Come and help on our Beautiful Farm in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia

Details

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  Description

  Dear Workaways,
  With the onset of Autumn we have a high need for people who have an interest in gardening who can help us keeping everything looking as beautiful as what it deserves and to get ready for the winter.
  
  Now that Australia has opened up again to international travellers we encourage you to
  get in touch and to read our reviews.
  
  Ideally, we are looking for hard working couples and or individuals who are experienced in farm work although this is not essential. We have hosted many 'first timers' and many who have been happy to learn and give new things a go. We always seem to have a renovation project in the pipeline and there is a wide variety of things we need help with, depending on the time of year. Tending to the gardens is especially busy in Spring /early Summer.
  
  Location, location, location.....Our farm is situated in a quiet sub valley in the beautiful Yarra Valley, a world-renowned wine region which attracts many tourists. The feel you get is that you are miles from civilization, but in fact we are just one hour from Melbourne. The best of both worlds, tranquility and convenience.
  
  We have dutch/south african backgrounds and emigrated to Australia many years ago. We have grown up children and seven grandchildren who often pop in at weekends. We moved from Melbourne to the Farm 16 years ago and have been steadily renovating, improving the land and establishing the gardens and orchards - gardening being one of Tinne’s passions.
  
  We keep ourselves busy with farming our land (vegetable garden, orchard, cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens) and we also run a B & B. However we do not require help in the B & B area.
  
  We absolutely love living at the Farm but find that we need help at certain times of the year, especially Spring Autumn, and winter when there is much to do. We have hosted several international volunteers over the years and are also well travelled ourselves. We have hosted many workaways, of all nationalities and ages, new and experienced travellers/ volunteers. We often have between 2-5 workaways on site so there is also an opportunity for you to meet and hang out with others.
  
  We are easy going but very busy people and therefore it works best for us to host couples, or more than two Workaways at a time. It’s important to us that our Workaways enjoy their time at the farm and our set up provides the opportunity for both independent living and shared experiences.
  
  We are flexible with hours and tasks and expect our Workaways to have a similar attitude as factors like weather and animal care often influence work flow and priorities. Essentially, we ask our Workaways to contribute 25 hours a week, but we are very flexible on how these hours are achieved.
  
  We provide all food including home grown honey, fruit and veggies (when in season), home grown meat (when available) and eggs from our own chickens. We have hosted many vegetarians but through experience we have found it difficult to accommodate strict vegans or Workaways with complex dietary restrictions. It makes the cooking, eating, and sharing dynamic too hard!! Our Workaways self cater although we always enjoy a shared meal when we can, this is at least once a week, normally twice.
  
  We look forward to hearing from you.
  
  Pieter and Tinne

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  There is plenty of opportunity to pick up new skills (animal care, gardening, maintenance, cooking) and the beautiful environment that we live in makes the work to be done more like a pleasure than a burden. We have consistently been rated 5 *️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ by our Workaways and have hosted approximately 75 volunteers from 25 different countries. As you will read in their their reviews, the Workaways enjoy meeting other Workaways and often learn much from each other during their stay, whether that's cooking together or swapping travel adventures or improving their language skills.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  Ideally we prefer our Workaways to have some farming or at least gardening experience although we have hosted several new Workaways without experience but who have been very keen to learn. As long as you have a can do attitude and are self motivated then we are happy to provide experience of being on a working farm.
  
  We welcome skills such as farming, engineering, DIY, carpentry, painting, general maintenance as there is always something that needs attention on a farm. We always need help with our gardens and so landscaping and general gardening skills are welcomed and appreciated as there is a continual cycle of planting, weeding and harvesting and more weeding!!
  There is also the day to day jobs like tending to the animals, general farm work like mending fences and weed control, gathering and chopping firewood, mowing and maintenance. Help with the B&B is not needed as we manage this separately ourselves.
  
  Generally we have 2-5 Workaways at the farm so there is lots of opportunities to learn and try different tasks, depending on the season and what's a priority that week!

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  The accommodation is a separate fully furnished 2 bedroom home with an equipped kitchen and laundry. Views out over the Farm and a wood fired heater for the winter months.

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  What else ...

  We pick up Workaways from Yarra Glen Bus stop which is about a 1 hour train journey on the Lilydale train line from central Melbourne and then a 20minute bus ride to Yarra We generally ask Workaways to arrive in the morning and we organize travel logistics when confirming a placement.
  The nearest public transport is about 7 km away from the Farm at Yarra Glen from where you can catch a bus to Lilydale train station. We are happy to drive you to that point or give you a lift to Lilydale or Melbourne when we go in (usually weekly). Your own transport will be a bonus, but it is definitely not absolutely necessary.
  On days off we find workaways either chill out on the property (its so peaceful and many say that they appreciate having their own space to relax in), or go for walks around the property/local area. Some plan a day trip into Melbourne or visit local attractions eg local wine tasting (we are surrounded by vineyards and have 2 local microbreweries, a gin distillery and a Chocolate centre!).
  There are some great tourist attractions in the Yarra Valley including great walking/cycling tracks and a wildlife Sanctuary.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Generally 25 hrs per week, 5 hrs a day but lots of flexibility with hours/ 2 days off and always fair.

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