary meeting supplemented by a five-person elected council. We do not vote but discuss our way to agreement (consensus principle).
Volunteers are very welcome, please contact guestgroup@svanholm.dk. | 
