Help a family of five fun-lovers in our handmade stone house near Malmsbury, Australia

Details

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  Description

  We are an adventurous family in a large house with 6 bedrooms, on 27 acres in a sweet valley. We like hosting friends and family for fun times around the dinner table. Community is key and we enjoy our neighbors dropping by.
  
  Karl and I both work in the NGO space, trying to make the world a better place. He is an economist specialising in housing affordability, whilst I work in communication in a related organisation.
  
  We are aiming to set up an affordable housing project on our farm, a Community Land Trust based on permaculture principles. A big project.
  
  We start off small tho! Most guests soon gain an insight into how to propagate plants in our polytunnel. We have many trees to plant.
  
  There are hordes of kangaroos, wood ducks, vibrant red rosellas, flame robins and musk lorikeets in this wee valley - all sorts of birds zoom past on our property. Endangered sugar gliders hide away in our front nature paddock.
  
  Our kids are Tara (17) and twins Jamari and Curtis (14). They are real characters, sure to make your stay a genuine insight into Australian life. We also have Karl's Dad, Kevin (82), living with us. He has moderate alzheimers and is a steady hand/ low maintenance.
  
  For 4 years we ran a community nursery in inner western Melbourne with the assistance of 75+ Helpers. Now we are nearly 7 years into our tree change we are well set up thanks to people like you, making it an even better house to host our traveling friends. So many travellers have made wonderful contributions to our way of life over some 13 years of hosting hundreds of you - we thank you all! We do love having new best friends come and visit us every few weeks.
  
  We're pretty sure you'll take away some stories, strategies and smiles after some time with us too.
  
  Malmsbury station is just five minutes away so we can easily pick you up from there.
  
  *** Dietary requirements - we do eat meat so hope we can work together to make it all happen. Tara is vegetarian, so that means we cook parallel meals. We are also a FODMAP friendly household, with lactose and gluten on our radar. Regardless of the complexities of modern living, we love cooking straight out of the garden.
  
  We are always impressed by just how many solid people with adventurous tendencies come to stay.
  Go humanity ;) Come say hello~!~

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Elderly Companionship

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We teach you about permaculture design, kombucha production, fermentation, running a nursery, looking after chooks and ducks, the importance of soil PH testing, plus bonus geeky things. Things we are involved in include a relocalisation project, men’s and women’s circles, bulk buying, the village fayre, the farmers market and craft. We like discussing parenting philosophies, the alternatives to neo-liberal economics, Community Land Trusts and some kooky science - it all happens at our place. Solutions (or at least debating them) are the key to sanity in this mad, mad world.

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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

  We see you as part of the family, so anything we have to do to keep the house running, we hope you will too. We share watering, gardening, farming, cooking, cleaning, kid wrangling, whatever needs to be done. Projects are planned around your skills. If you can build - great. If you can knit, well that too! The kids are at an age where they are able to look after themselves, but love playing board games etc. One of the main things we love you to help with is just keeping us company ;) it’s great to get to know what’s happening out there. And any help to get the kids off their screens is appreciated!
  
  We are continually building soil so we have 7 composts, a hugelkultur pile and Biochar - wow that char is magic! These are all in aid of developing our productivity. Our self sufficiency is growing! Shitake mushroom logs are part of the mix. We are growing a 200 crown rhubarb crop so bring your fave recipe there. Alongside that are watering systems, polytunnels to maintain and tools to sharpen.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Maori: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  Your bedroom has a sweet view of the sunrise. The room is a triangle shape and has its own wardrobe. The house is made from recycled goods so it is full of character. Or if you like your own space we can rig up the caravan. Great over summer.

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  What else ...

  Grab a bike and go for a cycle through the neighboring forest, hang with our horse-mad neighbor Steph, see the sights of the central highlands - we are 20 minutes from coolio Castlemaine, a similar distance to the mineral springs of Daylesford - both havens for creative cultures. Kyneton and Malmsbury are barely 10 minutes away and have their own farming and historical quirks. We have hammocks overlooking our 'love heart' dam, so there's plenty of nice views to enjoy on the site. Most days we have mobs of 10+ kangaroos awaiting your camera. Sunset is well celebrated, particularly on Fridays!
  
  One of our challenges is to have five sweet reading spots on the farm. We've got three set up - all we need is to pull some tree stumps into place (1 for footrest, one for side table) in a few other select locations. Tasks like these - expect them written as a list on the back of an envelope to do if/ when you can. Its all fun.
  
  And please, if you are coming all this way down south, please put the Pacific Islands on your agenda! Vanuatu (180+ islands), Papau New Guinea ..... Solomon Islands, they are all incredibly beautiful, with many areas not too commercialised.
  
  Ahhhh to traveling tips.
  
  Check you round the campfire!

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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

  Karl & I both work online from home at present. We have some beautiful spaces to work from.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  Beautiful camping spots abound.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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