Über uns – Unser holistischer Bauernhof in Dänemark

The small holistic farm exists because we chose a different pace.
Here we live, Johnny and Anja, together with our old landrace sheep, goats, and chickens. More animals are planned.

It is not a project or a mission that we have, but rather a way of life that makes sense to us. The farm is deliberately kept small. Manageable. Alive. Something the two of us can easily handle.

We work with the land according to the principles of holistic management.
Not as a method for optimizing yield, but as a form of attentive listening to and observing the soil, the animals, the seasons, and one's own limits.

Decisions develop slowly, are adapted to reality, and the motto always applies:

“Always assume you are wrong”

With us, animals are not units. They are part of a living system that builds the soil and nourishes us. Our goal is not efficiency, but robustness and health for the animals, for the soil, and for us. This farm is not a retreat from the world. It is a more honest way of participating in it.

Some days are quiet. Others are exhausting. Most are unspectacular in the best possible way.
We are trying to prove nothing. We live here and take responsibility for what we have chosen. Through working with living, complex systems instead of complicated solutions, a different kind of clarity emerges in everyday life over time.

P.S. If you want to know the difference between complex and complicated, read here.

My name is Anja and I am a trained biologist, but I have never worked in this profession on a permanent basis. I was born and raised in Germany, where I lived until I was 49 years old.
My family and some close friends are there, who are still very important to me today.

Johnny and I have been a couple for many years. We used to travel frequently and experienced many wonderful things. But over time, we realized that this is not the life we want to lead in the long run. A growing dissatisfaction with our everyday life could no longer be ignored.

In 2017, this feeling intensified and we knew something had to happen. Johnny wanted to lose weight and started a ketogenic diet. When my migraine attacks became more and more severe, I joined Johnny. I had read that a reduction in carbohydrates can help. And indeed, I felt much better. Consequently, we significantly increased our meat consumption.
This brought up new questions, particularly regarding animal husbandry. As a young adult, this was the reason I ate an almost exclusively vegetarian diet for about 10 years. Even with organic products, we had our doubts.

At the same time, our dissatisfaction with our professional activities grew. My work as an environmental consultant, occupational safety specialist, and QM auditor fed on German bureaucracy. There were constantly new rules to implement, the usefulness of which I often found difficult to explain.
As an “environmental consultant,” I was almost always traveling by car, often got stuck in traffic, and my clients were frequently not very happy to see me.

We had saved money without knowing exactly what for. What we lacked was a clear direction. The turning point came rather by chance when we watched an impressive TED talk by Allan Savory, the founder of holistic management. When courses in holistic management were offered in Germany, we were curious and signed up. The approach that was shown to us made sense.

The thoughts about what we really want in life were brewing inside us. We searched for something suitable for several years. Then we found our small farm and took the plunge. I quit my job and moved to Denmark in April 2021.

I have never regretted this decision. Not everything is easy, but it feels good to live my own life and not just fill a role. And even though the path is not straight, I believe that we are getting closer to our goal in holistic management of being part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Hi, my name is Johnny. Everything I know, I taught myself. I learned programming, systems thinking, and how to handle complex problems autodidactically, through doing, failing, and taking responsibility—though not always. This has fundamentally shaped my relationship with authority, knowledge, and responsibility.

For many years, I worked with systems that were supposed to function smoothly. Over time, I realized that these systems also shape people, often more than they realize.

I am fundamentally skeptical of standard solutions, permissions, and narratives that promise meaning from the outside. Not because I am against them, but because I prefer freedom of choice over obedience and responsibility over rules.

I don't believe in the one right way, and I have no interest in prescribing one to others. I am interested in the moment when someone stops obeying out of routine and begins to live more consciously, without having to turn it into a project or an identity.

I also write about these thoughts in my book Debugging Reality, speak on my YouTube channel and offer Ping-Pong Sessions for people who want to bounce their own thoughts, models, and problems back and forth with someone.