For Farm Friends.
Being part of a family farm is a truly rewarding experience. Everyone should take the time to experience farming at least once in their lives, everyone should know where their food comes from and how it is produced. The wonder of witnessing the seed to the tomato, the egg to the chicken and back to the egg again, seeing a calf born knowing one day you'll share her milk with HER calf. There is so much joy on a farm, so much to learn. One of the most amazing things about farming is the closeness to the natural flow of the world, the seasons. The amount of time it takes to see something through from start to finish, the fact that some things never do end. Cows have calves, become cows, have calves, become cows ad infinitum.
Things you should know and think about.
You're going to get hot and dirty or cold and muddy. Covered in poo, compost and dust. If you're going to have trouble with this rethink coming here.
You are being invited to spend time with our family, in our home, please don’t forget that.
Don't consider asking for an invite if you're just after a holiday, that is NOT what this is about.
There will be times when you work for little immediate reward, welcome to farming :).
If you have no experience in rural areas or on farms be aware that they are both physically and culturally different to the city. This farm more so as we are living an alternative and very different lifestyle. You can't just 'go to the shops' to get more coffee without wasting an hour or two and the work day won't be 9am to 5pm. The best advice I can give is just to go with the flow, you'll either love it or hate it.
Understand that what you'll get out of this is the farms excess, don't expect to get cases full of veges when there are none to spare. We will share everything we can but our needs will come first. Please don’t ask for more, chances are you'll get what you ask for but not be asked back again.
To be invited the first time.....
Be honest and open with us. Read everything we have taken the time to write, answer our questions thoughtfully.
Give us plenty of information, we only have room for a few farm friends and we are looking for people that will fit the farm and our ethos.
We'll read through and then contact you, we may say no straight away if we don't think you'll fit in. We'll have more questions if we think you may be suitable.
At this point in time we are looking for a maximum of 4 couples or maybe 8 singles to be part of the farm family. It will depend on the time everyone can put in.
Read through the helpx comments and reviews, it'll give you a bit of insight into who we are, Mike is the nice one and Patricia is the task master :).
Our Questionnaire.
Why do you want to be a part of our farm?
What would you like to get out of coming here?
What skills are you most interested in learning?
Have you had any experience with farm animals?
Do you have any skills that might be useful to us?
How far will you have to travel?
How often would you like to visit and for how long?
Would you spend longer periods of time here if you could?
Do you consider yourself fit?
Are there any foods you won’t eat?
Do you have any allergies?
Do you have children and would you like them to come with you? How old are they?
How would you feel about working with international helpers, being the boss for the days that you are here?
Are you willing to work when it's hot/cold/raining?
Do you understand about Patricia's allergies?
To be invited back..........
Be committed and meet your obligations.
Be courteous and respectful, you will be invited into our home, learn what our needs and expectations are before you start listing your own.
Offer genuine labour effort, make sure your work hours count.
Be open minded and understanding of our efforts, not everything will be perfect all the time and things go wrong.
If you make a mistake (eg. leave a gate open) help remedy the situation. The last thing we need is MORE work :)
Expect to get the bad with the good, crops fail, livestock dies and nature prevails. It's not always clean ripe tomatoes, sometimes you need to muck out the barn, accept this.
Be supportive, especially when things aren't going as planned. This is a 24/7 job, we don’t get days off.
Keep negative comments to yourself, there is nothing as soul destroying than being criticized when you are putting in 200% to fix a problem.
Understand that while you are being taught you are helping but you're also taking up some of our productive time. Keep that in mind when you take your goodies home, don't expect too much too soon. This is why we are looking for long term commitments.
Be thrifty and aware of limits to resources, water, animal feeds, electricity.... most services cost more in rural areas and some things are in very limited amounts. Take your rubbish with you, rubbish disposal is just another job, we don’t get a pick up service.
Offer suggestions but understand that this is not a democracy. There are many reasons we choose to do things the way we do, some for purely practical reasons, some economic and some because of our ethos.
Listen to what you are told, some things may not make sense to start with but as you learn you'll understand.
Basic Farm Etiquette.
Leave gates as you found them, open if open, closed if closed.
Never approach an animal without our permission, this can include things like chickens or rabbits, ALWAYS ask.
Mistreating animals will not be tolerated.
Be careful with tools, they are a big part of what makes the farm run. Broken tools stop work faster than anything else. They cost a lot and can take up precious dollars and time to fix.
Go easy on farm tracks, upkeep is hard work.
Please keep to the paths, do not tread on garden beds unless asked to. This includes children, keep them off the gardens. Some garden areas may not be obvious (weedy or left to go wild) so if in doubt stay out.
Children.
We do like children, well behaved children. This is a farm and we have large animals and machinery, you MUST understand this before thinking of bringing children here. We think all children should spend time on a farm, to understand where food comes from and to feel comfortable with animals as food. If you have young (or older) children we would love to hear from you but we will have to discuss what will happen when they are here.
Being part of a family farm is a truly rewarding experience. Everyone should take the time to experience farming at least once in their lives, everyone should know where their food comes from and how it is produced. The wonder of witnessing the seed to the tomato, the egg to the chicken and back to the egg again, seeing a calf born knowing one day you'll share her milk with HER calf. There is so much joy on a farm, so much to learn. One of the most amazing things about farming is the closeness to the natural flow of the world, the seasons. The amount of time it takes to see something through from start to finish, the fact that some things never do end. Cows have calves, become cows, have calves, become cows ad infinitum.
Things you should know and think about.
You're going to get hot and dirty or cold and muddy. Covered in poo, compost and dust. If you're going to have trouble with this rethink coming here.
You are being invited to spend time with our family, in our home, please don’t forget that.
Don't consider asking for an invite if you're just after a holiday, that is NOT what this is about.
There will be times when you work for little immediate reward, welcome to farming :).
If you have no experience in rural areas or on farms be aware that they are both physically and culturally different to the city. This farm more so as we are living an alternative and very different lifestyle. You can't just 'go to the shops' to get more coffee without wasting an hour or two and the work day won't be 9am to 5pm. The best advice I can give is just to go with the flow, you'll either love it or hate it.
Understand that what you'll get out of this is the farms excess, don't expect to get cases full of veges when there are none to spare. We will share everything we can but our needs will come first. Please don’t ask for more, chances are you'll get what you ask for but not be asked back again.
To be invited the first time.....
Be honest and open with us. Read everything we have taken the time to write, answer our questions thoughtfully.
Give us plenty of information, we only have room for a few farm friends and we are looking for people that will fit the farm and our ethos.
We'll read through and then contact you, we may say no straight away if we don't think you'll fit in. We'll have more questions if we think you may be suitable.
At this point in time we are looking for a maximum of 4 couples or maybe 8 singles to be part of the farm family. It will depend on the time everyone can put in.
Read through the helpx comments and reviews, it'll give you a bit of insight into who we are, Mike is the nice one and Patricia is the task master :).
Our Questionnaire.
Why do you want to be a part of our farm?
What would you like to get out of coming here?
What skills are you most interested in learning?
Have you had any experience with farm animals?
Do you have any skills that might be useful to us?
How far will you have to travel?
How often would you like to visit and for how long?
Would you spend longer periods of time here if you could?
Do you consider yourself fit?
Are there any foods you won’t eat?
Do you have any allergies?
Do you have children and would you like them to come with you? How old are they?
How would you feel about working with international helpers, being the boss for the days that you are here?
Are you willing to work when it's hot/cold/raining?
Do you understand about Patricia's allergies?
To be invited back..........
Be committed and meet your obligations.
Be courteous and respectful, you will be invited into our home, learn what our needs and expectations are before you start listing your own.
Offer genuine labour effort, make sure your work hours count.
Be open minded and understanding of our efforts, not everything will be perfect all the time and things go wrong.
If you make a mistake (eg. leave a gate open) help remedy the situation. The last thing we need is MORE work :)
Expect to get the bad with the good, crops fail, livestock dies and nature prevails. It's not always clean ripe tomatoes, sometimes you need to muck out the barn, accept this.
Be supportive, especially when things aren't going as planned. This is a 24/7 job, we don’t get days off.
Keep negative comments to yourself, there is nothing as soul destroying than being criticized when you are putting in 200% to fix a problem.
Understand that while you are being taught you are helping but you're also taking up some of our productive time. Keep that in mind when you take your goodies home, don't expect too much too soon. This is why we are looking for long term commitments.
Be thrifty and aware of limits to resources, water, animal feeds, electricity.... most services cost more in rural areas and some things are in very limited amounts. Take your rubbish with you, rubbish disposal is just another job, we don’t get a pick up service.
Offer suggestions but understand that this is not a democracy. There are many reasons we choose to do things the way we do, some for purely practical reasons, some economic and some because of our ethos.
Listen to what you are told, some things may not make sense to start with but as you learn you'll understand.
Basic Farm Etiquette.
Leave gates as you found them, open if open, closed if closed.
Never approach an animal without our permission, this can include things like chickens or rabbits, ALWAYS ask.
Mistreating animals will not be tolerated.
Be careful with tools, they are a big part of what makes the farm run. Broken tools stop work faster than anything else. They cost a lot and can take up precious dollars and time to fix.
Go easy on farm tracks, upkeep is hard work.
Please keep to the paths, do not tread on garden beds unless asked to. This includes children, keep them off the gardens. Some garden areas may not be obvious (weedy or left to go wild) so if in doubt stay out.
Children.
We do like children, well behaved children. This is a farm and we have large animals and machinery, you MUST understand this before thinking of bringing children here. We think all children should spend time on a farm, to understand where food comes from and to feel comfortable with animals as food. If you have young (or older) children we would love to hear from you but we will have to discuss what will happen when they are here.