Help with caring for the animals and gardening on a family farm near the beach in Queensland, Australia

Details

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  Description

  We have vacancies now for a couple or two friends. We love to welcome strong energetic skilled people who want to help us and enjoy our lovely surroundings.
  
  You'll be helping on our organic farms, restoring native gardens, property and wildernesses, on the beautiful Sunshine Coast near the beach.
  
  We provide accommodation in our Cabin with three bedrooms, large open plan kitchen, living area, bathroom. There's an outdoor dining area and firepit, well-equpped kitchen with fridge, hob, microwave, slow cooker, toaster, also laundry facilities and yoga mats.
  
  We provide vegetarian provisions for you to self cater, including eggs and honey from our own farm.
  
  We are a friendly family with a small organic homestead 10 minutes drive from the beach on the Sunshine Coast. We follow organic practices and are early in our journey to permaculture.
  
  You’ll be based on our property which is not served by public transport although we provide bicycles and it's a 16 minute cycle ride to the small market town. We prefer applicants who have a vehicle.
  
  There’s plenty to do on the property on your time off: art, baking and cooking, exploring, gardening, hanging out with the animals, harvesting lotus flowers, napping, observing the wildlife, reading, relaxing, resting, picking herbs, planting natives, pruning, sunbathing or in the wet season, splashing in the puddles ...
  
  We offer a traditional Workaway experience, five hours a day, five days a week.
  
  Note: we do not provide paid work here. Workaway is about you providing voluntary work in return for accommodation, food, hospitality and utilities.
  
  We are exchanging our high quality facilities, are generous with food, have good wifi, exceptional quality water, a brilliant location within a very safe property within 10-20 minutes drive of the beach. As a family we work hard, so we expect you to work hard, diligently and safely during your on-duty hours.
  
  We are Angela, husband David, and son Ed who runs the home farm and nursery. We are looking for help with our gardens, orchards, woodlands and rewilded areas. Creatures you may help care for include chickens, ducks, peacocks, pigs and sheep.
  
  You will not be helping in our farm shop.
  
  We love people who will have a go at everything and who work hard, with a good sense of humour. Only apply if you are happy and drama-free - life's too short for negativity and nuisance. Our philosophy is to look for solutions not problems. We expect you to work safely and efficiently.
  
  Duration is normally for one - two months, occasionally less if you have serious skills :)
  
  Preferred arrival days are Monday afternoons, with departures usually on Monday mornings, after you have cleaned where you were staying and set it up ready for the next Workawayers. Hours are typically 7am-10am and 11am-1pm, usually working Wednesdays - Sundays inclusive. We find this works well, before the heat of the day, so that you have the afternoons and evenings off, as well as two full days off. We prefer people who want to stay a month or more, although our minimum stay is two weeks.
  
  We are focusing on improving our property to produce more fruit in our orchard, grow more pigs, and produce more eggs. Your duties may include caring for chickens and ducks, gardening and farming duties. We are also adding more wildflower areas to the farm and planting more native trees. We practice organic methods, and are interested in biodynamic, permaculture and syntropic principles.
  
  We particularly welcome Workawayers with interests in any of these areas: animal care, building, carpentry, construction, gardening, horticulture and in particular native plants, maintenance and property renovation.
  
  Our property has filtered and purified harvested rainwater, and off grid waste systems.
  
  The nearby towns of Yandina and Coolum Beach are both about 10 minutes away by car. From there, you can explore the whole of the Sunshine Coast. We are 30 minutes from Noosa Heads. There are beautiful national parks, state forests, mountains and waterfalls nearby.
  
  The nearest bus stations are Yandina and Coolum Beach. The nearest train stations are Yandina and Nambour. The nearest airports are Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. It's easier for you if you have a vehicle, especially if you want to go the beach/climb/explore/shop/surf. Otherwise it's a 15 minute cycle/half hour run/hour walk to the nearest bus stop/train station in Yandina.
  
  There is no public transport passing the property so if you don't have your own vehicle, you can cycle to Yandina and catch a bus from there. Or an Uber ride to the beach/shops costs around $16. We run a number of businesses so unfortunately are not able to offer a chauffeur service.
  
  There are always a lot of different things happening here. Projects on the go may include carpentry, fencing, gardening, irrigation, planting and regenerating the land including native planting. We keep pigs, sheep and poultry including chickens, ducks, guinea-fowl and peacocks.
  
  Our dogs are Ruby the friendly Rhodesian Ridgeback, Ruby’s daughter Emerald. and Jack Russell Little Gem.
  
  We are near the acclaimed Mount Ninderry Healing Centre which offers reasonably priced acroyoga, bodywork, courses and therapist programmes, intention therapy, kirtan, and shiatsu, yin and flow yoga, with free community yoga classes once a week - if you have your own transport to get there.
  
  We look forward to welcoming you :)

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Our family is originally from Devon in the southwest of England, where we created and operated Crealy theme parks and resorts in Devon and Cornwall.
  
  We have traveled a lot. Ed has also Workawayed in half a dozen countries including Israel, in South America and in Europe.
  
  We emigrated to Australia from Devon, UK, in 2010 and have lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2011. We spend most of our time on the farm and like time in the country, going to the beaches, waterfalls, and national parks. We love meeting new people from all over the world.
  
  We wish you happy travels :)

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  Help

  We are looking to accept Workawayers who have a real interest in our way of life. Current projects may include:
  - caring for chickens and pigs
  - carpentry and construction
  - gardening including brush-cutting, composting, harvesting, mowing, native planting, mulching, propogation, seeding, strimming ("whipper-snipping"/"weed-wacking"), watering and weeding
  - maintenance including painting, repairs and renovation
  - regenerative farming.
  
  There is always plant propagation and property maintenance to do.
  
  There is a sizeable and varied fruit orchard with more than 100 trees. We are rearing more pigs and increasing our flock of chickens to produce more eggs. We continue to plant more native trees, and propagate more bamboo.
  
  You will need sensible working boots or closed-toe shoes, a good hat, and sunscreen. If you come in The Wet, you'll also need waterproof boots and wet weather gear.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  French: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  We speak English, Spanish, and French.
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  Accommodation

  We provide accommodation with full facilities. We also and welcome people with own self-contained campervan or similar.
  
  We provide exceptional facilities and food for you to self-cater. We provide your accommodation, bedding, and all your food including our own honey, free range eggs, as well as herbs, fruit and veggies when in season from the gardens and orchards or local stores, plus other pantry necessities.
  
  We provide beautiful accommodation with your own bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, barbecue deck, firepit and laundry facilities.
  
  If you have your own self-contained vehicle or camper-van, we can provide a good parking area with access to electricity, harvested filtered rainwater, wifi, laundry facilities and shared bathroom.

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  What else ...

  Our farm is between two mountains and close to Coolum Beach. There are many lovely beaches, country towns, national parks, state forests, and waterfalls around, great rock climbing, watersports, horseriding and hiking. Iconic Noosa is about 25 minutes away.
  
  Our family also operates Fairhill Native Botanical Gardens & Cafe Bar Restaurant, and the Flow Bouldering gym nearby and we can arrange discounted passes..
  
  There is a good cinema nearby with "cheap Tuesday" tickets. There are excellent farmers' markets which you can attend if the family are going there, or if you have your own transport.
  
  Wishing you happy travels.

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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

  We have good wifi for digital nomads.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We can provide accommodation and we also welcome Workawayers any time who have their own self-contained campervan or motorhome, in which case we can provide bedding, laundry facilities plus shared access to a full bathroom.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Typically 5 hours a day 7am-1pm less an hour's break for morning tea, 5 days a week.

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