WWOOFING at Rainbow Love Farm

Abundance...

2010-01-11T12:10:00.003+10:00

What to do with all these aubergines??? The garden is so abundant at the moment. Plenty of fresh healthy vegies...yum!

Welcome 2010!

2010-01-02T08:49:00.002+10:00

Now the busy time of Christmas and New Year are behind us we'll be taking more WWOOFers again.
We are planning on finishing the kitchen renovation, painting the bedroom and lounge room and fixing the roof early this year. Sounds like alot of work! So we'll need your help.

The vegetable garden is looking beautiful after the recent rain and we have heaps of fresh lovely food to eat.

Also planning on extending the mulched area under the fruit trees and re-fencing on side of the block.

Back for a visit

2009-08-07T00:20:00.003+10:00

It is a wonderful feeling knowing that your WWOOFers want to come back to visit just as friends.

Martin came back on Monday with his sister, sister's boyfriend Florian and his friend Alex. Thank you for visiting, it was fun.

WWOOFing fun

2009-07-22T20:12:00.003+10:00

23/07/09

We have just had a wonderful week with our second wwoofer. Martin fitted right in with the family and as he had his own van with a heater was nice and snug on a couple of our frosty cold nights.

As well as getting lots done while he was here we also had alot of fun.

We visited the beach at Noosa, had a couple of campfires and played some music together.

P has finished the bathroom renovations now and it was great to have Martins help with the gardening and other chores while P was busy in the bathroom for most of the week.

You can check out Martins travels here on his blog.

28th May 2009

2009-05-28T20:31:00.003+10:00

Our first WWOOFing experience was a really positive one. I hope they are all as enjoyable.

We have been busy again this week. Always seems to be that way on a farm! We have started cleaning out the old van to use as temporary WWOOF accommodation, until we build something more permanent. It needs to be painted and decorated and have some new carpet put in. Soon it should be a cosy space.

We have planted out parsnips, turnips and more peas this week and dug over another vegetable bed. There always seems to be more veggies that we want to grow. The manderines and oranges are ripening up...yum
Re-mulching the children's garden was a job we've been meaning to do for so long, it was good to finally get it finished.

There is so much work coming up too. Leeks to sow and plant out, more broccoli, red cabbage and snow peas to plant. Picking needs to be done every day and weeding and mowing as well.

Another exciting event was getting the new timber cut for our new work shed...

Plus, the big thing at the moment is organising our first Winter Solstice market on the 20th June. There are flyer's, advertising, bonfires, stalls and food to arrange...

But life is good on Rainbow Love Farm!

Our First WWOOFER's have arrived...

2009-05-10T06:45:00.005+10:00

Sunday 10th May

Our first wwoofers arrived on Thursday. It was a quick arrangement; they rang in the afternoon and were here two hours later. They are two really lovely couples, backpacking around Australia. One from NZ and the others from the UK.

We've been re-mulching gardens, building a new veggie patch and planting out peas and beans and working on the new deck off Zan's bedroom.

Our Area

2009-04-19T14:03:00.010+10:00

Our property is a 2 1/2 acre piece of paradise on the Hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. We are about 20km from the town of Eumundi. Our closest small town is Kenilworth.

This part of Australia has a sub-tropical climate but it can get cold at night during the winter months.

There is so much to do when you are not working. If you have your own transport we are in easy driving distance of Noosa. Have a look at the surf at Noosa live.

Our property borders the Mapelton State Forest through which runs the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walk.

We are minutes from many National Park camping sites.

There are plenty of places to swim and also some awesome rock climbing and abseiling spots.

About us

2009-04-19T13:59:00.000+10:00

The Work

2009-04-19T13:24:00.013+10:00

The work wwooffers will help us with will vary depending on the season and what we are currently doing around the place. Including gardening work like picking , planting, pruning and preserving produce; mulching and planting trees; garden maintenance, weeding and mowing; feeding the chickens; building, fencing and painting.

We usually expect four hours of work a day in exchange for accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner. WWOOFers are also expected to help with normal household chores. The amout of work is negotiable depending on how many meals you want and how much free time you need. Also negotiable for famlies.
All meals are vegetarian. We can cater for some special diets, just ask when you contact us.

Some of the work may include:
plant trees
collect and cut firewood
weed other gardens and around young trees
mow
clear fallen branches and move onto bonfire pile
prune vines and plants and use prunings to mulch other plants
plant seeds into punnets
plant vegie seedlings
water plants as required
paint walls, doors, etc
make tree guards from wire and shade cloth
clean out chook pen
add organic matter to veggie beds
collect horse manure
create compost areas and start compost
harvest food
fencing
building

Some rainy day jobs could include...
clean windows & screens
plant seeds into seedling punnets
check garden tools for maintenance
help with household duties
preserve the harvest - juicing, freezing, cooking, baking, jams, jellies, syrups, bottled fruit...
de-cobwebbing inside
cleaning light fittings, pictures, tops of bookcases and cupboards etc
building
sewing

Whilst we don't expect our WWOOFers to participate in the children's education and care, we do encourage interaction with them. They have enjoyed in the past:
looking at the world map to find WWOOFers' home towns, and follow their travels so far
finding books at home and the library about the country our WWOOFers come from, and talking about school, food, shopping, weather, celebrations and other topics
playing Uno, other card games and board games
watching movies together
running about outside together, soccer games and jumping on the trampoline
The cultural exchange and positive influence on our children is one of the main reasons we decided to become WWOOF hosts. We hope you can feel welcome and relaxed with our family

The Farm

2009-04-19T08:48:00.014+10:00

Our Farm includes a Permaculture Food Forest. Where we have planted 80 different varieties of fruit trees so far.

A Veggie garden that seasonally provides some of our food.

We keep 15 chickens for eggs. They live in their own permaculture designed 'Chook Palace' and also free-range about the place.

We are also revegetating the land, planting native trees, shrubs and grasses.

Hopefully this will help to preserve the abundant wildlife that also reside here.

Getting Here

2009-04-19T07:16:00.003+10:00

Our farm is located on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland.

We are a 10 minute drive to the historic township of Kenilworth and a 15 minute drive to Eumundi.

We are about 1 1/2 hours north of Brisbane.

The nearest major towns are Noosa and Nambour. Both of these towns are accessible by major bus or rail routes.

Eumundi is accessible by local bus. We can pick WOOFERs up at Eumundi.

Accomodation

2009-04-18T14:09:00.003+10:00

We can only take Wwoofers who have their own accommodation ie, tents or Vans.
The initial stay is 3 nights. After this trial period WWOOFers may be able to stay longer, up to two weeks, depending on how much work we have available.

Please contact us at least one week prior to when you would like to come. More notice is better as we need to be able to ensure we have jobs and food etc for your visit. We are not a working farm (we do not sell any produce from here) we are a family trying to be as self-sufficient as possible.