Goats, a donkey, herbs, vegies and fruits, ... in a small village in the Salaj hills

Sălaj

Late autumn shepherding near the village.

Meet your hosts Raluca and Jonas.

In the back ground Voicu and Vic.

15 reviews • Updated 1 month ago

Located in the small village Petrinzel, the house and barns are built in 1906, renovated and conserved using traditional methods and natural materials. We have currently 12 milking goats and 30 goats in total, we have chickens, a donkey, a cat and a dog, several vegetable gardens, grain fields and fruit trees. Activities are milking goats, bottle feeding little goats, making hay, making cheese, wood chopping, weeding, planting, maintaining buildings, harvesting in the garden and out in the fields and forests, preserving food, … We also help other like minded farmers and people who need help in the wider surroundings. Depending the seasonal needs and weather, we have intensive hard working days, and more quite rainy days or resting winter days. The volunteers should join in this village rhythm. There are often evenings with campfire, friends joining, music being made, or outdoor movie screening. We cook seasonal and local food, we can adapt to vegetarian visitors. There are rooms for guests, outside compost toilet, and a commonly used bathroom, in summer we have also an outdoor shower. We have a chariot for our donkey Voicu, and we have little time to enjoy a ride with him ourselves, if you are used to donkeys or horses, you can do a nice tour with him on a free day. In the wider surroundings there are possibilities for excursions to the city of Cluj Napoca, the Apuseni mountains, the weekly market in Huedin, or a local bicycle trip in the hills of Salaj.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Grain farming

Sheep or goat farming

Dairy farming

Wild foraging

Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas

Cheesemaking

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Green Building

Methods or systems

No-till farming

Permaculture

Regenerative agriculture

Host type

Nonprofit / Community

Former WWOOFer

3 Hectares | 7.4 Acres

Accommodation

4+ WWOOFers

Bedroom

Campsite

Children not accepted

Pets not accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Length of stay

1-2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Jonas

Member since 2022

Languages spoken: Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Romanian Response rate: 100% Response time: typically within 1 day

November 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Sălaj

Trainstation Stana, airport Cluj Napoca, bus station Huedin

Reviews

Timo

Switzerland • October 2025

We enjoyed our time on the farm. The family welcomed us warmly. We helped with preserving food for the winter. The bread, cheese, and fresh milk from the farm are excellent. We’re happy to recommend this place.

Elisabeth

Germany • September 2025

We had a very nice time at the goat farm. Jonas and Racula are great hosts and very nice people. We had a lot of fun cuddling baby goats, harvesting onions, playing with Vanya, processing vegetables, walking the dog Shaya... The village is a great place to relax and is full of lovely people. It was a nice experience to do many things in a traditional and natural way (showering outside (even with warm water), cranking water for the animals from the well, cooking and baking with fire,...). We hope that the two of them can continue to do this for a long time and remain such positive, great people. Thank you so much for everything!

Mazen

United Arab Emirates • August 2025

Amazing and memorable experience! Jonas is a true master of his craft. Hardworking, passionate, no-nonsense, and a perfectionist who never cuts corners. No wonder he makes some of the best cheese and bread in all of Romania. I learned so much from him and it was inspiring to see his methods and work ethic firsthand. Raluca, his wife, is one of the nicest people you could meet. She is super friendly and easy to talk to, with always interesting and insightful conversations. Her food is amazing, and being around their little baby Vanya was so special, a cheerful presence that adds warmth to the farm. The work was diverse, from caring for animals to harvesting plums (for palinka!), hay loading, and other daily ad-hoc farm tasks. The village is peaceful, small, and full of friendly neighbors. I feel lucky this was my first WWOOF experience and would love to visit again!

Héloïse

France • August 2025

A huge thank you to my two hosts for their kindness, patience and openness in this experience. I learned a tremendous amount of things about village life and farm life, in only two weeks, that I will never forget and try to make use of in the future. I highly recommend if you are more than motivated to learn every day a thousand new things about local traditional materials and traditions, homemade food and how to handle being a small scale farmer today. Very organised in the everyday work so it is easy to get the hang of a normal day at the farm. Passionating first experience that I wish everyone should have as a wwoofer. Hope to come back to Romania to see your family again !

Dimitrios

Italy • August 2025

I stayed at Jona's and Raluca's farm for one month, and as my first WWOOFing experience, it was a unique and amazing month. I had the opportunity to be involved in the entire cycle of dairy farming and cheesemaking — feeding, cleaning, providing new pasture for the goats, and learning about both the milking and cheese-making processes. I also helped with gardening in their fields. Jona and Raluca are people with strong and ethical values — something that truly motivated me — and they were very pleasant to talk to and exchange stories with about both traditional and modern ways of living. They live in a beautiful village, surrounded by a great circle of interesting people. They are very hospitable, and they cook AMAZING food using local products. I hope I will meet them again next year :)

Noa

Canada • July 2025

I had a really great time at Trifolium, and am so grateful for all that I learned about the goats, the cheesemaking process, the garden, and more. The work that Jonas and Raluca are doing to build up the community is also inspiring, and I learned something new every day about Petrinzel and what it means to run an organic farm. I am so grateful to them (and baby Vanya), and it was an extremely unique and meaningful experience for me. Thank you so much!