Australia
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Our picturesque family farm is in the Derwent Valley only 35 minutes from Hobart. Here is where we produce an exciting range of hand crafted, small batch soft drinks and award winning gourmet condiments.
Myself (Anne) and my husband (Robert) live on the farm and manage things together. However, we find it difficult to keep up with our olive and elder groves as well as around the home.
We are looking for help in our large garden which requires daily hours picking, weeding, bottling fruit and preserving. We are keen to meet new people and share our knowledge, accumulated over 40 yrs of farming, gardening and running a family business; as well as ideas and tips on travel within Tasmania.
We are on the beautiful Derwent River, so in spring and summer you will even be able to enjoy swimming, canoeing or lying on the banks of the river, or wandering through our 300ha of bush, along creek beds and ridges across a wide range of landscapes. You will see kangaroos, possums, perhaps echidnas, quolls and the beautifully coloured rosella parrots, fairy wrens and robins (to name a few).
We are looking for enthusiastic individuals, groups or couples who are open to new challenges. Those who have experience building, landscaping and gardening would be a huge bonus - but it is not a necessity.
It would be ideal if you have your own transport to give you more freedom, but we are always happy to run you into the local town and a bicycle is provided as well.
We would love for you to stay for a minimum of one week (in order to get to know you and also so you have a full and real experience). You have a choice of accommodation (when available) - with separate new shower and toilet. Our latest creation is "the Coop" - our cute little converted chook shed, cosy and warm (double glazed and insulated) and set within the garden. Or, if you prefer, you might enjoy further away from the house, but still join us to share an evening meal after the day to day activities around the home.
Most of all, we are flexible. If you would like to use us as a base to explore southern Tasmania from, I am sure we can arrange something that works for all. Many stayers have come back for a second visit!
We welcome you here, we strive for improvement and you will leave us, having set your mark and a memory in our piece of paradise.
Anne and Robert
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Lots to learn - and you can specialise in what takes your fancy and the season - from tending the vegie garden, the orchard, learning to propagate plants, harvesting berries, apples, pears, peaches for winter storage etc Building and landscaping skills will be cherished and we will certainly provide a healthy home cooked meal at nights - including Annie's famous desserts. Goats, cattle and stone make up this mixed farm. So lots to see and enjoy and always plenty to do.
The help is varied depending on the time of year and your skill set. The help will be regarding work around the home vegetable patch, not in the business.
Helping with landscaping, planting hedgerows & windbreaks, mulching, pruning, stone walling will always be appreciated.
Builders or handy men are very welcome, as we wish to enhance every vista and create photo opportunities wherever you look. Our next building task is for a shelter by the river - so, in summer you can swim, canoe or just sit under shelter to read a book when the days chores are done.
There are also jobs to do around the farmhouse such as gardening, house maintenance and renovation, helping cook healthy meals at night, feeding garden refuse to our livestock - wherever you feel you can most be of help.
We are currently planting a few more mixed fruit trees, setting up winter protection for our lemon trees, adding watering systems and raising our vegetable patches so we can fit more compost in.
There is always the daily vegetables and fruit to be picked and/or preserved.
Or you may like to help out at Salamanca Market on a Saturday or at our mid-winter Festival.
English, a little German
Accommodation unit - is in a simple but cosy warm cabin with very clean separate toilet and shower.
We also have a newly refurbed chook shed, called "The Coop" - we are really proud of this as it has been completed with mostly recycled materials plus cosy warm cladding and insulation. Set in the middle of the fruit and veggie garden.
Camping - You can also camp if you prefer and sit by a camp fire (except in fire danger periods).
Nearby is Mt Field National Park, or visit Mona Museum, Agrarian kitchen, the many opportunity and antique shops only minutes away and just full of hidden treasures. Swim in the river, paddle, walk thru the bush, see native animals, cockatoos, kookaburras, owls, platypus, (sometimes) and plenty of kangaroo and possums.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 4 to 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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