Help with building or growing food on our organic orchard in the Adelaide Hills, Australi

Details

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  Description

  Latest update - looking for someone with practical skills to build a stone wall, complete pruning the orchard, or do landscaping!
  
  We are Chris and Britt!! We have a beautiful little sustainable orchard surrounded by native forest and apple and cherry orchards. Yum!
  
  We live here with a goose (Ronald), a pet carpet python (Tiger), chooks/rooster (Clementine, Speckled Dick, Lotte and Roosty) and two new chicks (Bum-hole and Popcorn) and a couple of very nice house spiders. We like reading, drinking tea, and cooking and eating the food we harvest. That means eating vegetarian/vegan food.
  
  Chris has spent most of his life working in conservation biology and has travelled to many countries, including two years spent in Wadi Rum in Jordan working on the reintroduction of Arabian Oryx.
  
  Britt worked in landscaping and conservation before studying ecology and now works doing bird surveys and coordinating biodiversity conservation projects. Britt is very knowledgeable about native plants.
  
  We put lots of effort into our beautiful patch of earth. Starting in 2013 with a very neglected farm and a cute cottage, we have now rescued 2 acres of old apple orchard from a sea of weedy blackberry bushes and have planted 50 other fruit trees and a big vegetable garden. We have solar power, rainwater tanks and are making the house energy efficient. We bottle, pickle and dry many foods - fruit, juice, mushrooms, olives, pickles etc and try to be self-reliant.
  
  Anyhow, we appreciate help on the farm looking after the trees and vegetable garden, doing landscaping, building, planting, beekeeping and lots more!
  
  Note: We want people who are genuinely interested in sustainable living. This place is about sustainability, if that isn't your thing then you might find it hard - If you prefer bottled water to rainwater, and packaged food to food from the garden, then it just might not suit you. :O)
  
  There are no city lights, no traffic noise or barking dogs here. You can go on walks in the forest nearby and around neighbouring farms. We have a wood fire for winter, a fine verandah for sitting and contemplating in the morning sun and a hammock to put in the trees to escape the summer heat. There are wineries up the road to visit. This really is some of the most idyllic countryside in Australia.
  
  It is very, very peaceful here, and if you like to retreat from a busy world, this is the place to do it. Chris is semi-retired so working on the farm most days. Britt works for a not-for-profit organisation doing environmental work. At times you will have the farm all to yourself. You need to be a self starter and yes, that does include getting yourself out of bed at a reasonable time.
  
  We like listening to music and reading. We don't watch television but love movies. We make home-brewed beer. We like good conversation and listening to travel stories and life stories. We can laugh at most things, mostly keep busy and really love living here. So will you.
  
  For those who don't know how the calendar works; RED means no availability that month, YELLOW means "part availability" i.e. partly full or not much need for volunteers at that time and GREEN means volunteers are probably needed! :O)
  
  Please be prepared to make a reasonable contribution to the farm work. Yes sometimes it is hot or wet, but the tasks still have to get done.
  
  We have wifi internet access.
  
  If you have got this far, please mention "goose" in your email so we know you have read everything, and you know what the deal is. Thanks!
  
  “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
  Henry Thoreau

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  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

  Chris has travelled to 25 countries, lived in every State in Australia, been a lawyer, truck driver, mine worker, park manager and wildlife ecologist. Chris volunteers in the local volunteer fire brigade, chairs the local community group and is an elected representative in Local Government - the Adelaide Hills Council.
  
  Britt has been a kitchen hand, truck driver, landscaper, plant nursery worker, bush carer, studied Ecology at Adelaide University and also is in the local volunteer fire brigade and on a couple of committees including the local community group and a group for biology enthusiasts.
  
  You can learn about ecology, not creating garbage and avoiding plastics, identifying native plants, being an active community member for good and changing the world for the better.
  
  You can learn about sustainable living; collecting and storing rainwater, growing fruit and vegetables organically, composting, pruning, harvesting, drying, pickling and bottling fruit without preservatives, bee keeping, making stuff, basic mechanics, plumbing, cutting and storing firewood, cooking and minimal disturbance bush care. Probably a few other things.

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  Help

  There are many things to do!
  We are particularly looking for people that can do the following tasks: help in the house, bottle fruit, mow the orchard, garden, do bee-keeping, landscaping (levelling, creating water features for frogs and birds, etc), paving, stone walls, painting the house, vegetable gardening, fruit picking and pruning or shed stuff! We want to build an extension on the house; any builders out there?

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Arabic: Beginner
  German: Beginner
  Indonesian: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  We have two spare rooms in a small house. There are lovely places to camp if you like.
  
  PLEASE be aware that we are reliant on rainwater so economy with water is very important, especially from October to April. So, you must be good at having short showers, not leaving the tap running unnecessarily etc. Just sensible water use really, but not for some people it seems...... :O)
  
  Oh yes, this does mean you will be drinking rainwater. Yes, the stuff from the sky, people, and no, it is not 'treated'. It is beautiful and clear and much cleaner than the stuff that has passed through ten other people, run off agricultural land or come out of industrial estates and been through what passes for water purification. If you think you can’t drink rainwater, well what hope is there?

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  What else ...

  There is a lot of forest for hiking here. The nearest bus stop to Adelaide is 5km away and the nearest town is 11km, so you can't easily get to and from the farm without grabbing a lift with us (which is not too hard to arrange!).
  
  It is very relaxing here BUT you will need to enjoy the quiet to like it here. There is no TV but we have lots of birds and a beautiful environment to enjoy. There is a wildlife park 13km away with tame kangaroos, koalas etc. We have plenty of good books that are worth reading, take one onto the verandah.
  
  We have drawing and painting gear too if you enjoy being creative :)

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  plenty of space here to choose from and very nice locations

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours, 5 days maximum

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