Help me turn a small yard into a permaculture garden in Walkerston, QLD, Australia

Details

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  Description

  I monitor the messages but only answers about once a week - the more notice we have to host the better for planning throughout the seasons~
  
  Current season's availability
  JUNE FULL
  July - August FULL.
  
  For planning reasons, if you message us, PLEASE INCLUDE:
  1. Where you are coming from (e.g. name of town or city)
  2. How you plan to get here (bus station? airport? train station? car?)
  3. How long you would like to stay (1-2 weeks preferred)
  4. Are you allergic to ANYTHING (but especially cats, birds and bees)
  5. Do you have special diet? (GF, vegan etc)
  
  We have a lot of skills and would like to learn more, please message to show us your profile and tell us about yourselves.
  
  I am converting a small yard into a permaculture garden (years long project). I have space for 2-3 people most of the time and would love to share skills both directions and get help for our ongoing projects. I am only looking to host guests for about a fortnight - but flexible on extending the stay if we are all having a friendly time and you want to stay.
  
  I live with another couple and one cat, We keep ducks, mealworms, compost worms and a beehive. We live in a quiet suburban neighbourhood in a small town about 20 minutes drive from Mackay. We live in the suburbs, in a quiet regional town. We aren’t TOO far from either the city centre, or the countryside, or the beach (15-45mins drive depending on the direction). We are welcoming to LGBTQIA+ travellers, singles or couples (depending on double room availability).
  
  We will be doing tasks together and sharing skills on the way - we can offer beekeeping, tropical food gardening, poultry keeping, landcare and sustainability skills. I would love to meet someone to teach me more about how to woodwork and carpentry, how to construct and build simple things like tables and supports for rain barrels strongly and safely. I have a lot of dream projects she would love to see created: a pond for the ducks, an outside shower, an outside kitchen, fixing the integrity of the fence, a front yard water feature as part of a local frog breeding program….¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ always lots of plans and ideas.
  
  I would love to host Deaf or hard of hearing people too, I only know Auslan alphabet but are keen to learn more Auslan language and how to communicate better with members of the Australian Deaf community.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Help around the house

  Light maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet

  House & pet sitting
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  Interests

  

  LGBTQ

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Sustainability

  

  Pets

  

  Farming

  

  Charity work

  

  Art & design

  

  Plant care

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Animals

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Nature

  

  Hiking

  

  Beach

  

  Mountain
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Social activities (this is just a few ideas - I can find more based on your interests):
  I can show you some of the local scenic nature sights like see platypus in Eungella, or walk on quiet clean beaches to admire sea anemones, or take you fishing or crabbing, attend show openings at Artspace, drive out west to look for emus in the wild. There is a tabletop gaming shop in Mackay that we are keen to visit but we very new to the genre so would love to be shown around by someone in the know!
  Skills and knowledge we can share: cooking , beekeeping, winemaking, herbal skincare, soil remediation, animal care, backyard poultry, tropical gardening, English reading & writing, plant lore, crochet, worm farms, rewilding in the suburbs
  I are also happy to host people travelling with kids, dogs or cats, provided that they are well-behaved and safe around the ducks. Cats need to be on leashes outside to protect native wildlife populations.
  I hope to learn a lot by hosting people of different cultures, like new ways of seeing the world, how to communicate better, learning different words from different languages, seeing our home anew through the eyes of our wonderful guests!
  For any guests travelling with minors: we both have our Child Safety Blue Cards.

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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

  Days will be different, but includes animal care, batch cooking, building, pruning, mulching, digging, planting, sowing, scrubbing, construction, measuring, planning, harvesting, dehydrating, power washing, dusting, vacuuming - everything needed to run a suburban "homestead", basically. We have a lot of deep-cleaning tasks that need to be done after the summer rain, inside and outside the house, like power-washing the driveway.
  
  The kind of help we would like is around 4hrs per day, 4 days per week (typically 8-11am, 11.30am-12.30pm).
  Days ideally look like this:
  We make ourselves breakfast (7-8am) and lunch (1pm), and supply a light smoko rest (11-11.30am).
  *we are an omnivorous household, but due to high cost of living, we eat a mainly vegetarian diet. Happy to adapt to vegans. Happy to cook with more meat and fish if any of our guests enjoy hunting or fishing. We cook a lot of low GF, low-acid sides, mainly European dishes with cheese, eggs, butter, or milk. We would love to learn more simple and healthy dishes from other cultures!
  
  Communal chores don't count towards hours - we work as a team in the evening to prepare meals (splitting the cooking/cleaning chore equally, resetting the kitchen for the morning), sweeping, take out the bins, keep the place tidy like a community does (maybe another 1-2hrs a day).

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  I would love to host Deaf or hard of hearing people too, I know how to fingerspell in Auslan but are keen to learn more Auslan language and how to communicate better with members of the Australian Deaf community.
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  Accommodation

  I have two private bedrooms for our guests, one with single bed, one with queen.
  Bedrooms have empty inbuilt closets.
  The house has one toilet and one bathroom (toilet separate from bathroom).
  Facilities for our guests: Wifi, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, 240V external outlet for campervan, freezer space for cold storage (fridge usually full sorry), air conditioning, air fryer
  The yard might really suit people in campervans/ small caravans that want to park up for a fortnight, recharge, do some repairs, tidy the camper, wash everything. I can host a camper (under ~2.4m) or small teardrop-style caravan in our undercover area, and there is an outlet close for you to connect to, or a parking spot if you bring a car. I have shed space to accommodate small builds or repairs too.

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  What else ...

  We are a smoking and drinking home with designated smoking areas.
  
  I travelled overseas from 2016-2021 doing HelpX and WWOOFing etc, so have experience as s helper. I want our guests to have good experiences with us, and I have hopefully created a good space for travellers to park up, share our lives, help us out a bit and leave having learned a lot from each other and gained a lot of positive experiences overall.

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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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  Can host digital nomads

  Have not worked with digital nomads before this, please let us know what you need and we can check to make sure we have what you need to support your career.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  Nowhere to dump black or grey water here, but there are likely facilities within 10-15 minutes drive from home for you to dump out.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Probably goes without saying but you are responsible for your animals waste. All dog and cat poops need to picked up and disposed of safely.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Ducks

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